Goudelock paces fast-paced Cougars past crosstown rival Buccaneers

The College of Charleston and Charleston Southern pushed the ball up and down the floor Thursday night at the North Charleston Coliseum, even pausing occasionally to play defense.

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College of Charleston vs CSU

The College of Charleston takes on Charleston Southern University Thursday night at the North Charleston Coliseum.

Charleston pushed it a little better, defended a little better, and the end result was a 93-83 victory for the Cougars in front of an announced crowd of 2,835.

"This is a very good win for us," said Charleston coach Bobby Cremins. "They can really shoot the ball. They're quick and their drive and kick offense really drove us crazy."

Charleston shot 51.6 percent from the field to CSU's 41.5. The Cougars made 9 of 20 3-point shots to the Bucs' 5 of 20.

"We tried to focus on defense tonight, we tried to do the best we could," said Charleston forward Jermaine Johnson. "But it got to the point where we just said, 'Let's put the ball in the hole and try to get out of here with a win.' "

The Cougars (3-1) got 20 points from Andrew Goudelock, 17 from Antwaine Wiggins and 16 from Dustin Scott.

Charleston has won 25 of its last 27 matchups with CSU.

Jamarco Warren scored 20 and Omar Carter had 17 for the Buccaneers (1-2).

"They're very, very good," CSU coach Barclay Radebaugh said of the Cougars. "They've got size, they've got athletic ability, a veteran point guard, a scoring two guard, a small forward who lit it up and they played, very, very well. Much credit to them. I thought early on we were a little timid."

But there was nothing timid about the pace.

"We knew it was going to fast-paced game and a lot of shots were going up," said Charleston guard Tony White Jr. "It was just good to be on top at the end."

Charleston was comfortably in front late, but things got a little uncomfortable for the Cougars when Johnson fouled out with 4:36 to play and forward Dustin Scott fouled out with 3:58 to play.

That left Jeremy Simmons as the only true inside player on the floor for the Cougars, and he was playing with four fouls.

"They did a good job of getting us in foul trouble," Johnson said. "They used their guards to go right at us. They got the best of us big men tonight."

But the Cougars slowed things down, and worked the clock to hold on for the victory.

The Cougars led 45-34 at the half, and Charleston's advantage from behind the 3-point line made the difference. CSU made 1-of-6 from 3-point range, while the Cougars were 5-for-11.

Charleston led almost the entire first half, with the biggest lead coming when Matt Sundberg hit a 3-pointer with 1:18 to play to put the Cougars ahead 45-31.

CSU's only lead of the first half came when the Bucs scored the first basket of the game.

"Our offensive execution was a bit suspect in the first half," Radebaugh said. "We did a much better job in the second half."