College of Charleston
Chattanooga (ESPN)
Chattanooga Beats CofC, 80-69; Wins SoCon Title
3/9/2009 4:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Keyron Sheard scored 18 points and Chattanooga beat College of Charleston 80-69 on Monday night to win the Southern Conference tournament.
The Mocs (18-16) earned their 10th NCAA tournament appearance with the automatic bid. They last appeared in the tournament in 2005, losing in the opening round to Wake Forest.
The teams were tied at 34 at halftime, but Chattanooga, playing on its home court in front of frenzied fans screaming, "This is our house," scored the first 20 points of the second half.
College of Charleston (26-8) didn't score until 13:23 in the second half, when Andrew Goudelock hit a 3-pointer. That opened up a 17-2 scoring run that included five treys, cut the Mocs' lead to 56-51 with 8:30 left.
Chattanooga went on another run, scoring 10 of the next 13 points.
Stephen McDowell, who earned the tournament's most outstanding player award, added 15 points for the Mocs. Ty Patterson had 12 and Kevin Goffney scored 10.
Tony White Jr. led the Cougars with 31 points, and Andrew Goudelock scored 15 points. Dustin Scott grabbed 10 rebounds.
College of Charleston finished 12-for-33 from behind the arc after hitting 42 percent of their 3-point shots in the second half.
The Mocs went 22-for-27 from the free-throw line.
College of Charleston reached the championship game by upsetting top-seeded Davidson.
The Mocs didn't look like an NCAA tournament team most of this season. They lost 10 of their first 14 games and entered the conference tournament on a three-game losing streak, though they were the top seed from their division.
The Associated Press
Monday, March 9, 2009; 9:38 PM
