Cougars Can't Close in Regulation, Lose in OT

Final score: Towson 68, Charleston 61

Top Performers:

Jerrelle Benimon 20 pts, 7 rebs

Willis Hall 13 pts, 8 rebs

Before I begin recapping another Cougar road loss I must first give praise to those who helped organize the latest stop on the Cougar Trail. The Baltimore/Annapolis and Washington alumni chapters put together a great event for alumni, accepted students and their families and the turn out was quite strong. Props to the alumni chapter leaders and maybe Joe Hull a little bit for giving me a taste of Charleston up here in the Mid-Atlantic. Now on to the game.

Unfortunately this contest had many of the same bad characteristics that have plagued the Cougars in their last 4 conference losses. Poor late game execution, compounded by foul issues and an inability to ice the game with free throws. 

The game started as you would expect the two best defensive teams in the CAA to look. The Cougars were having a number of easy looks rim out but were able to piece together some points by holding an edge on the glass and putting back their own misses. Towson's first half offense was almost entirely thanks to free throws - 13 of their 24 first half points came at the line. The Cougars once again fell victim to unnecessary fouling. In my opinion it's about a 40-60 split respectively between the increased physicality of the Colonial and the guards getting beat on the perimeter. 

The thorn in CofC's side once again was Rafriel Guthrie coming off the bench. Just like last time these teams played, so much attention was given to Bennimon, Damas and McGlynn that Guthrie was able to flourish and get to the rim at will (usually ending in free throws). Benimon was able to go at Baru a couple times (his hooking elbow and hop-step are even more apparent in person) but Anthony Thomas did a great job defending him when he took over defensive duties. 

Leading the way for CofC was Willis Hall and today's X-factor, Canyon Barry. In a chippy, muddy game like this one, Willis is able to do his usual lunch pail duties and clean up the mess. He also fell victim to foul trouble trying to guard Benimon, who is too fast for Willis to contain, but the 5th year senior was also all over the court to snatch rebounds and hit some reverse lay-ins.

It was really good to see Canyon make a difference. He's gotten a little better in each game after coming back from that finger injury and even though his shooting percentage was nothing pretty (4-11), he gave the Cougars his own mini-boost of 5 straight points to put them on top late in the first half. He also gave us all a brief sliver of hope in overtime with a putback and a three. 

Sadly, the end of the game saw the Cougars fall into the same bad habits. With CofC up four with 2:15 to go the following plays occurred in order: 

2:00 Benimon layup

1:07 Anthony Stitt turnover

0:44 Nori fouls Benimon who misses two free throws

0:39 Stitt fouled by Burwell, Stitt misses front end of a one-plus-one

0:20 Cougars switch to a zone coming out of the timeout and Burwell nails a mid-range jumper

Then, tied at 53 all and the ball in their hands, it was JMU all over again. The Cougars didn't get their first (or possibly second option) and Nori hoisted up a long three with a second to go that was off the mark. Then to give everyone another Cougar cardiac arrest, Towson drew up a play with 1.1 seconds and a full court to go that resulted in a wide open shot for sharp-shooter Four McGlynn that rimmed out.

In OT Adjehi promptly picked up his final foul and with a lineup of Wishon, Hall, Barry, Stitt, and Nori Johnson the Cougars were not able to make enough plays to keep up with Towson. Benimon had 7 points in overtime. 

A major positive from this game: the Cougars had just 5 turnovers. CofC needs to have some threes fall in order to score enough points to win and even with Hall and Barry drawing three free throws apiece on two separate occasions, Towson once again closed out on our shooters. Remember they held Nori scoreless last time. The Cougars out-rebounded the Tigers by 9, took 31 more shots and had less turnovers. Once again it just came down to a handful of tiny little details that separate wins from losses - and the Cougars have been on the receiving end in 3 of their last 4 conference losses. 

The loss drops the Cougars to 4-6 in the CAA. On the plus side they've played the two best teams on the road already. Now they have a big three game home stand in which they need to win at least 2 to stay in the middle of the CAA pack.