#AmericanHoops Scoreboard
USF 84, Florida A&M 73
Temple 97, La Salle 92 (OT)
#rv/25 Cincinnati 84, Brown 55
East Carolina 72, Grambling 57
SMU 72, Gardner-Webb 44
Houston 93, Morgan State 52
Wagner 67, #18/16 UConn 58
Jacksonville State 84, Tulsa 73
#6/6 North Carolina 95, Tulane 75
American Athletic Conference men's basketball programs went 6-3 on the opening night of the 2016-17 college basketball season. Semi Ojeleye posted a 26-point, 14-rebound double-double in SMU's victory, while East Carolina head coach Jeff Lebo collected his 100th win with the Pirates.
Among the new American head coaches, Tim Jankovich a 72-44 victory at Moody Coliseum as SMU knocked off Gardner-Webb, 72-44.
#rv/25 Cincinnati 84, Brown 55
Kyle Washington’s return to college basketball was well worth the wait. The transfer from North Carolina State, forced to sit out last year under NCAA rules, introduced himself to University of Cincinnati fans with a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds Friday night. He also tossed in five assists for good measure in the Bearcats’ 84-55 season-opening victory over Brown before 6,504 fans at Fifth Third Arena.
The game was part of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Tip-Off, which will conclude next weekend in Uncasville, Conn., where the Bearcats will play No. 23 Rhode Island on Saturday. If they win, they’ll play Saturday against the winner of the game between Penn State and top-ranked Duke.
Sophomore guard Jacob Evans, who did not play in UC’s exhibition win over Bellarmine as he recovered from a foot injury, was equally impressive with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting. And junior forward Gary Clark just missed joining Washington in the double-double circle when he scored 14 points with nine rebounds and four assists.
The Bearcats jumped out to an 11-1 lead and held Brown (0-1) without a field goal until the 13:21 mark of the first half. Brown came back to get within three points at 14-11, but UC, which shot 62.1 percent in the first half, closed with a 9-0 run to take a 43-25 lead into halftime. The Bears, who were led by JR Hobbie’s 12 points, never made a serious run in the second half, getting no closer than 16 points.
UC finished the game with 57.9 percent shooting, out-rebounded Brown, 43-23, and scored 48 points in the paint to 14 for the Bears. About the only things the Bearcats didn’t do well were free throw shooting (12-for-20) and 3-point shooting (6-22).
#--/rv SMU 72, Gardner-Webb 44
Semi Ojeleye scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as SMU cruised to a 72-44 season-opening victory over Gardner-Webb on Friday night.
Ojeleye was 8 of 15 from the floor and made three 3-pointers. Shake Milton had 13 points, and Sterling Brown and Jarrey Foster added 11 apiece for the Mustangs in coach Tim Jankovich's debut. Jankovich takes over the program after four seasons as associate head coach under Larry Brown.
Tyrell Nelson led Gardner-Webb with 13 points. David Efianayi added 10 points. The Bulldogs shot 31 percent overall from the floor, and just 23 percent on 5-of-22 shooting in the second half.
The Mustangs trailed 28-27 at halftime, but opened the second half on a 10-0 run and cruised from there. Ojeleye scored five points and Milton hit a 3-pointer during the stretch.
Temple 97, La Salle 92 (OT)
Six players scored in double figures to lead Temple men's basketball to a 97-92 overtime win against Philadelphia Big 5 rival La Salle in the season opener for both teams on Friday night. The Owls got seven points from Shizz Alston, Jr. in the extra period, double-doubles from Obi Enechionyia and Ernest Aflakpui as well as career and team-high 21 points from Daniel Dingle.
Temple led by 10 with less than six minutes remaining in regulation, but the Explorers made a late push and ultimately tied the game for the first time in the second half with five seconds remaining. In overtime, the Owls hit 8-of-12 at the free throw line including 4-of-4 in the final five seconds to seal the win.
Enechionyia added a career and game-high 14 rebounds to 20 points and four blocks, while Aflakpui scored a career-high 12 points while tying his career-high with 10 boards.
Freshman Quinton Rose came off the bench to hit 5-of-8 from the field for 12 points in his debut with the Owls, while fellow freshman Alani Moore scored eight points. Alston, Jr. finished with a career-high 14 points along with career highs of six assists and three steals, and Mark Williams rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points.
Dingle's career-high 21-point effort came on 7-of-11 shooting including 3-of-4 from long range. Dingle also recorded a career-high three steals while tying his career best with five assists.
La Salle's B.J. Johnson led all scorers in the game with 23 points, while Jordan Price added 22 for the Explorers.
An early 9-0 run gave the Owls their largest lead of the first half, an eight-point, 13-5 advantage at 15:49. Moore and Aflakpui combined for all nine points in the run as Temple hit six of its first 10 shots from the field.
La Salle's three-point shooting quickly got the Explorers back in the game, as they hit 4-of-7 from long distance early and cut the margin to three, 17-14 at 13:31. The game saw its first tie at 24-24 just past the midway point of the first half which was followed by seven lead changes down the stretch.
With six straight points from Dingle followed by an Enechionyia dunk near the final minute, the Owls led by seven before the Explorers scored the final four points of the half. Temple took a 42-39 lead into the break behind 13 first-half points from Enechionyia and 11 from Dingle.
Temple matched its largest lead of eight after scoring the first five points of the second half, but La Salle cut it back down to three near the 17-minute mark. The Owls remained in the lead throughout the entire half until the tie in the final seconds, but La Salle was within easy striking distance most of the way.
Behind three-pointers from Dingle and Williams in an 8-0 run, the Owls took their first double-digit lead of the contest with 7:38 remaining, 67-57. After a couple scoreless minutes for Temple, the Owls still led by five.
Rose gave the Owls some cushion with back-to-back buckets for a nine-point, 77-68 lead with 2:23 remaining, but the Explorers came back yet again. Hitting 8-of-8 at the free throw line in the final two minutes, La Salle came within one point with 15 seconds remaining.
Alston, Jr. hit a pair of free throws at at the other end, but La Salle's Price tied the game from behind the arc with just five seconds left in regulation.
Temple used an 8-1 run to break an early tie in overtime, building a seven-point, 92-85 lead with 1:33 left. From there, the Owls held off La Salle at the free throw line.
USF 84, Florida A&M 73
Dominance under the basket led the USF men’s basketball team to an 84-73 win over Florida A&M in its season opener Friday at the Sun Dome.
USF (1-0) controlled the frontcourt with 46 points in the paint and held the Rattlers (0-1) to just 16. Behind Ruben Guerrero’s career-high 16 rebounds, USF outrebounded FAMU 47-32. The Spaniard also scored 13 points, on 5-of-9 shooting from the field, for his third-career double-double.
Junior forward Bo Zeigler did a little bit of everything with 15 points, four rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block in 29 minutes of play.
Junior guard Geno Thorpe tied his career-high with 19 points in his USF debut. Earning the start at the point guard position, the Penn State transfer led the Bulls with five assists and was one of four to make a 3-pointer.
USF trailed 11-10 within the first five minutes of play, but went on a 23-7 run over the next 7:31 to take its largest lead of the game, 33-18, with 7:06 remaining in the half. The Bulls took a 45-32 lead into halftime.
Behind a game-high 22 points by FAMU’s Marcus Barham, the Rattlers got within five points midway through the second half. Ten USF turnovers also led to the narrow second-half margin. However, the Bulls shot 53.6 percent from the field and made 19-of-27 free throws (70.4 percent) to score the program’s most points in a season opener since 2002.
Houston 93, Morgan State 52
University of Houston junior guard Rob Gray led all players with 22 points, and junior forward Devin Davis added 19 points with 12 rebounds in his UH debut to lead the Cougars to a resounding 93-52 win over Morgan State on Friday evening inside Hofheinz Pavilion.
Gray, who entered the season as the American Athletic Conference's leading returning scorer, connected on 7-of-13 shots from the field, including 4-of-8 from the 3-point line. The Forest City, N.C., native did a little of everything Friday night, posting five rebounds with four assists and a pair of steals.
Making his debut as a Cougar, Davis was equally impressi ve. The Odessa Junior College product totaled 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, including four off the offensive glass. Davis collected the first double-double of his collegiate career after earning NJCAA All-America First Team honors a year ago.
The Cougars set the tone quickly and wasted little time in taking command of the game. Houston scored the game's first 11 points and led 28-5 midway through the first half after Gray buried a 3-pointer.
The Cougars connected on 45.9 percent of their shots in the first 20 minutes and limited the Bears to only 20.8 percent in taking a 45-19 lead into the locker room at the break.
In the second half, Houston connected on nearly 60 percent of its shots and was led by senior guard and 2016 Preseason All-American Athletic Conference First-Team selection Damyean Dotson, who scored all 13 of his points in the final 20 minutes.
Senior forward Danrad Knowles, the Cougars' only 3-year letterman, finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore point guard Galen Robinson Jr. and junior guard Wes VanBeck combined for 15 points with only two turnovers.
East Carolina 72, Grambling 57
Caleb White scored 20 points and East Carolina opened the season with a 72-57 victory over Grambling State on Friday night.
Kentrell Barkley added 14 points and B.J. Tyson 12 points and eight assists for the Pirates. The win also gave head coach Jeff Lebo his 100th victory at East Carolina, just the third to do so in program history.
White's 3-point play and Andrew Washington's dunk put the Pirates up by 15 with 16 minutes remaining.
The Pirates shot 59.1 percent in the first half in taking a 38-28 lead and finished at 51.1 percent on 23-of-45 shooting, leading by as many as 19 in the second half. They were 21 of 33 at the free-throw line while the Tigers were 7 of 9.
Wagner 67, #18/16 UConn 58
Terry Larrier had 19 points and freshman Alterique Gilbert had 14 to lead the Huskies in a loss against Wagner 67-58 in the season opener for both teams on Friday night.
Mike Aaman and Romone Saunders scored 15 points each. Corey Henson added 10 points for the Seahawks, who handed the Huskies their first loss in a home opener on campus. UConn came in 27-0 in such games.
UConn trailed by three points at halftime and went more than 5 minutes without a basket to open the second half before Jalen Adams' tip-in made it 41-37.
Wagner scored the next eight, pushing the lead to 49-37 on a 3-pointer by Saunders.
The Huskies went on a 12-0 run to tie the game, holding Wagner without a point for almost 7 minutes.
But Wagner responded, outscoring the Huskies 16-9 from there. Henson's 3-pointer with just over 3 minutes to play started a 7-0 run that put the game out of reach.
Jacksonville State 84, Tulsa 73
Junior Etou scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, but the Tulsa basketball team fell to Jacksonville State, 84-73, in the season opener Friday evening at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Etou, a junior forward playing in his first game at Tulsa after transferring from Rutgers, also led the Golden Hurricane with four 3-pointers, and finished 6-of-9 on field goals. He was one of seven players to make their debut Friday for TU. Junior college transfer guard Corey Henderson Jr. scored 15 points with three treys and added three assists, and freshman forward Martins Igbanu tallied 10 points and nine rebounds.
Jacksonville State had four players in double figures, led by guard Malcolm Drumwright, who scored 20 points. Guard Greg Tucker added 17 points and Norbertas Giga added 13 points. JSU shot 56 percent from the field and made nine 3-pointers. Tulsa shot 40 percent from the field, made 17-of-29 free throws, and outrebounded the Gamecocks, 36-31.
Tulsa opened a 9-6 lead at the 16:56 mark on a 3-pointer by Etou, and led 11-8 after a layup by senior guard Pat Birt. Jacksonville State, however, went on a 10-0 run to take an 18-11 lead at the 12:51 mark. The Hurricane cut it to 22-17 on a jumper by Etou with 8:58 left in the half, but the Gamecocks extended their lead to 27-18 with 6:57 to play on a layup by the seven-footer Giga.
A 3-pointer by Etou cut the deficit to 27-23 at the 5:51 mark. TU could not pull closer, as JSU took a 12-point lead in the final minute, and led 38-28 at the half.
Early in the second half, junior forward TK Edogi and sophomore guard Sterling Taplin made jumpers to cut the deficit to 40-32. The Gamecocks then scored seven of the next eight to extend their lead to 47-33, and maintained a double-digit lead for most of the second half. A 3-pointer by Birt made the score 60-51 at the 10:00 mark, but JSU scored 10 straight to take its largest lead at 70-51.
Henderson knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:18 remaining to cut the deficit to 75-66, but Tulsa was only able to pull within 78-70 on a pair of free throws by Henderson with 0:56 to play. Another trey by Henderson with 0:17 left made the score 82-73, but a basket by JSU in the closing seconds made the final margin, 84-73.
#6/6 North Carolina 95, Tulane 75
Three players scoring in double figures, including a career-high night from redshirt junior forward Cameron Reynolds, was not enough to withstand No. 6/6 North Carolina as Tulane men's basketball dropped its regular-season opener 95-75 at the Smoothie King Center.
Reynolds showed the maturation of his shooting touch with a career-high 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the floor. The Pearland, Texas, native had the hot hand from long range, hitting a career-high five three-pointers in his six attempts. Freshman guard Colin Slater put up 14 points in his collegiate debut and first collegiate start. Sophomore guard Kain Harris poured in 15 points off the bench and provided one of the Green Wave's highlights of the game with an emphatic dunk midway through the second half.
Tulane (0-1) hung tough early on and kept the game within a couple of possessions until the later part of the first half when the Tar Heels (1-0) extended the lead to 10, 32-22, with 5:16 remaining before halftime. That final five-plus minutes saw North Carolina grow its lead to as many as 17 points before sophomore guard Von Juilen drained a triple just before the buzzer to make the score 46-32 at the break.
The Green Wave played with more poise and consistency in the second half, though Carolina maintained control over the final 20 minutes. Slater had five points in a Tulane seven-point run early in the half that cut the deficit to 11, 53-42, with just under 17 minutes remaining. However, that would be as close as the Wave woulld get as Justin Jackson scored 15 of his career-high 27 points in the second half to lead all scorers and secure a win for the Tar Heels.