Stephen Curry
photo by Wes Schultz
Davidson’s Stephen Curry scored 17 of his team’s final 21 points and finished with a game-high 43 as the Wildcats topped Appalachian State, 84-68, on Saturday in the Southern Conference Tournament quarterfinal round.
Andrew Lovedale had 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for Davidson (26-6), the top seed in the SoCon’s South Division. Donald Sims scored 29 to lead the Mountaineers (13-18), the North Division’s fourth seed. Josh Hunter also finished in double figures with 13 points.
Davidson was in control for most of the game, but struggled to put Appalachian State away until late. Three free throws from Sims made it a one-point game at 56-55 with 10:42 to play, but Davidson was about to blow it open.
Steve Rossiter faked to Curry and drove the lane for an uncontested layup to ignite a 28-13 game-ending run, and Curry found Bryant Barr with an over-the-shoulder pass for a 3-pointer deep in the corner two possessions later. Lovedale threw down a monstrous dunk to push the Davidson lead to eight points at 63-55 with 7:24 to play before Curry took over down the stretch.
The SoCon Player of the Year hit a 3-pointer – one of his five on the afternoon – to put the Wildcats’ lead in double digits to stay. Curry added a free throw before another big dunk from Lovedale, then scored 13 straight Davidson points to put the game away. Curry’s final shot was a 35-foot 3-pointer that sent the partisan crowd into a frenzy.
Davidson led by 10 less than five minutes into the contest, as Curry had eight points in a 15-5 Wildcat spurt to open the game.
The Mountaineers would climb back into it, led largely by Sims. Sims hit a 3-pointer to get ASU’s deficit back in single digits, then added another three, a layup and a pair of free throws in a 14-4 run that tied the game at 19. App’s last four points in the run came at the free throw line, as Sims hit a pair after a technical on the Davidson bench and Jeremi Booth hit two of his own to draw the Mountaineers even with 10:38 to play in the opening frame.
The Wildcats answered with a six-point run to give themselves some breathing room and eventually stretched their lead to 10 points at the half, 44-34.
Appalachian State opened the second half on a 21-12 run in the first 10 minutes, with Sims hitting a pair of threes before the first of his two three-shot trips to the free throw line got the Apps within one. Isaac Butts had six points in the run.
Curry’s 43 points were the most scored in the SoCon tournament since Skip Henderson scored a tournament-record 55 for Marshall against The Citadel in 1988. Curry’s performance tied for the third-most points scored in tournament history with Darrell Floyd, who had 43 for Furman against Virginia Tech in 1956.
Appalachian State dominated the boards, pulling down 44 rebounds to Davidson’s 33. But the Wildcats made up for that with 28 points off 30 turnovers and took care of the ball with just eight turnovers of their own.
The teams combined to shoot 57 free throws, with App going 20-for-24 (83.3 percent) and Sims a perfect 12-for-12. Sixteen of Curry’s points came from the line, where he was 16-for-18. Davidson was 23-for-33 overall (69.7 percent).
The Wildcats advance to the semifinals, where they will face either College of Charleston on Sunday at 6 p.m. on SportSouth.
College of Charleston used a stifling defense and balanced offensive attack to top Western Carolina, 67-48, earlier Saturday.
The Cougars shot 45.5 percent from the field, including 50 percent from the 3-point line, and held WCU to just 33.9 percent from the field and 23.5 percent from the 3-point line.
The South’s No. 3 seeded Cougars (25-7) move on to face the No. 1 seed from the South Division, Davidson, in the first semifinal on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET. The two teams split the season series with each winning at the others’ home court. The Cougars snapped the Wildcats 43-game SoCon regular season winning streak on Feb. 7, with a 77-75 victory.
The Catamounts end their season at 16-15.
Guard Andrew Goudelock scored a game-high 16 points to lead Charleston. Tony White, Jr., scored 12 points, including a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line and forward Jeremy Simmons notched 11 points and eight rebounds to round out the Cougars’ double-digit scorers.
The Catamounts were led by Brandon Giles and Jake Robinson who each chipped in 10 points.
College of Charleston jumped out to a quick lead taking a 13-7 margin and stretching it to 21-7 in just over a minute. The Cougars carried a 35-19 lead into half and did not look back, stretching the lead to 21 at the 16:25 mark of the second half before cruising to the 19-point victory.
Stephen Curry
photo by Wes Schultz