Davidson’s supremacy over the Southern Conference is complete.
With its leading scorer on the bench, Georgia Southern simply didn’t have the man power to prevent the Wildcats from putting the finishing touches on another perfect SoCon season Saturday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Fueled by an outstanding effort from sophomore guard Stephen Curry, Davidson (23-6, 20-0) cruised to an 89-69 victory in the regular-season finale for both schools. It’s Davidson’s third undefeated league slate under coach Bob McKillop.
The Eagles (20-11, 13-7) end their season on a three-game losing skid and will have to regroup quickly to make a run at the SoCon tournament title next week in Charleston, S.C. They’ll be the No. 3 seed and face the winner of the College of Charleston/Citadel matchup in the late game Saturday night.
The Wildcats shut out GSU’s star Louis Graham, who fouled out with 12:21 remaining and was limited to 11 minutes. It was the first time Graham hasn’t scored since Feb. 17, 2005 against Furman.
“(Graham) was taken out of the game, our team was taken out of the game, the coaches were taken out of the game, and it’s really unfortunate,” Georgia Southern coach Jeff Price said.
Battling foul trouble all night, Graham was 0-5 from the field. He picked up his third foul with 5:20 left in the first half and his fourth with 17:25 remaining.
“(Graham’s) a huge loss because that’s our go-to guy and we feed off him,” said GSU senior Dwayne Foreman, who tied Anthony Marshall for a team-high 15 points. “We just couldn’t gel like we should have with him in the lineup. We had to look at other options, but it didn’t work out. It hurt. Things aren’t going to go our way all the time, so we’ve got to learn to play through that type of stuff.”
Curry — the SoCon’s leading scorer — put on a show, knocking down 3-pointer after 3-pointer and finishing with a game-high 35 points - his fifth outing this season with 35 or more points. He was 7-for-9 on 3-pointers, one shy of a school record by a GSU opponent.
“He’s hard to guard,” Price said. “We knew what he was going to do. He had looks when we were right in his face, and he made shots. He’s been doing it for two years, and he’s going to keep doing it.”
Georgia Southern matched up well with the Wildcats in the first half, but Davidson's offense was unstoppable after the break, hitting 16 of 22 shots (72.7 percent) — a season high by a GSU opponent. The Eagles also struggled at the free throw line where they missed 17 attempts and shot 45.2 percent on the night.
“They are obviously a really good basketball team,” Price said. “You can understand why they are 20-0 in the conference. They are a senior-led, veteran team, and we didn’t help ourselves any by the way we shot at the free throw line, which has been a concern all year.”
Ahead seven at the break, Davidson used an 11-3 run early in the final half to pull away, taking its first double-digit lead on a Curry jumper with 16:40 to play. The Eagles never pulled within single-digits again, and by the 8:56 mark Davidson’s lead had swelled to 20.
“We made a point this weekend to have fun and just take the pressure off of what we’re doing,” Curry said.
It was a hard-fought first half, which included eight ties and eight lead changes. GSU’s largest advantage was 28-24 after Willie Powers sank a pair of free throws and Foreman nailed a 3 7:30 before the half. But Davidson closed the opening period with an 11-4 run and took a 42-35 lead into the locker room after Curry sunk his fourth 3-pointer. It was Davidson’s largest advantage of the half. Despite foul trouble, Curry turned in 16 first-half points and went 4-for-5 from behind the arc.
Notes: Julian Allen (12) and Matthew Fields (10) joined Foreman and Marshall in double figures…Boris Meno added 16 points and Jason Richards scored 12 for the Wildcats…Both teams grabbed 35 rebounds…Seniors Ryan Hynes, Fields, Foreman and Graham were honored before the game, their final in Hanner.
Alex Pellegrino can be reached at (912) 489-9413.
With its leading scorer on the bench, Georgia Southern simply didn’t have the man power to prevent the Wildcats from putting the finishing touches on another perfect SoCon season Saturday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Fueled by an outstanding effort from sophomore guard Stephen Curry, Davidson (23-6, 20-0) cruised to an 89-69 victory in the regular-season finale for both schools. It’s Davidson’s third undefeated league slate under coach Bob McKillop.
The Eagles (20-11, 13-7) end their season on a three-game losing skid and will have to regroup quickly to make a run at the SoCon tournament title next week in Charleston, S.C. They’ll be the No. 3 seed and face the winner of the College of Charleston/Citadel matchup in the late game Saturday night.
The Wildcats shut out GSU’s star Louis Graham, who fouled out with 12:21 remaining and was limited to 11 minutes. It was the first time Graham hasn’t scored since Feb. 17, 2005 against Furman.
“(Graham) was taken out of the game, our team was taken out of the game, the coaches were taken out of the game, and it’s really unfortunate,” Georgia Southern coach Jeff Price said.
Battling foul trouble all night, Graham was 0-5 from the field. He picked up his third foul with 5:20 left in the first half and his fourth with 17:25 remaining.
“(Graham’s) a huge loss because that’s our go-to guy and we feed off him,” said GSU senior Dwayne Foreman, who tied Anthony Marshall for a team-high 15 points. “We just couldn’t gel like we should have with him in the lineup. We had to look at other options, but it didn’t work out. It hurt. Things aren’t going to go our way all the time, so we’ve got to learn to play through that type of stuff.”
Curry — the SoCon’s leading scorer — put on a show, knocking down 3-pointer after 3-pointer and finishing with a game-high 35 points - his fifth outing this season with 35 or more points. He was 7-for-9 on 3-pointers, one shy of a school record by a GSU opponent.
“He’s hard to guard,” Price said. “We knew what he was going to do. He had looks when we were right in his face, and he made shots. He’s been doing it for two years, and he’s going to keep doing it.”
Georgia Southern matched up well with the Wildcats in the first half, but Davidson's offense was unstoppable after the break, hitting 16 of 22 shots (72.7 percent) — a season high by a GSU opponent. The Eagles also struggled at the free throw line where they missed 17 attempts and shot 45.2 percent on the night.
“They are obviously a really good basketball team,” Price said. “You can understand why they are 20-0 in the conference. They are a senior-led, veteran team, and we didn’t help ourselves any by the way we shot at the free throw line, which has been a concern all year.”
Ahead seven at the break, Davidson used an 11-3 run early in the final half to pull away, taking its first double-digit lead on a Curry jumper with 16:40 to play. The Eagles never pulled within single-digits again, and by the 8:56 mark Davidson’s lead had swelled to 20.
“We made a point this weekend to have fun and just take the pressure off of what we’re doing,” Curry said.
It was a hard-fought first half, which included eight ties and eight lead changes. GSU’s largest advantage was 28-24 after Willie Powers sank a pair of free throws and Foreman nailed a 3 7:30 before the half. But Davidson closed the opening period with an 11-4 run and took a 42-35 lead into the locker room after Curry sunk his fourth 3-pointer. It was Davidson’s largest advantage of the half. Despite foul trouble, Curry turned in 16 first-half points and went 4-for-5 from behind the arc.
Notes: Julian Allen (12) and Matthew Fields (10) joined Foreman and Marshall in double figures…Boris Meno added 16 points and Jason Richards scored 12 for the Wildcats…Both teams grabbed 35 rebounds…Seniors Ryan Hynes, Fields, Foreman and Graham were honored before the game, their final in Hanner.
Alex Pellegrino can be reached at (912) 489-9413.
