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Wednesday's men's basketball roundup
VMI wins its third straight; Mercer erases a 23-point lead on the road
VMI - The VMI basketball team earned a hard-fought 91-82 victory over visiting Furman University Wednesday night at Cameron Hall to mark the first time in three years the Keydets have won three straight league contests.
The win is significant for VMI in that it snapped a five-game losing streak to Furman and is the first win over the Paladins since claiming a 76-67 win in Lexington on January 1, 2022.
FUR - VMI shot over 51% from the floor and converted on 24-of-27 trips to the foul line to down Furman, 91-82, on Wednesday night at Cameron Hall in Lexington, Va.
Leading 43-36 at the break following an 8-0 run to end the first half, VMI's Tan Yildizoglu converted a three-point play to open the second half to extend the Keydet lead to 46-36. Furman trimmed the margin to 46-40, but the Keydets answered with a 7-0 run to increase their advantage to 53-42 on AJ Clark's breakaway jam with 15:37 to play and the Paladins got no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
MER - Ahmad Robinson scored 33 points including two clutch free throws with 7.5 seconds to play to help guide Mercer to a 79-78 win over UNCG Wednesday night from First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The win snaps a four-game losing streak for the Bears and Mercer becomes the first team to hand UNCG a loss on its home court this season as the Spartans entered the game 7-0 on their home court this season.
UNCG - The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men's basketball team was edged by Mercer, 79-78, on Wednesday night at the First Horizon Coliseum in The Southern Conference (SoCon) action.
Four Spartans recorded double figures including Ronald Polite III who paced UNCG with 20 points. Demetrius Davis recorded his first double-double of the season and second career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Kenyon Giles and Joryam Saizonou also chipped in 11 points each.
ETSU - First it was Quimari Peterson. Then it was John Buggs III. On Wednesday night it was Jaden Seymour's turn.
Seymour set a Freedom Hall scoring record with a career-high 34-point outburst as ETSU men's basketball routed Western Carolina 85-58 on Wednesday night in Southern Conference action.
Seymour, who notched his second straight double-double and 12th of his career, added a season-high 13 rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
WCU - Western Carolina's Ice Emery drained a 3-pointer with four and a half minutes remaining in a seesaw first half that gave the Catamounts a two-point, 31-29 lead. However, homestanding East Tennessee State closed the opening half on a 15-to-4 run to lead by nine at the break before outscoring WCU 20-to-9 over the first 10 minutes of the second half to earn an 85-58 Southern Conference victory at Freedom Hall.
WOF - The Wofford men's basketball team (11-9, 5-2) rode a strong first half to defeat The Citadel (5-13, 0-7) 79-68 on Wednesday night in Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. The team shot 77.8 percent from the field during the first stanza to jump out to a 26-point lead.
"We definitely got off to good start," said head coach Dwight Perry. "I thought we were really locked in and connected on the defensive end. Credit to The Citadel for responding and doing a good job in the second half. We played a clean and really connected first half that helped us win."
CIT - The Citadel basketball team fell behind early before a 34-16 start to the second half pulled them within eight, 68-60, with 5:49 to go. The Bulldogs could not get any closer as their comeback attempt came up short, 79-68, on Wednesday evening.
Brody Fox led the Bulldogs with 18 points while Paxton Davidson was close behind with 16, five rebounds, and four assists. Cam Glover was a huge part of the Bulldogs' second half surge as all of his 14 points came in the last 20 minutes.