Alawoya's Double-Double Helps Lead McNeese State Past Southern-New Orleans
McNeese State 77, Southern-New Orleans 59
LAKE CHARLES, La. - P.J. Alawoya's second double-double of the season and 19 points from Diego Kapelan paced McNeese State to a 77-59 non-conference victory over Southern-New Orleans on Tuesday.
Alawoya pitched in 11 points and pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds while Kapelan's total was tops for the game as McNeese won its fifth game in 11 outings. SUNO had its record even at 4-4.
The Cowboys led the entire way, zipping off to a 12-4 edge in the first four minutes of play and going on to a 41-27 halftime lead.
"I thought that we played good for a period of time," McNeese State coach Dave Simmons said about the Cowboys. "I was pleased with the fact that every time they made a run, we answered.
"This is a good way to go into the break because we have some very tough opponents coming up."
The game was the final one prior to the Christmas holidays for the Cowboys who will be back in action Dec. 29 on the road against Rice. They will also tackle Texas Tech and LSU on the road before returning home to host UTSA in their conference opener Jan. 9.
Joining Alawoya and Kapelan in double scoring figures for the Cowboys were Patrick Richard with 12 points and Will Morning with 10. Kapelan got 15 of his points on 3-point shots and Patrick had nine of his from that distance.
McNeese held a 46-33 edge in the rebounding column, Patrick coming up with eight and Elbryan Neal coming off the bench for five. Patrick also had six assists in the game as did C.J. Collins who got his first start since the opening game of the season.
Brent Leduff led SUNO with 16 points and Dometric Haynes added 10.
The victory was the third for the Cowboys in as many meetings with the Knights.
Sam Houston State 93, Florida International 63
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Gilberto Clavell scored 20 points and Preston Brown added 15 as Sam Houston State outscored the Florida International 51-26 in the second half to spark the Bearkats to a 93-63 non-conference men's basketball victory over the Golden Panthers Tuesday night.
Also scoring in double figures for Sam Houston (8-3) were Corey Almond with 14 and Josten Crow and Antuan Bootle both with 11.
Florida International (4-11) was led by Marvin Roberts with 14 points and Martavis Kee with 12.
Trailing by as many as four points in the first half before building a 42-37 lead at intermission, the Bearkats got hot in the second period. Sam Houston went 19-of-25 from the floor for 76 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes.
The victory extended Sam Houston's current winning streak to three games.
UT Arlington 101, Texas Wesleyan 85
ARLINGTON, Texas - Marquez Haynes scored 31 points to lead four players in double figures as UT Arlington defeated Texas Wesleyan 101-85 Tuesday night at Texas Hall.
Brandon Long had 17 while Armani Williams and Cameron Catlett had career-highs of 15 and 14 respectively.
The Mavericks used a hot shooting hand the entire game to build a 22-point halftime lead and never held a lead of less than 15 in the second half.
UT Arlington made its first 13 field goals in the game, which included seven 3-pointers, as they held a 67-45 lead at halftime. The Mavericks finished the half shooting 71 percent making 19-of-27 from the field. They finished the game shooting 58.9 percent.
Hector Mukweyi led Texas Wesleyan with 25 points.
UT Arlington is now 5-4 while Texas Wesleyan is now 8-4. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Mavericks while the loss also broke an eight-game winning streak for Texas Wesleyan.
Stephen F. Austin 102, East Central (Oklahoma) 68
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Stephen F. Austin bounced back from its first loss in nearly a month by taking a 102-68 win over East Central (Oklahoma) Tuesday in Johnson Coliseum. The 102-point outburst is the Lumberjacks' first triple-digit score in a regulation game since the 'Jacks beat Paul Quinn, 101-48, in the 2005-06 season.
Junior Jordan Glynn continued his impressive streak of double-doubles by scoring 20 points and pulling down 13 rebounds - both career-highs. This marks Glynn's fifth straight double-double and his sixth consecutive game to pull down at least 10 rebounds.
The win moved Stephen F. Austin to 7-3, while East Central falls to 5-6 on the year.
Glynn was well on his way to a double-double in the game's first five minutes. He had six rebounds - five on offense - by the 14:51 mark. Following the sixth board - a rebound of his own missed jumper - Glynn laid one in for his fourth point of the night, giving the Lumberjacks their first double-digit lead, a 17-6 margin with 14:48 to play.
East Central trimmed the lead back to eight two possessions later, but Glynn chased an Austin Falke 3-pointer with a three-point play of his own as he was fouled on a jumper in the paint. The sequence put Stephen F. Austin back ahead by 12, and the Tigers failed to get closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Falke finished with 10 points and four assists and was 2-for-4 from 3-point range. Junior forward Mark Gomillia joined him with 10, setting a new career mark of his own. Jereal Scott and Eddie Williams chipped in with 13 and 11 points, respectively, giving the Lumberjacks five double-digit scorers in a game for the first time this season.
Eric Allen scored 15 points to pace the Tigers. Maurice Abraham added 13 points and a team-best nine rebounds.
Stephen F. Austin pulled down a season-high 50 rebounds and dominated the lane, outscoring the Tigers, 60-36, in the paint. Scott, Aaron Smith and Will Reinke each finished with six rebounds, and Reinke blocked a career-best four shots.
The Lumberjacks connected on a season-high 40 field goals and finished with a .563 shooting percentage, just shy of their season best.
After the Christmas break, Stephen F. Austin will be back in action on Dec. 29 and 30, when the Lumberjacks play in the St. Mary's Shamrock Office Supply Invitational. Stephen F. Austin will take on Binghamton and Howard in the event.
North Texas 71, Southeastern Louisiana 61
DENTON, Texas - North Texas' Eric Tramiel scored 19 points to lead four players in double figures and the Mean Green held off a Southeastern Louisiana rally to post a 71-61 victory Tuesday night at the Super Pit.
Josh White added 13 points for North Texas (7-4) while George Odufuwa and Tristan Thompson scored 12 points each. Southeastern, which was led by Damon Forest with 19 points, dropped its second straight game and fell to 7-4 overall on the season.
North Texas built a 15-point lead and led 43-29 at halftime before Southeastern cut into the lead. Forest, who finished 6-for-18 from the floor, opened the second half with a pair of 3-pointers that closed the game to 47-37.
The Lions closed to within six points on three occasions, the last on a layup by Robert Tibbs with 2:40 remaining, but Shannon Shorter and White each scored on layups to push the lead to 67-57 and pull away.
David Ndoumba and Patrick Sullivan added 14 points each for Southeastern, which shot 38 percent from the floor (24-for-64), including 30 percent (10-for-33) in the first half. The Lions held a 42-31 advantage on the glass as Ndoumba and Tibbs pulled down nine boards each for the Lions.
Southeastern will return to action Jan. 2 when it plays host to William Carey University in a 3 p.m. contest.
Western Illinois 55, Central Arkansas 44
MACOMB, Ill. - Shooting and rebounding woes combined to handcuff Central Arkansas Tuesday night in a 55-44 loss to the Western Illinois Leathernecks at Western Hall.
The Bears (5-7) shot just 26.4 percent overall from the field, but shot better from three-point range (5-of-16, 31.3 percent). The Leathernecks, who swept the season series, shot 40.8 percent on the night and dominated the boards, out-rebounding the Bears 44-28.
"We looked like a team that had been on a five-day road trip," UCA coach Rand Chappell said, "and we played a very physical, tough, defensive team. They guarded us extremely hard and we had a hard time getting baskets. We talked about before the game that there was a good chance the game would be in the 50s or 40s.
"But you still can't shoot 26 percent. If we shoot 40 percent, I guess we have 50-something ourselves and have a chance to win the game. They really took the basket away. They have some big tall guys inside that are active, and they collapsed in hard. And we just weren't able to make many shots."
The Leathernecks took a 25-18 lead at the break as the Bears shot just 29.6 percent from the field in the first half. Each time the Bears tried to make a run in the second half, Western Illinois made a three-pointer or grabbed another rebound on the other end. The Leathernecks connected on 4 of 6 threes in the final 20 minutes.
Central Arkansas fell behind by 18 points, 53-35, with 1:50 remaining to play, but fought back with nine straight points. Sophomore guard Dewan Clayborn nailed back-to-back three-pointers, Tadre Sheppard made two free throws and Ryan Daniels added another as the Bears closed the gap to 53-44 with 20.4 seconds left to play. WIU senior guard Quenton Kirby hit a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left that set the final.
James Granstra, a 6-foot-10 center, had 14 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocked shots for the Leathernecks, while guard Ceola Clark added 11 rebounds.
"Rebounding was ridiculous," Chappell said. "He (Granstra) was a big part of that. He was awfully aggressive on the glass. And one of their guards got 11 rebounds. So they were just active and playing hard and finding a way. Even late when we played hard and tried to make a run, we still missed some easy buckets around the goal and didn't get them in.'
Senior forward Mitch Rueter led the Bears with 11 points and Clayborn added a career-high nine. Senior guard Chris Poellnitz, Central Arkansas' leading scorer coming into the game, was 1-of-12 from the field and had two points and one rebound.
Three other players had at least eight points for Western Illinois, with Clark and David Nurse getting nine apiece.
The Bears will take an 11-day holiday break before returning to the Farris Center on Jan. 2 for a three-game homestand against Central Methodist, Ecclesia and the Southland Conference opener against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.