Shorthanded Cougars Survive The Citadel

Final Score: College of Charleston 82, Citadel 74

Top Performers: 
Payton Hulsey 10 pts (5-6 FG), 7 rebs, 2 asts, 2 stls

Derrick Henry 15 pts (6-14 FG, 1-7 3pt)

It became evident within the first few minutes of yesterday's contest that Coach Grant and the Cougars used their four full days of prep to effectively gameplan for the nation's best offense/worst defense. 

Once the Cougars made 2-3 passes out of the Bulldogs' full court pressure, it was a layup line for the CofC bigs under the basket. In terms of pace, the Cougars were able to slow the game down to their liking. 

Unfortunately, the Cougars were without two big men - starter Donovan Gilmore and reserve Terrance O'Donohue. In a game dependent on endurance, finishing at the rim and rebounding, CofC was without two quality bodies. 

Luckily the Cougars got a well-rounded effort from the eight guys who saw playing time. Nick Harris, in his first collegiate start, posted a career high 13 points on 5 for 5 attempts from the floor. James Bourne also found himself in the right spots and finished through contact a couple times to put up an identical 5 for 5 performance off the bench.

Even though CofC's three leading scorers (Barry, Johnson, Pointer) were a combined 1 for 12 from beyond the arc, the team still managed to put up 82 points. Evan Bailey and Payton Hulsey also produced solid numbers playing extended minutes at forward.

This game however was no cake walk. Even with the Cougars getting easy looks in the paint, the man-to-man Citadel defense out of timeouts and in the halfcourt caused issues. Charleston spotted their city rivals 21 points off 20 turnovers. That allowed Baucom's squad extra possessions to score. Even if they don't have the most efficient offense, it's a pure numbers game that the Bulldogs can keep up on the scoreboard if they're getting two or three cracks at scoring to every one that CofC worked to achieve.

Despite not valuing the ball, CofC put together their third or fourth strong Always Be Closing stretch. An Achilles heal that doomed the Wojcik era #CardiacCougs in past seasons, CofC was able to put away The Citadel the same way they have Navy and Western Carolina.

After the Bulldogs went up 4 with 4:05 left in the game, the Cougars locked up their defense and took care of the ball to rip off a decisive 9-0 run to ice their ninth straight win over Citadel. As Coach Grant said after the game, the team knew no lead was safe against an offense that can score 9 points in 30 seconds. The Cougs forced two key turnovers to limit those looks in the waning minutes.

Next for CofC is a primetime matchup against East Carolina tomorrow night at TD Arena. The Pirates have won three straight and sit at 5-3 overall.

Some more notes from the annual Chucktown showdown:

• Citadel was held to their second lowest scoring offensive output of the year, behind only the 71 points they had against Butler
• The rebounding margin was a wash, 34-34, but Citadel held the advantage in offensive rebounding 12-5
• In such an odd, sloppy game, Marquise Pointer looked more like a freshman than he has at any other point this year since the first exhibition game. He was able to generate 5 assists, but was 0-4 from behind the arc and had 5 turnovers in 20 minutes of play.
• The Citadel will win some games at the free throw line this year. That's an advantage to having a five man lineup of shooters. The Bulldogs shot 75% from the charity stripe in this game, while CofC was just 20 for 30.