Dominant Davidson denies College of Charleston

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Davidson vs. College of Charleston

College of Charleston lost to Davidson, 70-58

During a frenzied 3 1/2-minute stretch of Saturday's game against Davidson, the College of Charleston outscored the Wildcats 16-4, and it could have produced a dramatic finish if the Cougars hadn't been trailing by 19 when it happened.

As it turned out, the Cougars' tiny window of opportunity slammed shut, and Davidson's cruise-control run through the Southern Conference continued in a 70-58 victory at John Kresse Arena.

"If we could have played like that for the entire game instead of one little spurt, it could have been an interesting game," said Charleston junior forward Jermaine Johnson. "It would not have been a blowout. It would have been down to the last basket."

Davidson (13-6 overall, 11-0 in the SoCon) won its 21st consecutive conference victory while handing the Cougars (9-11, 4-6) their third consecutive defeat.

"I didn't like the way we started the game," said Charleston coach Bobby Cremins after watching his team fall behind 18-4 in the first half. "We came out and it looked like we were having an anxiety attack. A lot of nervous energy. We took bad shots, and against a smart team like Davidson, you can't do that. Second half, we played really well."

Charleston trailed 40-25 at the half, and Davidson basically kept the lead in that range and even went on to lead by as many as 19.

With four minutes to play, the Cougars' started their late run, which cut the Wildcats' lead to seven with 34 seconds to play.

"They're a really good team," Johnson said. "I'm not going to take anything away from them. I think early we were a little bit nervous playing the best team in the conference. We just weren't ourselves. We picked it up the last few minutes, but we should have been doing that the whole game."

The Cougars did a solid job defensively on Davidson guard Stephen Curry, who came into the game averaging 24.3 points per game but finished with 16.

Charleston freshman forward Antwaine Wiggins guarded Curry most of the night, and afterward Curry said it was one of the better defensive efforts against him this season.

It was only the second time this season Curry failed to lead the Wildcats in scoring.

Forward Thomas Sander took top honors for the Wildcats on Saturday night, scoring 21 points.

Andrew Goudelock led the Cougars with 13 points, while Johnson added 11 points and 11 rebounds.

But for the most part, Charleston shot poorly, making 20 of 59 from the field (33.9 percent) including 3-of-17 from 3-point range.

On inside baskets, the Cougars made 14 of 35.

"We took good shots," said Cougars guard Tony White Jr., who was 1 of 8 from the field but 9 of 11 from the free-throw line "There was a lid on the basket. We felt like we were playing good defense on them. We felt like we played good defense the whole game. It was one of those nights our shots didn't fall.

"We hung in there, but I give them a lot of credit. They're a terrific team. We knew coming in it was going to be a tough game. They're well experienced and they know how to win."

Reach Charles Bennett at cbennett@postandcourier.com.