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NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – Senior Jeremy Simmons (Lithonia, Ga.) registered a career-high 26 points and a season-high 12 rebounds to lead College of Charleston to a 77-69 victory over Charleston Southern in a clash of intracity rivals held Wednesday night at the North Charleston Coliseum.

It marked Simmons' seventh career double-double as the Cougars (8-3, 2-0) claimed their fourth win in a row after an eight-day layoff between games to focus on final exams at The College.

CofC sprinted out to a 15-9 run in the opening minutes of the game behind Simmons' play inside, but CSU would close the gap to two with five-straight unanswered points. The Cougars retaliated with an 8-0 run of their own and scored the last seven of 10 points prior to the half, to take a 39-31 advantage into the locker room.

CofC could never shake off the Buccaneers (5-6, 0-1) as both teams showed off their long-range skills in a three-point shootout in the second half of play.

The Cougars, who had been up by as many as 13 points at the 16:44 minute-mark, saw their lead slip away within a six-minute stretch. A long-range three by CSU rookie Sheldon Strickland gave the Bucs their first lead of the ballgame, 56-55, with 10:30 left in regulation. Strickland would end the night with a game-high 27 points.

CofC responded quickly after the called timeout as senior Donavan Monroe (Waxhaw, N.C.) knocked down a three to put the Cougars back up, 58-56. A three-pointer by sophomore Andrew Lawrence (London, England) cushioned the lead and CofC never looked back. Monroe and senior Andrew Goudelock (Stone Mountain, Ga.) were the other players in double figures with 10 and 20 respectively.

Up next, the Cougars will host a rematch with Clemson before a sold-out home crowd on Wednesday, Dec. 22 at Carolina First Arena. Tipoff with the Tigers is slated for 7 p.m. (ET) and the game will be televised live nationally on Fox Sports Net.

POSTGAME NOTES
• For the ninth time this season and first time in two games, CofC used the starting lineup of senior Donavan Monroe, senior Andrew Goudelock, junior Antwaine Wiggins, sophomore Willis Hall and senior Jeremy Simmons (6-3).
• With the victory, the Cougars take a 50-23 lead in the all-time intracity rivalry series with Charleston Southern. They have now won four consecutive contests against the Buccaneers.
• Jeremy Simmons scored 14 of his career-high 26 points and had a near double-double in the first half alone with nine of his season-high 12 rebounds. It marked only his seventh career double-double which also included a 17-point and 15-rebound outburst against Charleston Southern on Dec. 16, 2009 at Carolina First Arena. It was also his fourth 20-point game of his career. He brought down his 600th career rebound versus CSU and has grabbed 606 to date.
• Andrew Goudelock was one of three double-figure scorers for the Cougars with 20 points. It marked the 33rd 20-point game of his career. He has now registered 1,955 career points to date and is 45 shy of reaching the 2,000-Point plateau.
• The CofC defense held CSU leading scorer Jamarco Warren, who is the second cousin of Andrew Goudelock, to only two points in the first half and four total points.
• The Cougars committed a season-low five personal fouls in the ballgame and outrebounded their opponents for the fifth time this season, 43-38.

POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Bobby Cremins
On the game …
“Give Charleston Southern a lot of credit. Donavan Monroe hit a big three. I'm really proud of him. He had exams all week and missed practice yesterday. Charleston Southern did a great job tonight. We had to hang in there, but we made some big plays late. Jeremy Simmons had a great block. When they went ahead by one, it was anyone's ballgame. We had to fight until the end. That freshman (Sheldon Strickland) had a great game. We had trouble stopping him. It was a very well-played basketball game. The positive thing is that we responded when we had to.”

On Jeremy Simmons' play …
“We kept on going to him. He missed some easy ones, but he came through with some big ones and had some great offensive rebounds. Jeremy is our go-to guy inside. Coming out of exams, I'm happy with this victory. We have some space now, before Clemson. This was a good opportunity for us to get better before that game. We have to work on some defensive things. We are out of exams now and can go through pure basketball and concentrate on what we need to do.”

College of Charleston Senior Guard Andrew Goudelock
On CSU getting back into the game …
“They came in and took the lead, which showed a lot of fight. They started knocking down shots. Once a player (such as Sheldon Strickland) gets hot in college basketball, it's hard to stop them.”

On Jeremy Simmons' performance …
“Jeremy (Simmons) was a beast down low. Every time he got the ball down low, he was scoring. He had a great game tonight.”

College of Charleston Senior Forward Jeremy Simmons
On his double-double and career performance …
“I was just being aggressive. I knew I had a size advantage. Give them credit, they were playing good defense, but I was just being aggressive. My confidence is really high right now.”

On CSU making a comeback …
“We just have to keep playing (when we are down). The game is 40 minutes long and if we just keep playing, eventually, we will come out with the win.”