Men's Basketball Loses at South Division Leader Davidson
2/28/2009 5:24:00 AM | Men's Basketball
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? Stephen Curry became Davidson's all-time leading scorer thanks to his 34-point effort as the Wildcats defeated Georgia Southern 99-56 Saturday afternoon (Feb. 28). The Eagles dropped to 8-20 overall and 5-14 in the Southern Conference.
Curry now has 2,488 points to take over the College's all-time record. He scored 20 of his 34 in the first half.
The Eagles could not find an answer to stop Davidson early on, falling behind 16-0 before Ben Drayton III (St. Marys/Camden County) hit a 3-pointer at the 14:30 mark. Curry answered with one of his own. Later in the half Sandy Perry (Perth Amboy, N.J./Barton County CC) hit a free throw then Colby Wohlleb (Boca Raton, FL/Boca Raton) hit two more cutting the deficit to 16. However, Will Archambault converted a lay-up and that would be the closest the Eagles would get.
“There's not a whole lot you can say about a game like this. We were totally overwhelmed early in the game. We're very short-handed right now, playing a lot of young guys and they couldn't adjust to the intensity and physicalness of the game,” said head coach Jeff Price.
GS found itself down 50-24 at the half, then Curry went on a 12-5 run of his own to help the Wildcats pull away for good. The junior All-America needed 30 points to pass John Gerdy to break the record. He finished 11-of-19 from the field, 5-of-9 from long distance and hit all seven free throw attempts.
“You can tell pretty much right away if he's going to have one of his games. He was 11-of-19 from the field, you can tell when he's really shooting the ball well and I could tell at our place he was struggling to shoot the ball (3-of-16 from 3-point range at Hanner Fieldhouse). In my opinion with him you have to hope he's not having one of those nights. He's going to get his if he's having one of those nights... He's obviously a great player,” said Price.
Drayton hit a team season-high 9-of-12 free throws (6-of-9 in the second half), went 3-for-4 from 3-point range and scored in double-figures for the 10th straight game. The true-freshman point guard added to his SoCon-leading 3-point shooting, now 41-of-79 this year at 51.9 percent.
Fellow freshman Wohlleb hit 6-of-8 free throws and added 11 points off the bench. Tyler Troupe (Gallatin, TN/Iowa Western CC) also scored in double-figures with 10 points.
The Eagles shot 35.6 percent for the game (16-of-45) and hit 20-of-34 free throws. They committed 25 turnovers and got out-rebounded 44-26. The loss was the 20th this year for the Eagles, only the second losing season in Price's 16-year head coaching career and the first time with that many losses.
“It's been tough on our guys. We've never had a season like this, we've been pretty successful the last 10 years. It's been difficult for us but we have no choice but to keep our heads up and keep fighting,” said Price, who noted they are currently playing with just seven scholarship players.
Andrew Lovedale and Steve Rossiter joined Curry in double-figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively. DC (24-6, 17-2) shot 54.7 percent (35-of-64) and hit 21-of-28 free throws.
The Eagles close out the regular season on Monday night (March 2), playing host to The Citadel. Tipoff for Senior Day is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
