College of Charleston
Coastal Carolina
Bobby Cremins Wins 500th; CofC Downs Coastal, 73-58
12/17/2008 5:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? College of Charleston men's head's basketball coach Bobby Cremins earned the 500th victory of his illustrious coaching career on Wednesday night, as the Cougars used a second half scoring barrage to knock off Coastal Carolina 73-58 before 3,724 at the Carolina First Arena.
With the win, Cremins is the 69th coach in the college basketball history to win 500 games. He is also the 17th active coach in college basketball to reach the 500-win plateau.
The victory improves the Cougars mark on the season to 8-1 to continue their best start since the 2003-04 season. With the loss, Coastal Carolina falls to 3-7 on the year.
In the first half, Coastal Carolina came out in the first four minutes and jumped to a 12-4 lead on torrid shooting from the field (70%). Meanwhile, the Cougars were hampered by cold shooting from the field at 22%.
Coastal Carolina eventually extended their lead to 22-14 at the 10 minute mark, which was one of the last points of the contest in which Coastal had control of the game.
Over the next eight minutes, Charleston outscored Coastal Carolina 21-10 to take a 33-32 lead with a little over two minutes left in the half.
Charleston ended the half with a Jeremy Simmons (Lithonia, Ga.) tip-in at the buzzer to take a 37-34 lead going into intermission. Donavan Monroe (Waxhaw, N.C.) was the Cougars' leading scorer at the half with 11 points, while the sophomore also set a career-high in the half with in three-pointers made with three.
In the second half, the Cougars came out and dominated from the start. Charleston started the half racing out on a 13-2 run, which was capped by a Simmons alley-oop dunk from teammate Andrew Goudelock (Lilburn, Ga.) that made the score 50-36.
The deficit was too much for Coastal Carolina to come back from, as the Cougars eventually extended their lead to 61-42 at the eight minute mark and proceeded to coast over the final minutes to earn the 73-58 win.
The top scorers on the night for the Cougars were Jermaine Johnson (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Dustin Scott (Jamestown, S.C.), who each registered 14 points. Johnson also recorded his third double-double of the season after pulling down 11 rebounds. Logan Johnson led all Coastal Carolina scorers with 12 points.
The Cougars return to action on Friday, Dec. 19th when they host UNC Wilmington at the Carolina First Arena. Game-time is set for 7 p.m.
