Andrew Goudelock's (Lilburn, Ga.) two free throws with 19 seconds remaining proved to be the game-winner as the College of Charleston men's basketball team survived a second-half rally by Appalachian State to defeat the Mountaineers, 73-72, in front of 5,122 fans at Carolina First Arena. The win tonight and the 73-51 loss by Davidson, the Cougars have clinched at least a bye in the upcoming Southern Conference tournament.
Charleston, South Division leaders in the SoCon, improved to 18-9 overall and 13-3 in the Southern Conference, while Appalachian State, North Division leader, fell to 16-11 and 10-5 in the league.
"A great Southern Conference game," said Head Coach Bobby Cremins. "We're very fortunate in the end that they didn't score. It was just an exciting game. We're still not ourselves and we didn't shoot the ball great. Andrew [Goudelock] didn't shoot the ball great and he has spoiled all of us, especially me. We had trouble stopping [Isaac] Butts and [Donald] Sims was sensational. When we went up four, Casaan Breeden gave us a big three and I was hoping we could get some stops but we just couldn't. We were very fortunate at the end."
With the Cougars leading by 10, 51-41 with 15:53 remaining, the Mountaineers used six of Donald Sims' team-leading 18 points and six of Josh's Hunter's 14, to outscore CofC 24-14 the next 11 minutes to take a two-point lead, 65-63 at the 4:41 mark. Casaan Breeden (Clio, S.C.), who had 15 points on the night, nailed one of his two three-pointers at 4:17 to give the Cougars back the lead.
With 40 seconds to go, Kellen Brand hit his only three-pointer of the night to give the Mountaineers the one-point lead, 72-71. On the ensuing possession Goudelock was fouled, sending him to the line with 19 seconds remaining. He nailed both of them and the Cougar defense held at the other end of the court as CofC took the 73-72 win.
Tied 11-11 at the 15:41 mark of the first half, the Cougars took an 11-1 run to take a 21-12 lead with 11:21, before Appalachian staged a comeback to cut the lead to two, 21-19 with 9:36 to go, off its own 7-0 run. Charleston responded with an 18-6 run to go up by its largest margin of the game and led 39-25 with 1:50. Appalachian State was able to cut into that lead and went into the locker room down by eight, 41-33.
Jeremy Simmons (Lithonia, Ga.) scored a career-high 20 points, and with a team-leading 10 rebounds posted his sixth career double-double.
Isaac Butts paced the Mountaineers with seven rebounds.
The Cougars shot 41.2 percent from the field for the game, while the Mountaineers shot 50.9 percent. It marked the first time this season the Cougars have won with the opposition shooting over 50 percent.
The Cougars were eight-for-29 in three-pointers, compared to six-for-13 by Appalachian State. The Mountaineers out-rebounded the Cougars, 41-31, but had eight more turnovers, 15-7.
Charleston closes out the home season with a 12-1 mark, its best home record since going undefeated in the 2000-01 season. Prior to the game seniors Tony White, Jr., (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Breeden were honored.
"We almost went undefeated at home. I want to thank our fans, our city for the great support that we've had all year".
The Cougars next travel to George Mason for an ESPN BracketBuster game Saturday, Feb. 20. The game will be televised on ESPN2 at 8 p.m.
