Scanning the SoCon (2-10-24)

The standing picture is a little clearer tonight after Saturday's action.  The Samford Bulldogs now own a 2-game lead in the conference standings, with Chattanooga in sole possession of 2d place and UNCG falling to 3rd, in the standings.  Three teams are now tied for fourth place (WCU, Wofford, Furman) with identical 7-5 conference records, with 6 conference games remaining to be played before the conference tournament.  ETSU, Mercer, The Citadel, and VMI fill out the 7-10 positions, on the "Road to Asheville".

Saturday's results:

Samford 102 - VMI 63

The Bulldogs broke 100 points today against the helpless Keydets as Jaden Campbell and Rylan Jones each scored 16 points to lead Samford's defeat of VMI 102-63 in Lexington. Campbell shot 5 of 6 from the field and 4 for 4 from the charity stripe, while Jones was 6 for 8, including 3 for 5 from beyond the arc. A.J. Staton-McCray had 13 points and was 5 of 6 shooting and 3 of 6 from the free throw line. Taeshaud Jackson finished with 16 points and seven rebounds for the Keydets and Corey Chesley also scored 16 points for VMI off the bench. Samford took the lead with 19:47 left in the first half and did not give it up. 

Mercer 46 - Western Carolina 79
Vonterius Woolbright scored 16 points, pulled down 10 rebounds, and posted 10 assists for his third triple-double of the season as he led the Catamounts over Mercer 79-46 on Saturday in Cullowhee.  With the game tied early at 4-4, the Cats hit a three-pointer and never gave up the lead in a dominating performance against the Bears as they swept the series with Mercer this season.  Tre Jackson also scored 16 points while shooting 6 for 11, including 4 for 6 from beyond the arc. Kamar Robertson shot 7 for 11, including 1 for 4 from beyond the arc to finish with 15 points.  The Bears were led in scoring by David Thomas, who finished with 18 points.

Chattanooga  89 - UNCG  61
The Moc's Trey Bonham scored 31 points to led Chattanooga past UNCG 89-61 on Saturday night in Greensboro. Honor Huff scored 19 points while shooting 6 for 11, including 6 for 10 from beyond the arc, as Myles Che went 6 of 8 from the field, finishing with 14 points. For the Spartans. Mikeal Brown-Jones finished with 25 points and eight rebounds, while Keyshaun Langley added 12 points and four assists.  Chattanooga's win over the Spartans elevated the Mocs to 2d place in the standings, behind Samford with UNCG dropping to third place. 

Furman 65 -  ETSU 63
Recovering from an unexpected loss to Mercer on Wednesday night, the Paladins traveled to Johnson City and once again pulled off a win in the last seconds of a game, this time  JP Pegues sealed the victory with a free throw with 1.8 seconds remaining as the Paladins took down ETSU 65-63 on Saturday night.  In addition to Pegues' 15 points, Marcus Foster added 11 points, shooting 4 for 10, including 1 for 4 from beyond the arc, and eight rebounds. Tyrese Hughey finished 3 of 3 from the field to finish with eight points.  For the home-standing Bucs, Quimari Peterson put up 14 points and 6 rebounds as Jadyn Parker added 13 points, nine rebounds, and five blocks.  Jaden Seymour's dunk with 1:03 to play gave ETSU a 63-61 lead, but Pegues was fouled on a 3-point shot and made 2-of-3 free throws to tie the game. Seymour then missed a go-ahead jumper on the other end but Pegues was fouled and hit the winning foul shots.

The Citadel 54 - Wofford 77
The home-standing Terriers defeated the Citadel 77-54 in Spartanburg on Saturday night, in the final SoCon game of the day. The Terriers hit  11 of 26 from beyond the three-point line (42.3%) hitting 53% overall in field goals, while picking up 12 points off 12 turnovers by the Bulldogs.  Dillon Bailey and Belal El Shakery both posted 15 points to lead the Terriers in scoring and AJ Smith lead all scorers with 27 points for the Bulldogs and Madison Durr added 17 points for the Citadel in their losing effort.