Georgia Tech 68, Bethune-Cookman 65
Fordham 66, Maryland Eastern Shore 45
Niagara 65, Norfolk State 61
Georgia Tech 68, Bethune-Cookman 65
ATLANTA --
Michael Devoe scored 17 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, including a three-point play with seven seconds left, and Georgia Tech survived terrible free throw shooting Sunday night to hold on for a 68-65 win over Bethune-Cookman.
The Yellow Jackets (3-2) were listless early and made just 9-of-19 free throws in the second half. Bethune-Cookman's
Cletrell Pope posted his 29th career double-double with 20 points and 19 rebounds and the Wildcats (5-3) nearly pulled off what would have been one of the biggest upsets since the program transitioned to Division I in 1980
Bethune-Cookman led 36-34 at halftime, and the teams traded the lead several times through the second half before Devoe's critical score.
Pope tied the game for the final time with 31 seconds left when he grabbed an offensive rebound off a
Malik Maitland miss and dunked in one motion.
After a time out, the Jackets ran clock before Devoe drove the left side and banked in a short shot. Pope fouled out on the play, and Devoe made the free throw shot to close the scoring.
A 3-point shot by Bethune-Cookman's Leon Reed bounced high off the rim as time expired.
Moses Wright had 12 points and 12 rebounds for Georgia Tech, and
James Banks III added 12 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high eight blocked shots.
Isaiah Bailey scored 14 for the Wildcats.
Bethune-Cookman controlled early action, moving to a 20-10 lead on Bailey's 3-point shot from the top with 10:30 left in the first half as the Wildcats were hardly puzzled by Tech's 1-3-1 zone defense. That basket came off a pass from Maitland following on offensive rebound. Bailey scored 11 in the first half.
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Fordham 66, Maryland Eastern Shore 45
BRONX, New York — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men’s basketball team dropped a Sunday afternoon contest to the Fordham University Rams 66-45.
The Hawks (0-9) could not find a bucket for most of the first half. The opening 20 minutes saw Eastern Shore go scoreless for nearly eight minutes. Their offensive struggles gave way to a 34-15 halftime lead for the Rams. The Shore made just six field goals in the first half.
In the second half, Maryland Eastern Shore found more offensive success. They got double the amount of points in the second half as they did in the first. The Hawks were able to hit six shots from behind the arc after halftime.
Eastern Shore did not have anyone in double figures as redshirt sophomore
Walter Prevost (Houston, Texas) led the team in scoring with nine points on 4-4 shooting.
Glen Anderson (Harlem, New York) had a strong game on defense in front of his hometown crowd and finished with four steals.
Sunday’s game did mark the return of senior
AJ Cheeseman (Snellville, Ga.) and redshirt junior
Marlon Adams (Brooklyn, N.Y.). Cheeseman had been out since Nov. 16 and finished with two points and four rebounds. Adams had two assists and two rebounds in his first game since the season opener Nov. 5.
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Niagara 65, Norfolk State 61
NORFOLK, Va. - Niagara held off the Norfolk State men's basketball team in a Sunday afternoon, non-conference game at Joseph Echols Hall, as the Purple Eagles came away with a 65-61 win over the Spartans.
Niagara led by five at the half but watched the Spartans go up in the second. NSU led by six midway through the second stanza, but the Purple Eagles came back to take the lead for good. They held the Spartans back after it became a one-possession game late.
The Spartans got 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting and a career-high nine rebounds from senior Jermaine Bishop. Senior Steven Whitley contributed 13 points, all in the second half, to keep the game close.
NSU fell to 3-6 on the year, while Niagara (1-5) picked up its first win this season.
The Purple Eagles led by five at the break, but NSU scored seven of the first eight points in the second half for a short-lived lead. That was because Niagara grabbed it back with a pair of buckets. But right after that, the Spartans scored seven straight for a three-point edge six and a half minutes in.
Junior Kyonze Chavis had a pair of buckets as NSU extended the run to 12-2. That made it 49-43 in favor of the Spartans with 10:15 on the clock, their largest lead of the game. Niagara, however, countered with a 12-0 run over a two-minute span for a 55-49 lead.
Whitley kept the game close, hitting a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer from the left wing to slice the NU lead to one, 57-56, with 4:02 left. Greg Kuakumensah had a 3-point play and a bucket in the lane to push the Purple Eagles ahead by six. Whitley completed a 3-point play of his own to make it 62-59 going into the last minute of play.
After a Niagara turnover, the Spartans missed a pair of chances at the 3-point line on the same possession. The second miss did lead to an easy putback layup by Whitley with 10.9 seconds to go, again getting the deficit to just one. Raheem Solomon, however, made two free throws for Niagara, and another 3-pointer fell short for the Spartans as time wound down.
The biggest advantage for Niagara came in the turnover department, as they forced 15 and outscored NSU 25-8 in points off turnovers and 15-9 in fastbreak points.
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