Cougars' offense goes on hiatus in loss to Phoenix

  • Charles Bennett
  • Posted: Sunday, February 1, 2009 12:01 a.m.
    UPDATED: Thursday, March 22, 2012 5:19 p.m.
  • Text size: A A A
Nearly 13 minutes into the first half, the College of Charleston could only claim two points against Elon's 23. The Cougars mustered just eight points in the opening half of Saturday's 59-53 loss.
Alan Hawes /The Post and CourierNearly 13 minutes into the first half, the College of Charleston could only claim two points against Elon's 23. The Cougars mustered just eight points in the opening half of Saturday's 59-53 loss.

Elon hung on in the closing minutes to beat the College of Charleston, 59-53, Saturday at Carolina First Arena, but to fully appreciate how the Phoenix beat the Cougars, it's necessary to rewind just a bit and look at what happened in the first half.

Against a Charleston team that was averaging 80.2 points per game, Elon led the Cougars 28-8 at halftime.

Eight points for Charleston. That's not a typo.

The Cougars would come back to trail by a point with 3:44 to play in the second half only to see the game slip away, but all anyone could seem to talk about afterward was the first half.

"Unbelievable," said Charleston forward Jermaine Johnson. "Eight points in the first half. Eight points. That's got to be some kind of record."

Actually, yes.

It was the fewest points the Cougars have scored in a half since scoring 14 against Massachusetts in 1997 and the fewest the Cougars have scored in a half since the shot clock was instituted in college basketball in 1986-87.

The NCAA record in the shot clock era is four points in a half, scored by

Savannah State on Jan. 7, 2008, in the second half of an 85-25 loss to Kansas State.

"I never expected to be down like that at halftime," said Charleston coach Bobby Cremins. "Never."

The Cougars (16-5, 8-3 SoCon) were expected to have little trouble against Elon (6-13, 3-8) a team they had beaten, 77-69, on the road earlier this season.

In addition, the Cougars, who came into the game leading the SoCon in field goal percentage and 3-point field goal percentage, were coming off a strong offensive performance.

On Thursday night, the Cougars polished off UNC Greensboro, 89-73. In that one, Charleston led, 55-37, at the half after shooting 21 of 31 (67.7 percent) from the field, including 13 of 22 (75 percent) from 3-point range.

On Saturday, the Cougars were 3-for-22 from the field (13.6 percent) in the first half, including 0-for-9 from 3-point range.

Call it nightmare on George Street.

"It's amazing," Cremins said. "Thursday night, I thought we weren't going to miss a shot in the first half. Tonight, I thought we were going to break an NCAA record for least amount of points. It was amazing. We couldn't make a shot. We were stuck on two for a long time."

Charleston trailed 26-2 with 2:44 to play in the first half after missing 18 of its first 19 shots from the field and committing 10 turnovers.

At halftime, Cremins reminded the Cougars of a game last season against Temple in which Charleston came back to win after trailing by 25 points at the half.

"We were actually in high spirits at the half," Johnson said. "It wasn't like they were whupping on us. We were playing defense, we just weren't making shots. We just weren't finishing at all. But we knew we could come back."

Thanks to full-court pressure, the Cougars rallied in the second half. A short jumper from the baseline by Marcus Hammond cut the Elon lead to 45-44 with 3:44 to play, and the Carolina First Arena crowd of 4,011 was on its feet and roaring its approval.

But a turnover, two missed free throws and a missed 3-pointer on the Cougars' next three possessions all but spelled the end, and Elon closed the game out by making 7 of 9 free throws in the last 51.5 seconds.

"We wanted to keep the momentum going," said Elon forward Ola Atoyebi, who led all scorers with 19 points. "We knew they were going to make a run. We just had to withstand it and withstand the crowd. We did that."

The loss leaves the Cougars in a precarious position in the SoCon standings. Charleston remains in second place in the South Division standings behind league-leading Davidson (18-3, 11-0) with nine games to play, with crosstown rival The Citadel breathing down the Cougars' neck.

The top two teams in each division earn a first-round bye in the Southern Conference Tournament, which is scheduled for March 6-9 at Chattanooga, Tenn.

Charleston plays at Western Carolina on Thursday and at Davidson on Saturday.

"We've got to find a way to regroup and come back after this one because that's two out of three that we've lost," Johnson said. "That's not going to cut it. Eight points, we've got to get over that."

3-Point Field Goals — Elon 5-13 (Sanders 2-3, Bonney 0-1, James 2-4, Carter 0-1, Long 1-4); CofC 2-22 (Scott 0-2, Wiggins 0-2, Goudelock 0-2, White Jr. 2-10, Monroe 0-2, Hammond 0-4). Steals — Elon 7 (Carter, Long 2); CofC 10 (Johnson, Scott, Wiggins, White Jr. 2). Blocks — Elon 3 (James 2); CofC 2 (Johnson, Goudelock). Turnovers — Elon 16 (Atoyebi 5); CofC 15 (Goudelock 4). Technicals — None. A —4,011.