Frosh Three-Balls Lead 'Cats to 87-70 Triumph in Regular Season Finale
2/24/2007 10:41:41 AM | Men's Basketball
Joey Beeler -- Assistant SID
Recap | Box Score
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Davidson freshmen combined for 51 points and 14 treys, led by Bryant Barr's season-high 21 points on seven three-pointers as the Wildcats capped off their regular season with an 87-70 victory over The Citadel Saturday afternoon at McAlister Field House. The win was the 10th straight for Davidson and 22nd of its last 23 improving the SoCon's No. 1 seed to 26-4 overall and 17-1 in the league, while the Bulldogs fall to 7-22 and 4-14.
A native of Falmouth, Maine, Barr missed just two of his nine attempts, all from behind the arc to pace four Davidson players in double figures. Stephen Curry added 18, ending his nine-game streak with 23 points or more and William Archambault was perfect from the floor nailing all four of his tries from downtown to score 12 for the Wildcats.
Jason Richards also hit the 10-point plateau for Davidson with 11 points while handing out a game-high eight assists.
Davidson concluded the afternoon shooting 57.1 percent (28-49) overall and 15-of-28 (53.6 percent) on threes, totals only to be outdone against Illinois-Chicago earlier in 2006-07 when the Wildcats shot 58.1 and 57.1 percent, respectively.
The Wildcats stretched their lead to as many as 26 with just over three minutes to go following Archambault's final triple.
Prior to the first media stoppage, Davidson stormed out to a 14-0 advantage highlighted by all three of Curry's buckets from long range. The Wildcats added another field goal before The Citadel got on the board at the 14:07 mark in the first period with a Kevin Hammack trey.
After Curry was charged with his second foul midway through the first half, Barr picked up where his fellow freshman left off connecting on 5-of-6 from downtown including his last with two seconds left to send the Wildcats into the break up, 51-29.
Prior to this afternoon's affair, Barr's season-high was 11 points, which he set in Davidson's convincing win over cross-county rival Charlotte on Dec. 9, 2006 at Belk Arena.
Archambault also hit two three-pointers of his own as the Wildcat first-year players drilled all 10 of the club's trifectas in the opening 20 minutes of action.
Davidson shot lights out in the period hitting 64.3 percent (18-28) of its attempts overall while missing just six from deep for a 62.5 total.
Despite the loss, The Citadel placed five in double figures led seniors Kevin Hammack and J'Mel Everhart, who each had 14 points. Demetrius Nelson (12), Donny McLendon (11) and Vytautas Valiulis (10) were the others.
Behind eight boards from Boris Meno, right at his season average, the Wildcats easily outrebounded the Bulldogs, 39-19.
The Wildcats' current win total (26) is the highest ever by a McKillop-coached team, breaking the 1995-96 club's mark of 25.
Both teams return to action in next week's 2007 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament in Charleston, S.C., at the North Charleston Coliseum. After a first-round bye, Davidson will meet the winner of the#8/9 game on Thursday in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m., while the Bulldogs open play February 28.
