Jack Gibbs leads Davidson with 41 points in 81-77 win against Morehead State
Jack Gibbs didn’t have the kind of double-double he’d like to brag about Wednesday.
But he was satisfied with the end result, scoring a game-high 41 points in an 81-77 Wildcats victory over Morehead State at Belk Arena.
Gibbs equaled his career high – set against Charlotte in the Hornets Nest Game on Dec. 1 – and led Davidson (8-2) back from an early deficit for a bouce-back win after losing to Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Jordan Barham added 17 points and eight rebounds, and Peyton Aldridge had 11 points and eight rebounds for the Wildcats.
Of course, there was the other side of Gibbs’ double-double – the junior guard, who is fourth in the nation in scoring at 24.8 points per game, had a career-worst 10 turnovers.
Seven of those came in the first half as the Eagles (6-4) scored the game’s first 10 points and led by as many as 11 before Davidson got its act together.
“That wasn’t great,” Gibbs said of the turnovers. “That’s one of the parts of my game I have to get better at. I’ve been doing that all my life.
“Coach (Bob McKillop) tells me I need to trust the system, and sometimes I get away from that. But he’s been working with me, and it’s going to get better.”
Still, the Wildcats didn’t take the lead for good until Aldridge’s layup put them up 65-63 with 6 minutes, 34 seconds left in the second half. Their biggest lead, 75-67, came on Jordan Watkins’ 3-pointer with 2:58 left.
“Morehead State is an A-10 type team, the way they attack and how versatile they are,” McKillop said, referring to the Atlantic 10 Conference. “For us to play as well as we did after being down early, it’s a really good statement.
“The guys got their focus at the 15-minute mark, and they did a terrific job of making plays when they had to.”
Three who mattered
Jack Gibbs: Was 13 of 18 from the field (including 6 of 8 on 3-pointers), and 9 of 12 on free throws to equal his career best.
Jordan Barham: Scored 10 points in the second half, and gave the Wildcats some much-needed rebounding after Nathan Ekwu and Aldridge got into foul trouble.
Miguel Dicent: Morehead State guard led five players in double figures with 16 points.
Observations
▪ Davidson entered Wednesday’s game averaging just over nine turnovers a game. Against the Eagles, the Wildcats had nine in the first half and finished with a season-worst 16.
▪ While Davidson and Morehead State each had 31 rebounds, the edge on the offensive glass went to the Eagles, 13-6. That gave them a 16-4 edge in second-chance points.
▪ It was a tale of two halves for Davidson and Morehead State in 3-point shooting Wednesday. In the first half, the Wildcats made 2 of 10, while the Eagles hit 9 of 13 in taking a 37-34 lead. In the second half, Davidson turned things around, making 8 of 11. Morehead State managed 2 of 10.
▪ Morehead State coach Sean Woods was called for a technical foul late in the second half with the Eagles down 71-67. The resulting four-point swing (Gibbs hit a free throw, followed by Watkins’ 3-pointer) stretched the Wildcats’ lead to eight points.
Worth mentioning
▪ Even with Davidson’s students away on holiday break, Wednesday’s matinee game drew an above-average crowd – 4,561, the school announced.
▪ Brian Sullivan entered the game needing 19 points to reach 1,000 career points. He scored nine points Wednesday.
▪ Davidson will play its final game of 2015 on Monday, traveling to Berkeley, Calif., to take on California. Game time is 9 p.m. (EDT).
They said it
“He wants to win so badly, sometimes he wants to win too fastly. … But he was the guy that got us back in this game, with the big shots he made and the big plays he made.” – McKillop on Gibbs.
This story was originally published December 23, 2015 at 4:47 PM with the headline "Jack Gibbs leads Davidson with 41 points in 81-77 win against Morehead State."