Cougars knock off SoCon-leading Cats
There were plenty of reasons College of Charleston should have lost Saturday to Davidson. Poor free-throw shooting in the first half. Foul trouble. Injuries that left the Cougars short-handed.
But a resilient Cougars squad kept Southern Conference leader Davidson on its heels and managed to pull off an 86-78 upset before an exuberant homecoming sellout crowd of 5,112 at TD Arena.
Senior Antwaine Wiggins, who played everything from point guard
to center, picked up his fourth double-double of the season with 25 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Cougars to their third straight win and fourth in the last five games.
Foul troubles cost the Cougars (16-10, 8-7) all three post players. Sophomore Trent Wiedeman, who had 17 points and six rebounds, went to the bench with 4:39 left; sophomore James Carlton followed him with 3:31 remaining; and freshman Adjehi Baru fouled out on a technical foul with a minute left. Starting point guard Andrew Lawrence was limited to only 22 minutes after picking up his fourth foul early in the second half. And junior Matt Sundberg sat out the game because of an injury suffered in the first half of Thursday's win over Western Carolina.
Interim coach Mark Byington, 4-2 since taking over for Bobby Cremins who is on a medical leave of absence, said this was a big win for a team.
"They needed to see a result like this," Byington said. "I told them in the lockerroom that I didn't want this to be the highlight of the season. I want our guys to have bigger goals and higher aspirations."
Charleston didn't back down from the Wildcats and took the lead for good at at the 12-minute mark of the first half on a steal by Lawrence who got the ball to Carlton for a dunk and a 16-15 lead. The Cougars expanded the lead to 12, but lead 38-33 at the break.
The Cougars quickly opened the gap in the second half and had a 17-point lead with 16 minutes left. But Davidson pulled within striking distance, and trailed by four with five minutes left, but Charleston managed to hit most of its free throws down the stretch to hang on.
Davidson (19-6, 13-2), the No. 2 free throw shooting team in the country, was 25 of 33 from the free throw line but missed five free throws in the final 4 1/2 minutes. Charleston, which has been hitting only 65 percent of its foul shots and was 2 for 10 in the first half, was 11 for 14 from the foul line over the final 4 1/2 minutes and finished by hitting 22 of 35 free throws.
"It was crazy and fun at at the same time," Byington said of the coaching challenges, which had him making offense for defense substitutions the final 10 minutes of the game. "I'm really happy for Antwaine. He played well. He kept us together. He's the silent leader. He showed great poised and stayed on an even keel."
Wiggins credited the crowd for helping the team pull out the win.
"The crowd was excellent, and our team played with a lot of intensity. We were focused and ready to play."
In addition to Wiggins' 25 and Wiedeman's 17, the Cougars also got 17 points from Nori Johnson and 11 points and five assists from Lawrence.
Davidson's De'Mon Brooks, who had 25 points and nine rebounds, said they expected a battle with a big home crowd supporting the Cougars.
"We came out a little stagnant and they got the big lead. We fought hard and came up short. They made some tough shots. Wiggins hit a 3 and Nori (Johnson) hit a 3 and both were (shot clock) buzzer beaters. When they had to make plays they did," Brooks said.
Davidson coach Bob McKillop credited the Cougars with a terrific performance.
"We did not make the same type of plays," McKillops said. "They had a number of daggers...the kind of things great teams do, they made those plays.
"They took us completely out of the flow and rhythm of the game and forced us to do things we don't normally do. Give them credit. They put us on our heels the first three or four minutes and we fought out of a hole the last 30, 32 minutes of the game. The energy their crowd gave them, the energy they had was too much for us to overcome."
