To win 4 at the SCT?

Chattanooga Times Free Press: The College of Charleston came close last year only to run out of air against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in the men's championship game in McKenzie Arena. Elon won three games the year before and lost in the fourth. Furman had the same fortune in 2002.

Chattanooga 78, Davidson 73

AP:

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Ricky Taylor scored 22 points and Ty Patterson added 20 to help Chattanooga defeat Davidson 78-73 on Monday night, snapping a five-game losing streak.

The Mocs (14-15, 6-10 Southern Conference) trailed 35-32 at halftime, and shot 52 percent from the field in the second half (26 of 56), including 5 of 10 from 3-point range.

Chattanooga outscored the Wildcats 8-3 after halftime, taking its first lead since 6:56 left in the first half, 40-38, on Keegan Bell’s 3 with 17:24 to play.

Davidson (14-14, 9-7) would lead again, 52-50 with 10:03 remaining, but the Mocs scored 11 straight. Jeremy Saffore’s layup put Chattanooga up 61-52 with 6:38 left, and the Wildcats wouldn’t get any closer than six points the rest of the way.

Jake Cohen scored 16 points and Brendon McKillop added 15 for the Wildcats.

Uch at the Roundhouse: The win snaps a season-long five game losing streak. It also snaps an eight-game losing streak to Davidson which had NBA rookie of the year candidate Stephen Curry for the last three seasons. DavidsonWildcats.com: Davidson went on to take a 35-32 cushion into halftime as seven of the ‘Cats 14 field goals in the frame were from long distance. The Wildcats return to action Wednesday, Feb. 24, for the home finale against UNC Greensboro. Davidson will honor its four seniors, Archambault, Bryant Barr, Dan Nelms and Rossiter, before the game. Ty Patterson: “It’s great to get a win after we’ve been so down. And to beat Davidson -- when was the last time we beat Davidson?”

Tonight in Chattanooga

Game notes: Chattanooga leads the all-time series 31-20, but the Wildcats have won the last eight. ... The best seed the Wildcats can get in the tourney is third in the South, meaning Davidson will have to play a first round game in the tourney for the first time since 2001. ... Appalachian State’s win Feb. 11 gives them a regular-season series sweep over the Wildcats. It’s the first time Davidson has been swept in a regular-season series by a SoCon opponent since 2000-01. Wofford has also won both games of the season series against the Wildcats. Chattanooga. TSN.

Oops

Jeff Hartsell on the SCT in the Queen City:

Well, Curry will be in Charlotte all right -- with Golden State on Saturday, March 6, against the Bobcats at Time Warner Cable Arena, competing directly for fans and media attention with the SoCon quarterfinals on the same night at Bojangles Arena.

Wait, there's more -- the Lakers and Kobe Bryant will be in Charlotte on March 5, just in time for the SoCon's opening night.

At least in Chattanooga, the SoCon was only competing with Mr. Belding.

Just put it, and leave it, in Charleston.

A first for Matt

SoCon win No. 1: Chattanooga in Chattanooga. Big.

Queen City SCT

Scott:

It’s cool to see that the Southern Conference basketball tournament will come to Charlotte in 2010. It was originally scheduled to go to Chattanooga, Tenn., next season, but instead will come to a bigger -- and for most of the schools, a closer -- venue.

I’ve gone to the last three Southern Conference tournaments, and I can tell you that they are an underrated gem. The drama is nearly always better than the ACC tournament, where the top 5-6 teams know they’re already getting into the NCAA tournament.

Of course, the tournament would be a WHOLE lot better in 2010 if Davidson’s Stephen Curry returned for his senior year -- that would give it the headliner it would otherwise lack. I expect Curry’s “stay-or-go-to-the-NBA” decision to come soon.

Also: AP. SoCon. The biz journal. Chattanooga.

Fan shot

Watching the shot

The views went past the 100,000 mark sometime last night.

‘Nets. Ssss. Plurals.’

What’s Stephen done? This guy is talking about Davidson basketball.

In Chattanooga ...

Still talkin’.

Some 3-pointer

The third sentence of the first AP story out of Chattanooga last night read like so:

Curry hit a 3-pointer as time expired to give the Wildcats a 41-28 halftime lead.

Yes.

Right.

Suppose that’s true.

Then the video of said 3-pointer showed up today, oh, here, here, here and here. And here. Also here. Probably plenty of other places, too, but these’ll do for now.

I could be wrong, but seems to me the shot’s path to everywhere-ness started with local TV news in Chattanooga, then went to DavidsonCats.com, then to personal blogs, then to wider-audience blogs and YouTube ... and then to the Charlotte Observer’s charlotte.com and SportsCenter and ESPN.com.

I feel like all this says something important about media here in the early 21st century.

But give me till the weekend to mull that over.

Coverage

Uch for Chattanooga:

Stephen Curry proved to be worth the price of admission.

The Davidson All-American and the nation’s leading scorer helped draw 9,234 to McKenzie Arena and lived up to expectations with a dizzying array of shots, passes, ball-handling and a play destined for SportsCenter in a 92-70 Davidson victory over the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Uch for Charlotte:

It might be worth a minute to check YouTube for a new Stephen Curry highlight.

The Davidson guard swished a 3/4-court shot -- not a heave -- at the halftime buzzer and led Davidson to a 92-70 victory over Chattanooga on Wednesday.

The shot

Stephen from ... 75.

92-70

Everybody comes to see Stephen make magic. And that’s fine. He’ll almost always oblige. But what all those people also end up seeing, and this goes for all the people in Charleston and all the people in Boone and all the people in Statesboro and now all the people in Chattanooga -- what I’m saying is that what’s becoming harder and harder to miss is Davidson doing what Davidson does. Watch the games. Look at the box scores. I see Andrew. I see Max. I see Will. I see Ben. I see Brendan. I see Bryant. I see Steve. I see a team that right now, on Jan. 28, 2009, is better than its predecessor was on Jan. 28, 2008. I do. So. That’s 10-0. That’s 40 in a row. The story’s not over. The story continues. AP. Early Uch. UTC. UTC Notes. UTC Quotes. The Chattanoogan. Davidson. DavidsonNews.net.

Up against Chatt

Two years ago.

Last year.

Last game.

Game! Of! The! Night!

Kyle:

... the margin for offensive error is being wiped out by the pride of French Canada, William Archambault, who has been a real parlez-vous ass-kicque for opponents of late. The 6-6 junior is putting in 50 percent-or-better shooting nights on a regular basis now, and can reliably be counted on to hit key 3's whenever the team needs them. Now all he needs is his own YouTube video.

Shulman on Stephen

On the video: “He’s not so hard to scout. He’s so hard to stop.”

Tonight in Chattanooga

Mark Wiedmer:

Shulman’s answering machines have been filled for months with people calling him for tickets for this game. Over the Christmas holidays, his wife Amy got more than one call from family and friends wondering if she or John could get their children a Stephen Curry No. 30 Davidson jersey to put under the tree.

Also: Davidson. UTC. Bleacher Report. Even more from the Chattanooga paper. Charlotte. Big crowd.

Two from Chattanooga

Here:

More than 7,000 spectators are expected to witness the SoCon matchup between UTC (9-11, 5-4) and Davidson (16-3, 9-0) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in McKenzie Arena with a subplot of the game being Stephen vs. Stephen.

And here:

“You get a chance to say later, ‘I saw him when ... I was there when ... He did such-and-such and I saw it all.’”

The Stephen show

Uch:

Just like when any rock/pop/rap star -- from Paul McCartney to Lil’ Wayne -- rises in prominence, Curry will start receiving extra security attention starting this week.

The Davidson bus was set and ready to leave an hour after its game at Georgia Southern, but Curry was still in the gym signing autographs for children.

Iamarino, the SoCon commissioner, said Friday that security for Curry and the Cats has become an issue that nobody in the league has dealt with before.

“Curry is very gracious about signing autographs, but the Davidson AD (Jim Murphy) said, ‘We can’t have him out there for an hour and half, and we’ll need help to make it more orderly,’” Iamarino said, recalling a conversation during recent SoCon meetings in Asheville, N.C.

“They’re nice problems to have,” he added. But it has forced people to think about extra security and protocol to deal with somebody who has become the face of college basketball.”