TOLEDO, Ohio – Preseason Southern Conference Player of the Year Andrew Goudelock (Stone Mountain, Ga.) scored 21 of his game-high 23 points in the second half of play, but it wasn't enough as College of Charleston fell to Rhode Island, 75-66, in the Toledo Subregional round of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer held Friday night at Savage Arena.
Goudelock may have had a 9-of-29 shooting night from the floor, but rattled off 19 of the team's final 24 points of the ballgame, including a pair of three-pointers in a 13-consecutive-point stretch, to put the Cougars (2-2) within three of the Rams (2-1) at the 9:22 and 7:04 minute marks.
CofC would later trail by as few as six points, 70-64, with 1:19 left to go, but two free throws from senior Jeremy Simmons (Lithonia, Ga.) were the team's only points the rest of the way. Simmons tied a career-high with 22 points, while sophomore Andrew Lawrence (London, England) dished out a career-high six assists and freshman Trent Wiedeman (Suwanee, Ga.) added a career-high nine boards.
Rhode Island made all 10 of its free throw attempts in the final three minutes of regulation to seal its second all-time victory in the series. Both programs last met in the second round of the Postseason NIT in 1996.
The Rams were led by Delroy James who had 20 points and 12 rebounds followed by Nikola Malesevic with 17 points going 3-for-3 from three-point range.
URI held CofC to 33.3 percent shooting (10-of-30) and Goudelock to two points in the first half to take a 29-25 lead into halftime. The Cougars led only once in the opening minutes of the contest on a dunk by Simmons courtesy of Goudelock.
CofC will face Illinois-Chicago (2-1) tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. (ET) in the second of three-straight games of the Toledo Subregional. UIC denied host Toledo (0-3) its first win of the season with a 55-51 victory on its own home court on Friday night. The UIC game will be broadcast live as new Voice of the Cougars Jeff McCarragher has the call on Fox Sports Radio 1450 AM in Charleston.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the fourth time this season and fourth-straight contest, CofC used the starting lineup of senior Donavan Monroe, senior Andrew Goudelock, redshirt junior Antwaine Wiggins, sophomore Willis Hall and senior Jeremy Simmons (2-2).
• With the win, Rhode Island moves to 2-0 in the all-time series versus the Cougars dating back to a 62-58 overtime thriller in both team's first-ever meeting in the 1996 Postseason NIT Second Round played on the road in Kingston, R.I.
• Andrew Goudelock scored 21 of the team's 41 second-half points to end the night with a game-high 23 points versus the Rams. It marked his 29th 20-point game of his career. He has now recorded 1,789 career points to date. Goudelock attempted a career-high tying 29 shots from the floor in the game.
• Jeremy Simmons tied career highs in points (22) and field-goals made (9) against Rhode Island. He is one of only two players on the team next to Goudelock to score in double figures in each of CofC's four games of the season.
• Sophomore Andrew Lawrence dished out a career-and team-high six assists as well as contributed two key three-pointers and steals in a career-best 30 minutes of action off the bench.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Bobby Cremins
On the game …
“We missed a lot of shots in the first half – layups and easy shots. We played against a good team. We didn't have enough energy in the first half. Our bench did a great job. Andrew Lawrence came off the bench and gave us a big boost. He's really playing well for us right now. I thought we were in the ballgame and everything was fine at halftime. We had to play at a much higher energy level. In the second half, I thought we were so close. We had some trouble stopping them and had some miscommunication on the screen and roll. Offensively, we have to move the ball better and didn't move it enough. Andrew Goudelock had a tough night, but played his heart out. Everyone knows he is the target. He hung in there and made some great shots in the second half. We didn't deserve to win this game. We were outplayed. We are learning a lot, and now, we just need to get ready for our game tomorrow (against Illinois-Chicago).”
