Associated Press
The Southern Conference Tourmament …
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ó Jeremi Booth scored a career-high 20 points to lead Appalachian State to an 86-75 victory over Georgia Southern in the first round of the Southern Conference tournament on Friday.
Josh Hunter and Kellen Brand each scored 16 points for the Mountaineers (13-17). Tyler Troupe led the Eagles (8-22) with 20 points.
Appalachian State will face Davidson in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
Defense appeared to be optional in the first half as Appalachian State shot 69 percent from the floor (20 of 29), while Georgia Southern shot 54.5 percent (18 of 33). The Mountaineers led 47-44 at the break.
Appalachian State grabbed control of the game with a 15-2 run to go ahead 62-49. The Eagles closed within seven at 80-73 with 31 seconds left, but the Mountaineers went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line to seal the win.
Elon 62, Wofford 55
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ó Monty Sanders scored a career-high 21 points to help Elon hold off Wofford 62-55 on Friday night in the first round.
Sanders, a senior forward, hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 1:30 to go and got two offensive rebounds following missed free throws in the final minute.
Brett James added 19 points for the Phoenix (11-19), who advanced to the quarterfinals against Chattanooga on Saturday night.
Noah Dahlman led the Terriers (16-14) with 18 points and Junior Salters scored 11.
Elon led 17-2 before the Terriers settled down. Wofford shot 9-for-26 in the first half to trail 34-22 at the break.
College of Charleston 69, UNC-Greensboro 56
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ó Jeremy Simmons scored 18 points off the bench on 8-of-8 shooting to lead College of Charleston to a 69-56 win over UNC-Greensboro.
White added 15 points for the Cougars and Dustin Scott had 16 rebounds.
The Cougars (24-7), who are trying to deliver coach Bobby Cremins his first SoCon tournament title in 30 years, will play Western Carolina in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Cremins won the 1979 league title with Appalachian State.
Ben Stywall led UNC-Greensboro (5-25) with 21 points and Pete Brown had nine.