Charleston rolls past Greensboro

Fresh off a loss to The Citadel, the College of Charleston came into Thursday night's game against UNC Greensboro wanting to set the tone with defense.

But there are nights when defense simply doesn't matter for the Cougars, and this was one of them.

UNC Greensboro just couldn't match the Cougars' firepower and Charleston rode a near record-setting night offensively to an 89-73 Southern Conference victory in front of a Carolina First Arena crowd of 3,227.

"The main focus was defense," said Charleston guard Tony White Jr. "We wanted to make a statement defensively. But it seemed like our offense took over the game, so you've got to go with it."

White led the Cougars with 17 points and didn't miss a shot, making all five of his shots from the field — all from 3-point range — and two free throws on a night when Charleston made 13 of 22 3-point shots.

Charleston (16-4, 8-2 SoCon) shot 55.6 percent from the field for the game, led by as many as 22 points and suffered few anxious moments against UNCG (3-16, 2-8).

Ben Stywall finished with 26 points for UNCG and Damian Eargle chipped in 24, but the game was essentially decided in the first half.

Charleston led 55-37 at halftime after shooting 21 of 31 from the field (67.7 percent) and 12 of 16 from 3-point range (75 percent).

The Cougars started the game at a blistering pace, making their first six 3-pointers and 8 of their first 9 shots from the field.

"In the first half, it seemed like we didn't miss a shot," said College of Charleston coach Bobby Cremins. "I couldn't get over it. Everybody I put in the game was making shots. And it was fun to see."

The 12 first-half 3-pointers set a school record for 3-pointers in a half, eclipsing the previous record of nine.

Five different players made a 3-pointer for the Cougars in the first half, and by game's end, four players finished with double figures and three more finished with eight points.

"The second half, we're up 15 and I decided to just let them play," Cremins said. "Greensboro is a dangerous team, but that first half, that's as well as we can shoot the basketball."

Charleston ramped things up defensively in the second half, holding the Spartans to 38.2 percent shooting from the field.

"The second half, we focused more on our defense," said reserve guard Donavan Monroe, who had 15 points, six assists and four rebounds. "We got stops and converted. That was how we got all those dunks in the second half. We just upped the intensity. "

The chief beneficiary was forward Jermaine Johnson, who scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half.

"The past few days, it was defense, defense, defense in practice," Johnson said. "We've been trying to kill each other every day in practice. In my pre-game speech to these guys, I tried to preach, 'Let's try to beat up on these guys like we have each other in practice. Let's take that on the court.' "