College of Charleston
Chattanooga
Draper, CofC Down UTC, 67-54
1/27/2007 5:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dontaye Draper scored 20 points and added a career-high six 3-pointers leading the College of Charleston to its sixth straight win in a 67-54 victory at Chattanooga in Southern Conference basketball action before 3,801 at McKenzie Arena and a regional television audience on Saturday.
The victory improved CofC to 15-7 overall and 8-2 in the SoCon, while Chattanooga dropped to 9-13 and 2-8.
Both teams traded baskets during the initial part of the first half and a jumper by David Lawrence tied the score, 9-9, with 10:39 left in the half. However, Charleston finished with a 24-16 run that was punctuated with a lay-up by Tony White, Jr. with seven seconds left in the half. The Cougars held a 33-25 lead going into halftime.
Charleston shot 56.5 percent in the first half, which is the third-highest percentage the Cougars have shot in a half. CofC shot a season-high 62.5 percent in the second half of its' 74-62 victory at The Citadel on Jan. 9. Chattanooga shot 27.8 from the field in the first 20 minutes of action.
The Cougars continued their strong shooting in the second half and a jumper by Lawrence 4:38 into the second half gave Charleston the 41-39 advantage. Chattanooga responded with its own 13-4 run and a converted free-throw attempt by Nicchaeus Doaks with 10:39 left in the game made the score 46-42 and cut the Cougars' lead to only four. Draper sparked an 11-0 run over the next 2:30 by hitting three consecutive three-pointers that was followed by a Marcus Hammond layup to give the Cougars their second largest lead of the game, 59-42.
Kevin Bridgewaters hit a three-pointer for the Mocs with 3:18 left in the game to cut the lead to 10 and make the score, 62-52, in favor of CofC. Charleston responded with a three-pointer by Hammond and a lay-up by McCandies with 1:03 left in the game to earn the victory.
Hammond scored 15 points, while Lawrence scored 12 points with five rebounds for the Cougars. Josh Jackson grabbed a team-high seven rebounds with a career-high four blocks for CofC.
Doaks scored a team-high 11 points for Chattanooga and grabbed eight rebounds. Khalil Hartwell had a team-high nine rebounds for the Mocs.
Overall, Charleston shot 55.3 percent from the field, which was the second-highest percentage the Cougars have shot in a game this season. CofC shot 55.8 percent in its 82-75 victory at Western Carolina on Dec. 21, 2006. The Cougars made 11 out of 26 three-pointers to shoot 42.3 percent for the game. Chattanooga shot 31.3 percent from the field, which is the second-lowest percentage an opponent of CofC has shot this season. Elon shot a season-low 28.1 percent from the field in CofC's 67-45 victory at the John Kresse Arena on Jan. 20. The Mocs also made only four three-point attempts out of 23 to shoot 17.4 percent.
Chattanooga grabbed more rebounds than CofC, 37-34. Charleston had 17 turnovers, while Chattanooga gained only eight.
The Cougars return to action on Jan. 29 to face the Appalachian State Mountaineers in Boone, N.C. beginning at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS). Chattanooga's next game will be at home against Furman on Jan. 29 beginning at 7 p.m.
