De’Mon Brooks drives for a layup during the first half against Georgia Southern. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

How good is Davidson’s men’s basketball team heading into next weekend’s Southern Conference tournament? Very good – and Saturday’s 83-48 victory over Georgia Southern was an exclamation point on that.

Georgia Southern was the only team in the league to beat the Wildcats during the regular season, but this is not the same Wildcat team that lost to the Eagles, 70-57, on Jan. 14. Saturday’s game was never close, starting out with an 8-0 run for the Wildcats. They led by 26 points at halftime, and widened the margin in the second half to as many as 38.

Davidson Coach Bob McKillop talked to reporters after the game. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

“We took control of the game, and we were not back on our heels,” Coach Bob McKillop said afterward.

In fact, Georgia Southern was the last team to beat the Wildcats this season. Since that loss, they’ve won 14 straight.

“We’ve grown up and matured quite a bit since they taught us a lesson down there,” McKillop said.

Four Wildcats hit double figures: De’Mon Brooks scored 20, including 15 in the first half; Jake Cohen added 15; Tyler Kalinoski had 12; and JP Kuhlman had 10.

It was Senior Day, and a pre-game ceremony honored four players in their final games: Jake Cohen, JP Kuhlman, Nik Cochran, and Clint Mann, along with student manager David Sikule.

Kuhlman said afterward that the win is a good prelude to next weekend. “We have great momentum headed into the tournament. So we’ll have great week of practice next week to get ready for whoever we have coming up,” he said.

The game had plenty of highlights, such as Chris Czerapowicz’s 3-pointer with one second left in the first half, which put the Wildcats up 45-19.

With six minutes gone in the second half, Cohen brought a cheer when he took a pass from Tom Droney and slammed home a dunk, to make it 57-23.

Tyler Kalinoski had a hot hand in the second half, scoring eight of his points in the period including two three-pointers in the final 8 minutes.

The Wildcats were strong on defense – holding the Eagles to just 29.8 percent shooting, and forcing 15 turnovers – and on offense, making 56.4 percent of their own shots.

Davidson got a scare with 12:52 left in the game, when Cohen went down on the floor after getting hit in the mouth rebounding under the Eagles’ basket. He later got several stitches in his upper lip, and with his team comfortably ahead, he never returned to the game.

All four seniors were on the bench for good with four and a half minutes left.

That gave Davidson’s bench a good workout – and foreshadowed the Wildcats team of the future. The lineup had a bunch of less familiar names: Jordan Barham, Ali McKay, Mason Archie, Jake Belford, Clay Tormey, Youssef Mejri, and Connor Perkey.

Belford, a 6-9 freshman, showed his strength in the lane, including one play with 6:09 left. Standing at the top of the lane, he fed a neat pass to a cutting Tom Droney underneath for a basket. Droney had 9 points, all in the second half, including one basket off a steal, where he anticipated an Eagles’ pass, tipped it ahead to himself on the right side, and went full court for a layup.

Barham brought a cheer with 3 1/2 minutes, when he leaped high on the defensive end to swat away a short shot by the Eagles’ Cleon Roberts.

TOURNAMENT AT ASHEVILLE

As the top team in the Southern Conference’s South Division, Davidson gets a bye in the first round of the league tournament at Asheville next weekend. They’ll play their first game on Saturday, at noon, against the winner of Wofford vs. Georgia Southern. The semifinals will be Sunday, and the finals will be Monday night. The tournament will be televised on ESPN3 and the finals on ESPN or ESPN2.

GAME NOTES: Davidson’s 14-game winning streak is the third longest in the country. … A pre-game ceremony honored not only the graduating senior basketball players, but also cheerleaders, and Mr. Cat. And after the game, Mr. Cat took off his furry head for the first time in four years, revealing himself to be senior David Lloyd. … Senior Clint Mann dressed for the final home game, to take part in Senior Day, but didn’t see action. He’s been out since late January with a concussion. Coach McKillop said he has begun working out, but he hasn’t been cleared to play again yet.

RELATED LINKS

March 2, 2013, DavidsonWildcats.com, “Wildcats Cruise Past Georgia Southern on Senior Day for 14th Straight Victory, 83-48″

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