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CHARLESTON, S.C. – The College of Charleston men's basketball team used a balanced scoring attack to win its third in a row and give preseason Southern Conference Player of the Year Andrew Goudelock (Stone Mountain, Ga.) a nice parting birthday gift with a 79-59 rout of East Tennessee State Tuesday night before 3,137 fans who braved the winter chill for the celebration at Carolina First Arena.

Goudelock was one of four Cougars (7-3, 2-0) to finish in double figures as he scored his game-high 22nd point on his 22nd birthday after being fouled on a driving layup with 3:53 remaining in regulation. It gave CofC its largest lead of the ballgame, 77-50, but as fate would have it, he would miss his free throw attempt after the media timeout and head coach Bobby Cremins would sub him out to give the freshmen and walk-ons some earned playing time against the Buccaneers (3-4, 0-1).

Goudelock, who is currently on a 10-game double-digit scoring streak and is now 201 points away from breaking Ken Gustafson's all-time career scoring record of 2,135 points, swore he didn't plan the missed free throw on purpose in the postgame press conference. He had a slow shooting night with only five points in the first half, but made up for his scoring drought as the Cougars improved its percentage from the floor to 45.2 percent in the second. Goudelock has now recorded 1,935 career points to date.

For the second-straight contest, CofC got off to a hot start with an early 13-4 run which included long-range threes from senior Donavan Monroe (Waxhaw, N.C.), sophomore Andrew Lawrence (London, England) and Goudelock. Monroe knocked down 10 of his 16 points in the first half which marked the first time for him to reach double figures this season before halftime.

The defending Atlantic Sun Conference champions only managed to score 20 of their 24 first-half points in the paint including its first 14, due to CofC's defense that resulted in a 0-for-9 shooting performance from beyond the arc. The Bucs did not get their first basket outside of the paint until the 3:50 minute-mark and trailed by 12 at halftime, 36-24.

The Cougars learned from their second-half mistakes against Georgia Southern on Saturday night to spurn off any possibility of an ETSU comeback by sprinting out to a 16-8 run to stretch the lead out to 20+ for good. The win avenged a 77-71 road loss at ETSU a year ago in Johnson City, Tenn. Both teams had rekindled an old Southern Conference rivalry with a home-and-home series over the last two seasons.

CofC will enjoy a bye week to focus on and prepare for final exams prior to a Wednesday, Dec. 15 non-conference tilt at Charleston Southern. The game will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. (ET) at the North Charleston Coliseum in North Charleston, S.C.

POSTGAME NOTES
• For the second time this season and second consecutive game, CofC used the starting lineup of senior Donavan Monroe, senior Andrew Goudelock, sophomore Andrew Lawrence, sophomore Willis Hall and freshman Trent Wiedeman (2-0). It marked only the second career start for Lawrence and Wiedeman.
• With the win, the Cougars take an 8-4 lead in the all-time series versus East Tennessee State. They have now won three of the last four meetings between the two former Southern Conference rivals.
• Andrew Goudelock celebrated his 22nd birthday with a game-high 22 points against ETSU which marked his 100th career game in double figures since his freshman campaign in 2007-08. He continues to chase the all-time career scoring record held by former CofC standout Ken Gustafson who compiled 2,135 career points from 1971-75. Goudelock is second all-time with 1,935 career points to date and is 201 points away from surpassing Gustafson on the list. He is currently on a 10-game double-digit scoring streak with eight 20-or-more point outings this season. Goudelock also drained four three-pointers in the contest and now stands at 302 treys for his career which is No. 1 in the school record books.
• Trent Wiedeman recorded his second career double-double with 11 points and a career-high tying 11 rebounds versus the Bucs to become the first CofC player to record double-doubles in back-to-back games since Jeremy Simmons did so last season against Appalachian State on Feb. 17, 2010 and at George Mason on Feb. 20, 2010. Wiedeman is currently on a four-game double-digit scoring streak.
• Donavan Monroe scored 10 of his 16 points in the first half of play. He was one of four Cougars in double figures.
• CofC outrebounded ETSU by a margin of 46-36 (+10) in the ballgame to mark the first time this season to outboard an opponent in double figures. The Cougars previously cleared the glass nine times more than Illinois Chicago (36-27) on Nov. 20 and Toledo (35-26) on Nov. 21.
• Senior walk-ons Garrett Campbell and Jordan Turok saw three and two minutes of play respectively against the Bucs. Campbell contributed a career-high tying blocked shot and Turok a career-high tying rebound in the winning cause.

POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Bobby Cremins
On the game …
“It was a good win for us. We got off to a good start. In the second half, we really played well right out of the gate. During the timeout, I said, 'Remember Georgia Southern.' We didn't want to get chaotic like we did against Georgia Southern and let our lead evaporate. This time we did a much better job. What I'm looking for at this point of the season is balance. We all know about Andrew Goudelock, but Trent Wiedeman is playing some great basketball for us. When I recruit these kids, they are all good kids and you never know who is going to step up, but Trent Wiedeman has really stepped up. We are looking for ball movement and balance and we are getting there. We are going to take a little break going into exams.”

On the team's defensive play …
“It was good to see. My associate head coach, Mark Byington, does a great job with the defense. My college coach (Frank McGuire), in my dreams, he keeps telling me, 'when are you ever going to play zone?' Mark does a great job with it. We work hard on rotations. Sometimes, we were leaving our feet too early tonight.”

College of Charleston Senior Guard Andrew Goudelock
On winning on his birthday …
“I was surprised. East Tennessee State is a good team and they beat up on us last year. I am fortunate to have a team that has my back and even when I'm not shooting well, we can still come out with the win. It's even better to win on your birthday – you don't want to lose on your birthday.”

On controlling the game on defense …
“We put an emphasis on it. When we get a team down, we don't want to let them back in the game. We've had a history of doing that, since I've been a freshman. We knew that East Tennessee State was a very good offensive-rebounding team and we wanted to do our best to box them out.”

College of Charleston Freshman Forward Trent Wiedeman
On taking advantage of more playing time …
“I have to take advantage of my opportunities and playing a lot of minutes. I'm just playing hard and listening to what Coach Cremins says and I'll do fine if I continue to do that.”