Cougars' rally late comes up short

A valiant comeback effort by the College of Charleston men's basketball team came up short Thursday as Elon managed to hold off the Cougars, 99-98, in double overtime at Alumni Gym in Elon, N.C.

Elon hit seven of eight 3-pointers in the first half in rolling out to a 23-point lead and the Phoenix was up 51-34 at the half. But the Cougars kept pecking away in the second half. They cut Elon's lead to 11 points midway through the second half, cut it to seven points with seven minutes left. A 9-0 run over the final three minutes capped by an Andrew Lawrence basket sent the game into the first overtime, 76-76.

Both teams scored six points in the first overtime, with Charleston falling behind by four points early but battling back to tie it at 82-82 on a bucket by Trent Wiedeman that forced the second overtime.

The teams were tied at 88 midway through the second overtime, but Elon went on a 7-0 run to take a 95-88 lead heading to the final minute. Antwaine Wiggins hit a 3-pointer to start a comeback and the Cougars pulled within 99-98 with more than 15 seconds left. Charleston got the ball back and had a shot to win, but Lawrence's shot at the buzzer missed.

Lawrence played 50 minutes, scoring a career-high 32 points and handing out eight assists for the third straight game. Wiedeman finished with a double-double, scoring 17 points and matching his career high with 17 rebounds.

Elon was led by Lucas Troutman with 26 points and Jack Isenbarger with 25.

The Cougars, who beat Elon, 63-44, in mid-January, fell to 13-10, 5-7 in the Southern Conference, while Elon improved to 11-10, 6-4.

Interim coach Mark Byington, who replaced Bobby Cremins a week ago when Cremins began a medical leave of absence, said he told his team they didn't have time to dwell on how the game started, that they needed to move on and prepare for a third straight road game, at Appalachian State Saturday at 2 p.m.

"I didn't like the start. I was disappointed in our focus and concentration," Byington said. "I told the guys at halftime that the first thing was to show pride and play hard. They kept battling, kept making plays."

After being down by 23, the Cougars made a pair of back-to-back 3-pointers to end the first half and make the deficit something they could come back from, Byington said

"We have to move on, move forward," Byington said. "We can't let this game linger and affect the game Saturday. We'll watch the tape, learn and get better."