Baru, Cougars crush Phoenix

A lot of College of Charleston fans probably expected the worst when they walked into TD Arena on Saturday night. And understandably so with standout freshman guard Anthony Stitt out indefinitely after suffering a broken left hand in Thursday's stunning, 73-66, loss to UNC Greensboro.

Instead of struggling behind a makeshift lineup, the Cougars blew away Elon, 63-44, before a crowd of 4,022.

Freshman Adjehi Baru earned his first career double-double, scoring 18 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. He also had three blocked shots and three steals. Sophomore Trent Wiedeman also had a double-double, the eighth of his career, with 10 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. Wiedeman also had three blocks and three steals.

In rolling over the Phoenix, Charleston avoided losing its third straight home game, something no Cougar team has done since the 1977-78 season. The Cougars (12-5, 4-2 Southern Conference) next have a Thursday showdown at South Division-leading Davidson. Elon (8-8, 3-2) was coming off a 70-55 win at The Citadel.

"I thought Adjehi had tremendous energy. I don't know why he had so much energy, but his energy was at another level and his confidence was at another level. And Trent had 17 rebounds. That was nice to see," Cougars coach Bobby Cremins said.

"We were just ready to compete. I hate losing," Baru said.

Wiedeman said the biggest difference was that the team came out with a lot of intensity. "The last couple of conference games we lost (Wofford and UNCG), we didn't have a lot of energy."

While Baru and Wiedeman both had sparkling outings and electrified the crowd with a couple of powerful dunks, Cremins also gave a lot of credit to associate coach Mark Byington, who has been working with Baru and was making defensive calls.

Defense, Cremins said, was the key. Elon hit only 23.9 percent (16 of 67) of its field goal attempts and was 3 for 22 from 3-point range.

That poor shooting translated into rebounds, with the Cougars snagging 55 to Elon's 39.

"We just played great defense," Cremins said. "Matt Matheny (Elon's coach) said he was disappointed with the way his team played. We know Elon is better than that. They beat South Carolina. We know they're good."

Charleston managed to break away from Elon early. Elon was within 9-7 midway through the first half, when Charleston went on a 13-0 run.

The Phoenix closed within eight just before the half, but the Cougars went on another tear and led 43-20 five minutes into the second half. Their biggest lead was 25, 58-33, with 4:52 to go.

The runaway allowed Cremins to see a lot of different playing combinations. He said Nori Johnson, who replaced Stitt in the starting lineup, is "a work in progress," and complimented the sophomore for his effort but pointed out that Johnson committed four fouls.

Cremins also said good things about former starter Jordan Scott, who scored three points and had two rebounds, as well as Trevonte Dixon.

"We're like a new team and it's a new challenge because we lost one of our key guys," Cremins said. "Hopefully, Anthony can come back maybe for the (SoCon) tournament. We have to make some adjustments. Injuries are part of the game. That's why you have to have depth.

"Tonight, we went into the game knowing who we were, who had to do what and who had to step up and we did it."