Curry's 28 Leads Wildcats Past Wofford, 80-73
2/19/2007 10:33:54 AM | Men's Basketball
Sports Information - Joey Beeler
Recap | Box Score | Postgame Audio
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- For the eighth consecutive outing Stephen Curry reached the 20-point barrier with 28 points as the Davidson Wildcats held off Wofford 80-73 in men's basketball action Monday evening at Belk Arena. Now winners of eight straight and 20 of its last 21, Davidson set a new school record for regular season wins improving to 24-4 on the campaign and 15-1 in conference affairs, while Wofford drops to 9-18 overall and 4-14.
Curry went 10-of-20 from the floor with four treys and a perfect 4-for-4 from the line to finish in double figures for 27th time in his brief Wildcat career. With his performance this evening, Curry upped his average to 20.7 points per outing to take over the SoCon's individual lead for scoring average. Until tonight, UNC Greensboro's Kyle Hines had controlled the top spot in the league from game one of the 2006-07 season.
The frontcourt duo of Boris Meno (13, 11) and Thomas Sander (14, 10) each recorded their ninth and eighth career double-doubles, respectively, while Jason Richards scored 11 points and broke Davidson's single-season assists record of 208 with six set ups on the evening. Andrew Lovedale reached double figures for the third time in four games and was the fifth Wildcat to hit the 10-point plateau with just that in 17 minutes off the bench.
Brian Westerholt photo |
| Stephen Curry is averaging 25.4 points during the 'Cats' most recent streak. |
A Lovedale layup with 15:07 left was part of an 11-3 Wildcat run to begin the second half as Davidson grabbed the lead for good. Wofford closed to within 48-47 at the 13:26 mark, but the 'Cats slowly stretched the margin to as many as 11 (72-61) following Curry's final triple of the evening.
Trailing 74-64 with 3:04 left, Wofford's Shane Nichols made back-to-back long range jumpers to make it 74-70, but couldn't inch closer as the Wildcats hit all six of their attempts from the charity stripe in the closing minute.
The opening 20 minutes of action featured nine lead changes and five ties before Wofford's Junior Salters connected on treys in consecutive trips to close the half and send the Terriers into the break leading, 41-37.
Curry, who spent most of his time at the point in the first half due to Richards' foul trouble led the Wildcats with 14 points, while Nichols added the same for Wofford.
After the Wildcats held a 21-19 edge on the boards in the first half, Davidson dominated the glass in the final stanza to outrebound the Terriers, 49-28.
Nichols was impressive for Wofford pouring in 27 points on 9-of-19 shooting and five triples, while reserve guard Matt Estep was the only other visitor in double digits with 10.
Davidson shot 42.0 percent (29-69) overall and hit just 6-of-18 (33.3 percent) from long range, but made up for it at the stripe missing just four of its 20 tries for an 80 percent total. Wofford connected on eight second half treys to finish the contest 14-of-33 (42.4 percent) and 43.1 percent (25-58) from the floor.
The Wildcats will return to action Feb. 22 when they entertain Furman in their home finale. Davidson seniors' John Falconi and Lamar Hull will be recognized before the 7 p.m. tip-off. Wofford begins a two-game homestand to conclude the regular season with Georgia Southern on Thursday at 7 p.m.
