Gardner-Webb torches nets with 17 threes in rout of USC Upstate

By Jacob Conley (@gwujake)

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. — Gardner-Webb recovered from its recent shooting woes from beyond the arc, knocking 17 three-pointers in as the Runnin’ Bulldogs blitzed USC Upstate Saturday afternoon in Boiling Springs, 97-68.

GWU placed five players in double figures, while Pharrell Boyogueno and Jamaine Mann had double-doubles.

“That kind of thing just happened to us at High Point,” head coach Jeremy Luther said. “I told coach Marty (Richter of USC Upstate) to keep his head up. He has a great team. We just hit shots tonight. I’m proud of the team. They could have lost focus and folded after the High Point game and a tough loss to Radford, but they came in resilient and played really well.”

Mann started the game with a putback, and an Anthony Selden three capped an early 7-0 run.  After a pair of free throws broke the run, Boyogueno hit a pair of triples, and Buddy Simmons also hit one from beyond the arc, as GWU led at the first media stoppage, 18-4. Shahar Lazar continued the hot shooting with two more treys as the lead grew to 24-4. After a bucket from Upstate’s Mister Dean, Selden hit another three as the lead grew to 31-10. Boyogueno hit one more from deep later in the half to make the tally 36-14.

Karmani Gregory hit a three for the Spartans, but Simmons hit one more of his own on the other end. By the time Selden converted a reverse layup, Gardner-Webb led, 41-19. Simmons followed with another trifecta out of the under-8 media timeout. By the time Isaiah Richards hit a foul shot, the Runnin’ Bulldogs were doubling up the Spartans late in the first half, 50-25. Not to be outdone, Simmons hit another three while Richards punctuated the half with a slam as GWU led at the break, 56-33.

The threes kept falling to start the second half, as Simmons hit a pair and Boyogueno hit another. Selden and Mann then scored on drives to the bucket as GWU ballooned its lead to 69-38. Selden hit another three, as did Lazar. Boyogueno followed with a rare two-point basket as the Runnin’ Bulldogs boosted their cushion to 79-44 with 11:47 left in the contest. GWU cooled off a bit from that point, but kept a working margin and led, 81-50. Brendan Mykalcio scored on drives to the basket and Colin Hawkins came off the bench for a layup. Taku Youngblood and Jacob Hudson also scratched the scorebook in the win.

A Reversal Of Fortunes: After shooting just 3-for-19 from long distance earlier in the week in a loss to Radford, the Runnin’ Bulldogs hit 17-of-37 from beyond the arc. While not approaching the school record of 26, it is the most triples that GWU has hit  since joining the Big South Conference, breaking the previous mark of 16 set against Longwood on February 3, 2017. It is also tied for the fifth-most threes made in a game in Big South history with three other teams.

“If we keep shooting like that from three, we might just win the national championship,” Luther quipped.

Because I’m Happy: Just like the Pharell Williams song, Pharrell Boyogueno made the crowd in Boiling Springs happy with his performance. His 18 points were a GWU career high, but Boyogueno does not care about individual accolades.

“As long as we win, it’s all good,” he said. “It’s not about me. It was good to be back home and have everyone behind us. On the road, man, everybody’s against you. You are in hostile territory. We have had a couple of really tough games on the road, but we stayed focused and put up a lot of shots in practice, and it paid off today.”

Stuffing The Stat Sheet: All 14 eligible players saw time on the floor for Gardner-Webb. Simmons led the team in scoring with 20 points, while Selden and Boyogueno had 18 each. Lazar had 11 and Mann rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10. GWU also only committed seven turnovers.

Up Next: GWU will stay at home and face Big South frontrunner UNC Asheville, while USC Upstate hosts High Point. Both games are set for Wednesday at 7 p.m.