Strong 2nd half sends Davidson past Jacksonville

After closely playing national powers North Carolina and Kansas during the past two games, Davidson men’s basketball coach Bob McKillop knew expectations could “become a demon” entering Wednesday’s game against Jacksonville.

That demon haunted the Wildcats at times against the Dolphins, but a strong second-half performance helped Davidson overcome both en route to a 75-60 win in its first game at John M. Belk Arena in almost a month.

After going 6-for-14 on 3-pointers and entering halftime tied at 32, Jacksonville (9-5) continued its brigade from behind the arc, as guard Darien Fernandez made his first two 3-point attempts to open the second half.

Davidson (6-4) needed a spark. The trio of Peyton Aldridge, Jack Gibbs and Jon Axel Gudmundsson helped provide it.

Trailing 38-32, a layup by Aldridge ignited a 21-2 run, during which the Wildcats went 4-for-4 from behind the arc and started creating havoc on the defensive end.

The run helped provide enough cushion for Davidson, which rebounded from a poor shooting performance in the first half to shoot 57.7 percent in the second and secure the win.

Three who mattered

Aldridge: Davidson’s junior forward scored a game-best 29 points, with 11-for-15 shooting. He also added nine rebounds and five assists.

Gibbs: After going 2-for-7 on 3-pointers in the first half, Davidson’s senior guard made all four of his attempts from behind the arc in the second half. He finished with 22 points.

Gudmundsson: The freshman guard was crucial during the Wildcats’ second-half run, when he scored all 10 of his points.

Observations

▪ The Dolphins received a major boost from their reserves throughout the night, as they outscored the Wildcats’ reserves 30-8.

▪ Both teams finished with 10 offensive rebounds, but Davidson held a 14-0 edge on second-chance points.

▪ Jacksonville shot 44.4 percent from the field during the first half. Although the Dolphins shot 46.2 percent on 3-pointers during the second, they shot 29 percent from the field after making just three shots inside the arc.

Worth mentioning

▪ Aldridge’s 3-pointer with 14 minutes, 16 seconds left in the first half gave him 1,001 career points. He’s the 49th player in Davidson history to surpass the 1,000-point threshold.

▪ The Davidson women’s basketball team fell to Charlotte 93-79 Wednesday night at Halton Arena. Ciara Gregory, the 49ers’ senior guard, tied the single-game Halton Arena scoring record with a career-best 35 points.

They said it

“We found we could never pull away from them in the first half, and then all of a sudden we played not to lose rather than play to win.” – McKillop, on the difference between his team in the first and the second.

“At halftime, (McKillop) talked to me and told me to be more aggressive. I just came out determined to be more aggressive and help my teammates, and that’s what I did.” – Gudmundsson, on his second-half play.

This story was originally published December 21, 2016 at 10:06 PM with the headline "Strong 2nd half sends Davidson past Jacksonville."