Cougars ready for wild Western rematch

In most instances, tonight's 7 p.m. meeting with Western Carolina at Carolina First Arena would be considered a "trap" game for the College of Charleston.

The Cougars are coming off a thrilling 77-75 road win over Southern Conference powerhouse Davidson last Saturday. This Saturday they play host to The Citadel in a game that could have huge implications as the crosstown rivals gun for a first-round bye in next month's Southern Conference Tournament.

But College of Charleston coach Bobby Cremins isn't worried his team will be overlooking the Catamounts or The Citadel.

"We lost to Western and The Citadel," Cremins said. "We're playing two teams that beat us. If we have any letdown, we're in serious trouble. We have to play better than last time. We just played Western last week and they kicked our butts, plain and simple."

In that game, sophomore forward Richie Gordon, who is averaging just 5.8 points per game, hit the winning layup and scored a team-high 22 points to key Western Carolina's upset victory. Gordon hit 10 of 11 field goal attempts and scored seven of Western's final eight points as the Catamounts won their sixth straight home game.

Two days later, Western lost 75-66 to a vastly improved Citadel team, which is a half-game ahead of Charleston in the chase for second place in the Southern Conference's South Division.

"Western is a dangerous team," Cremins said. "They can beat anybody in the conference. They're one of the teams that's a little under the radar, but you have to be ready. Brandon Giles was all-conference last year, and they have the rookie of the year this year, Harouna Mutombo."

Mutombo, a 6-4 redshirt freshman guard, leads WCU with 14 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, while Giles, a 6-6 junior guard, is Western's second-leading scorer with 13.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

The Cougars have four players averaging in double figures, led by sophomore Andrew Goudelock with 16.6 ppg. Senior Jermaine Johnson is averaging 10.7 ppg and 8.3 rpg.

Charleston, which had a five-game winning streak snapped by The Citadel on Jan. 24, had lost three of four games before stunning Davidson.

"It's been a little bit of a roller coaster, a little bit of a wild ride," Cremins said. "Going into Davidson, we weren't feeling too good about ourselves. But that atmosphere helped a lot. That automatically gets you ready to play."

And that's an atmosphere he'd like to see a little of tonight.