December 31, 2008 | AP Press

LEXINGTON, VA — Chavis Holmes scored 15 points in the last three minutes and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 11 seconds left as Virginia Military Institute rallied to defeat Richmond 73-70 on Wednesday night.

The Keydets (10-2) extended their winning streak to six games and have won nine of the last 10, their best run since 1990.

After Holmes’ 3-pointer put VMI up 71-69, Richmond’s Kevin Anderson made the front end of a 1-and-1 for 71-70. Holmes added two free throws with 3 seconds left to finish with 23 points.

The Spiders (7-6) led 37-33 at halftime and built a 65-58 lead with 4:18 left. That’s when Holmes went to work, making two 3s, a jumper and seven free throws.

Travis Holmes added 19 points and Austin Kenon had 16 for VMI.

Anderson had 23 points for Richmond, his 22nd straight game in double figures, and David Gonzalvez had 11, his 14th straight.

December 31, 2008 | AP Press

CINCINNATI, OH – Jason Love scored a career-high 15 points as No. 22 Xavier took advantage of its size advantage, and freshman guard Brad Redford added a career-high 15 points from behind the arc Wednesday night, leading the Musketeers to a 78-57 victory over Robert Morris.

Xavier (10-2) was coming off back-to-back losses that sapped the Musketeers’ confidence. They were sloppy and sluggish in a 74-65 home loss to Butler on Saturday that prompted coach Sean Miller to make a lineup change against Robert Morris (6-7).

Freshman point guard Terrell Holloway made his first career start. Holloway is the only true point guard on the roster, and the offense tends to bog down when he’s not on the floor. He finished with six points and a career-high five assists.

Jeremy Chappell led Robert Morris with 17 points.

Holloway was gaining a bigger role each game before he suffered a stress fracture in his left foot, forcing him to miss two games in late November and early December. He has been working back into form from the injury, which has limited his practice time.

He made his mark early on.

Holloway passed to Love for an early basket as Xavier took the ball inside against the Colonials’ overmatched front line. Xavier opened with a 20-9 run built upon its inside game — the 6-foot-9 Love had seven of the points from under the basket and scored a season-high 11 in the first half.

When Robert Morris sagged inside, Xavier took advantage as well. Derrick Brown made an open 3-pointer from the right corner, and Redford made a pair of 3s that pushed it to 38-19. Redford finished 5-of-8, with every shot coming from behind the arc.

Rob Robinson had a pair of baskets that helped the Colonials cut the lead to 50-39 early in the second half. Love and Redford ended the comeback by restoring Xavier’s inside-out balance. Love had a couple of up-close baskets, and Redford made back-to-back 3s that pushed it to 60-41. Xavier led by as many as 26 points before sending in its substitutes.

Jamel McLean had a career-high 11 rebounds, helping Xavier dominate the boards.

December 31, 2008 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Scott Rodgers scored 18 points as Drexel used two second-half runs and held off city rival Saint Joseph’s 64-52 Wednesday night.

Jamie Harris added 16 points for Drexel (4-6).

Tasheed Carr scored 19 points and Ahmad Nivins 16 for Saint Joseph’s (5-7).

Leading 35-30 with 15:48 left, the Dragons went on an 11-4 run, then, after a free throw by Carr, scored 12 of the next 14 points to lead 58-37 at the 3:58 mark.

Saint Joseph’s went on a 15-1 run to close within 59-52 with 32 seconds left, but could get no closer.

The Hawks used an early 10-0 run to take a 20-9 advantage, and led 26-16 with four minutes left in the first half.

Harris then sparked a 16-2 run and hit a 30-footer at the halftime buzzer that gave Drexel a 30-28 advantage at the break.

December 31, 2008 | AP Press

PITTSBURGH, PA – Bill Clark scored 21 points and led a 9-0 run that gave Duquesne the lead for good midway through the second half of a 76-65 victory over Bowling Green on Wednesday.

Clark hit a driving layup and a 3-pointer — he was 4-of-5 beyond the arc — on successive possessions as Duquesne (9-4) turned a 41-35 deficit into a 44-41 lead. Damian Saunders finished the run with a layup and had 16 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots.

Aaron Jackson added 15 points and nine assists and had three baskets during a later 11-0 run that made it 64-49 with 4:30 remaining. Duquesne won its fourth in a row, outrebounding the Falcons 37-27.

Darryl Clements scored 20 points, Joe Jakubowski had 12 and Otis Polk had 10 for Bowling Green (6-6), which had won three of its previous four.

The Dukes have won nine games by the end of December for the second successive season after not previously doing so since the 1968-69 season.

December 31, 2008 by John Lamb | A10CollegeHoops

PHILADELPHIA – Five players scored in double figures for the Explorers, who cruised to a 89-64 victory over the visiting Manhattan Jaspers at the Tom Gola Arena on Wednesday afternoon.

Three La Salle (7-5) players, Ruben Guillandeaux (22 points), Vernon Goodridge (15 points) and Terrell Williams (14 points), put up career highs for points scored. Rodney Green added 18 points and Yves Mekongo Mbala 10 for the Explorers, who have now won three of their last four games.

Guillandeaux also led the team with eight rebounds and seven assists — both career highs. As a team, La Salle had 20 assists to just 12 turnovers. Coming into the game, the Explorers averaged 12.5 assists and 15.7 turnovers.

La Salle forced the Jaspers into committing 15 turnovers, which led to 20 points. The Explorers also held an edge in the fast break department as they scored 16 points to Manhattan’s two.

Manhattan was able to cut the Explorers’ lead to 13 with 16:30 left in the second half but that was the closest they came. La Salle went on to lead by as many as 26 points in the game.

Forwards Paul Johnson (concussion) and Jerrell Williams (back pain) were scratches. Becaue of the injuries, junior forward Steve Weingarten, a transfer from Connecticut College, saw the most playing time of his young La Salle career. He pulled down 3 rebounds to go along with a steal in 12 minutes of action.

Chris Smith, the Jaspers’ (7-5) leading scorer who averaged 15.5 points per game, was only able to manage 5 points on 1-of-12 shooting. Devon Austin and Antoine Pearson led Manhattan in scoring with 13 and 11 points respectively.

Austin and Andrew Gabriel each pulled down five rebounds. The Explorers held a 34-28 rebounding advantage.

The game was close for about eight minutes in the first half before the Explorers started to pull away. Three Explorers scored double digits in the first half, led by Green’s 13 points. Goodridge and Guillandeaux scored 11 and 10 respectively.

An emphatic Goodridge dunk with just under ten minutes to go in the first half started a 19-4 run that put the Explorers out in front 42-21 with 2:28 remaining. The junior forward also pulled down three boards and blocked two shots in the half.

Green went on a run of his own as he scored seven straight points to push the Explorers’ lead to double digits with 5:42 to go.

La Salle shot 69 percent from the field in the first half. They shot 60 percent for the game.

The Explorers will be back in action on Saturday afternoon as they welcome in the Howard Bison (1-10, 0-1) to the Tom Gola Arena.

December 30, 2008 | AP Press

ST. LOUIS, MO — Tommie Liddell III had 19 points and six assists, helping Saint Louis beat Maryland-Baltimore County 81-60 for its sixth straight victory at home on Tuesday night.

Freshman Willie Reed added a career-high 18 points while hitting all seven shots for the Billikens (8-5), who are 7-1 at the new Chaifetz Arena with the lone loss in overtime to Kent State. Saint Louis shot 53 percent and had enough depth to win despite a poor game from leading scorer Kevin Lisch, who missed his first six shots and had 10 points.

Darryl Proctor had 29 points and seven rebounds for Maryland-Baltimore County (6-6), which shot 38 percent and failed to build on a two-point victory at Nebraska a week earlier. Proctor was 11-for-18, while the rest of the Retrievers were 10-for-37.

December 30, 2008 | AP Press

LEWISBURG, PA — Freshman center Andrew Nicholson had 22 points, eight rebounds and nine blocked shots for St. Bonaventure in a 90-82 double-overtime win against Bucknell on Tuesday night.

Chris Matthews added 18 points, Jonathan Hall had 17 and 16 from Ray Blackburn had 16 for the Bonnies (8-4).

Justin Castleberry scored a game-high 23 points and Bryan Cohen added 19 for Bucknell, but the Bison fell to 3-9 on the season after having chances to win at the end of regulation and the first overtime.

The Bison made only 6 of 27 first-half shots, fell behind 34-20 at the half. But they hit 7 of 12 3-pointers after halftime and came all the way back, even taking the lead in the final minute.

St. Bonaventure outscored Bucknell 12-4 in the second overtime, as the Bison made only 2 of 10 shots.

With the game tied at 80, Blackburn put the Bonnies up with a spinning shot in the lane, then the Bison missed their next four shots and the visitors took control from the free throw line.

December 30, 2008 | AP Press

DAYTON, OH — Rob Lowery stole the ball for a dunk to tie the game with 2:09 to play, and Chris Johnson followed with a 3-pointer to put Dayton ahead for good, as the Flyers beat George Mason 66-62 on Tuesday night.

The Patriots (8-3) led for most of the second half, pulling to a 5-point advantage on a 3-pointer by Dre Smith with 4:41 left to play, but Dayton (12-1) went on an 11-2 run to steal the win.

The Flyers were led by Lowery and Marcus Johnson, who had 13 points each. George Mason’s Dre Smith had 22, and Cam Long added 15.

The Patriots held the lead for longer than 19 straight minutes around the break, pulling ahead by as many as 7 points. They started the second half with a 35-30 lead.

It was the 27th consecutive non-conference home win for the Flyers, who have not allowed any team to shoot higher than 45 percent form the field this season.

December 30, 2008 | AP Press

HACKENSACK, N.J. — Keith Cothran scored 20 points and Will Martell added 18 as Rhode Island defeated Fairleigh Dickinson 95-80 Tuesday night.

The teams played on even terms through much of the first half, and a jumper by John Galvin gave FDU a 22-21 lead with 7:17 to play. Rhode Island (9-4) then went on an 8-0 run, fueled by a pair of dunks by Lamonte Ulmer, to take a 29-22 lead with 5:45 left.

FDU (1-10) closed to 29-25 on a 3-pointer by Cameron Tyler. But Rhode Island pulled away with a 9-0 run and eventually increased its lead to 47-31 at the half.

Martell had a perfect shooting night for the Rams, going 7-for-7 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line.

Tyler had a game-high 25 points and eight assists to lead the Knights, and Terence Grier scored 21.

December 30, 2008 | AP Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charles Dewhurst scored all 13 of his points in the second half as Charlotte pulled away for a 79-68 victory over Long Island on Tuesday night.

Tied at halftime, the 49ers (5-6) opened the second half by hitting eight of their first nine shots during a 21-9 run to take command.

Dewhurst, who scored eight points during the run, was 5-of-6 from the free-throw line over a 12-second span to give the 49ers a 53-36 lead with 11:33 left.

The 49ers held the Blackbirds (4-7) to 35.6 percent shooting (21 of 59) in winning their third straight game.

Lamont Mack added 15 points for Charlotte, Charlie Coley chipped in 14, DiJuan Harris had 13 points and 10 assists and RaShad Coleman had 11 points.

Kyle Johnson scored 26 points and Jaytornah Wisseh added 21 for Long Island, which outrebounded Charlotte 41-36.