Rebels drop opener in OT
Dunk seals Charleston win
OXFORD, Miss. — Cedrick Bowen’s dunk with 0.1 seconds left in overtime lifted Charleston Southern to a 66-65 win over Ole Miss in the season opener for both teams.
Bowen, who finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, followed a miss on a driving layup attempt by Saah Nimley. After a replay review, Bowen’s athletic, two-handed dunk was ruled good. Ole Miss had its inbounds pass intercepted at the buzzer.
Arlon Harper led the Buccaneers with 17 points, while Will Saunders and Bowen had 12 apiece. Charleston Southern missed a potential gamewinning 3-point shot in regulation, and led 29-17 at halftime.
Martavious Newby and M.J. Rhett had 14 and 11 points, respectively, for the Rebels.
Ole Miss struggled offensively, shooting 19 of 63 (30.2 percent) from the field and led only once after the opening three minutes, on a 3-point shot by LaDarius White, 6564 with 59 seconds left in overtime.
It was only the second win by Charleston Southern over a power conference team. The Buccaneers defeated South Carolina 85-81 in December of 1996. The Buccaneers, who were picked fifth in the Big South Conference preseason poll, trailed only once after the opening three minutes of play.
Charleston Southern was 22 of 67 (32.8 percent) from the field and struggled from the free-throw line, hitting 14 of 27.
However, the Buccaneers compensated by forcing 17 turnovers, mostly in the first half while building a doubledigit lead.
Ole Miss converted 19 of 63 (30.2 percent) shots, and went more than eight minutes without a field goal in the first half. The Rebels had a first-half stretch of 11 consecutive misses from the field, compounded by eight turnovers.
BULLDOGS OPEN WITH WIN OVER CATAMOUNTS
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Mississippi State’s Roquez Johnson had 16 points to lead three Bulldogs in double digits and Mississippi State defeated Western Carolina 66-56.
Fred Thomas added 15 points for the Bulldogs and Gavin Ware had 14 points and 10 rebounds for his 10th career doubledouble.
The Bulldogs were 17 of 37 from the field and led 31-30 at halftime. The Catamounts shot 21 of 58 from the field and nine of 24 from beyond the arc.
The Catamounts were led by James Sinclair’s game-high 20 points. Rhett Harrelson scored 14 points and Mike Brown added 11.
It was the season opener for both teams and also the first meeting between the two schools.
Wester Carolina built an early 16-10 lead only to see Mississippi State respond with a 15- 4 run. Mississippi State would not trail again and led by as many as 11 points in the second half. Western Carolina remained close in the first half thanks to a 5- of-10 showing on 3-pointers.
SEC
(1) Kentucky 85, Grand Canyon 45 at Lexington, Ky.: Andrew Harrison scored 16 points and Kentucky dominated Grand Canyon in every phase of the game. Willie CauleyStein added 12 points, Dakari Johnson had 13 rebounds and 10 points and Trey Lyles had 14 points for Kentucky, which stretched its lead to 40 in the final minute.
(7) Florida 68, William & Mary 45 at Gainesville, Fla.: Dorian Finney-Smith scored 15 points, Michael Frazier II added 14 and Michigan transfer Jon Horford chipped in 11 points for the Gators, who won their 24th consecutive season opener and improved to 19- 0 on opening night under coach Billy Donovan. Omar Prewitt led the Tribe with 15 points.
Georgia Tech 80, Georgia 73 at Atlanta: Quinton Stephens scored a career-high 22 points while making six 3-pointers, and Georgia Tech (1- 0) earned its first four-game winning streak in the state rivalry in 51 years. Nemanja Djurisic led Georgia (0-1) with 18 points. Marcus Thornton had 12.
Texas A&M 109, Northwestern State 68 at college Station, Texas: Jalen Jones and Antwan Space scored 16 each as Texas A& M raced past Northwestern State in the season opener for both teams. The Aggies recorded triple digits in a contest for the first time since a five-overtime, 116-110 loss to Baylor in 2008.
South Carolina 81, North Florida 56 at Columbia, S.C.: Demetrius Henry and Ty Johnson scored 12 points apiece to lead South Carolina to a season-opening win.
AAC
(17) UConn 66, Bryant 53 at Storrs, Conn.: Ryan Boatright scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds as UConn opened up defense of its national championship with a win over Bryant University. Amida Brimah added 12 points and five blocked shots for the Huskies, who won their 15th consecutive season opener.
(22) SMU 93, Lamar 53 at Dallas: Ben Moore scored a career-high 22 points and added a team-high nine rebounds with five assists to lead SMU over Lamar. Yanick Moreira added 19 for SMU, equaling his career high. Lamar was limited 31 percent shooting from the floor, 5-for-20 on three-pointers.
Cincinnati 52, St. Francis (Pa.) 37 at Cincinnati: Octavius Ellis scored 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds and added three steals and two blocks as the Cincinnati defense smothered St. Francis, forcing 21 turnovers and holding the Red Flash to 30 percent shooting from the field (12- of- 40) and 25 percent (4-of-16) from 3-point range.
Temple 40, American 37 at Philadelphia: Mark Williams scored 11 points and added nine rebounds, and Temple (1- 0) beat American University (0-1). Will Cummings added seven points, six rebounds, and a team-high six assists for the Owls, who shot just 22 percent from the field but got to the free throw line 18 times.
East Carolina 99, NC Wesleyan 81 at Greenville, N.C.: B.J. Tyson scored 22 points and Michel- Ofik Nzege added 18 more to lead East Carolina over Div. 3 NC Wesleyan.
Tyson shot 7 of 10 from the field and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line to become the first East Carolina player to score more than 20 points in his debut game since Darrell Jenkins in 2006. Nzege, who was 7 of 9 from the field, also had 12 rebounds.
South Florida 75, Flagler 61 at Tampa: Chris Perry scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds Nehemias Morillo added 13 points and had 10 rebounds and Corey Allen Jr. added 10 points in coach Orlando Antigua’s first game of record for the Bulls.
South Florida never trailed, taking a 45-27 advantage into the break and held off Div. 2 Flagler in the second half.
SEC WOMEN
(4) Tennessee 97, Penn 52 at Knoxville: Nia Moore had 24 points and 14 rebounds to set career highs in both categories as the short-handed Lady Volunteers opened the season with a victory.
The Lady Vols had only eight available players because coach Holly Warlick handed down one-game suspensions to guards Ariel Massengale and Andraya Carter and two-game suspensions to Jannah Tucker and Cierra Burdick last week.
The Lady Vols still had more than enough firepower to beat Penn. Freshman guard Alexa Middleton had 20 points, 11 assists and six rebounds in her Lady Vols debut and Bashaara Graves had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Beth Brzozowski had 11 points for Penn.
Ole Miss 92, Grambling State 67 at Oxford, Miss.: Senior Tia Faleru led the Rebels to a season-opening win with 23 points and a careerhigh 17 rebounds. Freshman Toree Thompson scored 15 points and fellow freshman A’Queen Hayes (HornLake) added 11.
Arkansas 63, Nicholls State 52 at Fayetteville, Ark.: Junior Melissa Wolff posted her third career doubledouble, scoring 17 points to go with 13 rebounds in the Razorbacks’ opener.
MID-SOUTH MEN
Middle Tennessee 77, Ohio Valley 60 at Murfreesboro, Tenn.: Reggie Upshaw Jr. scored six of his team’s first nine points, finishing with 17 as Middle Tennessee jumped away from Div. 2 Ohio Valley. Marcus Tarrance added 11 points and Jaqawn Raymond nine points and nine rebounds for the Blue Raiders, who shot 43 percent from the field and owned a 46-34 edge in rebounds.
Tennessee State 97, Reinhardt 66 at Nashville: Marcus Roper scored 23 points off the bench to lead six players in double figures as Tennessee State pulled away in the second half from NAIA Division 2 Reinhardt.
Southwest 91, Walters State 70 at Verties Sales Gymnasium: Rasheed Brooks had 18 points and four assists, Jalen McGaughy had 16 points and DeAndre McKinnie added 12 points as the Saluqis improved to 4-0 on the season
MID-SOUTH WOMEN
(13) Walters State 76, Southwest Tennessee 44 at Verties Sales Gymnasium: Southwest Tennessee’s. Briauna Mitchell (Hamilton High) scored 13 points and Shaqunda Durden added eight but the Lady Saluqis (1- 4, 1-2 Tennessee Community College Athletic Association) shot just 37.2 percent (16 of 43) from the field and went 7 of 16 from the free-throw line. Kayonica Tate led the Lady Senators (5- 0, 2- 0) with 20 points.