College of Charleston
Furman
Cougars Win Regular-Season Finale, Defeat Paladins 69-66
2/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Andrew Goudelock (Lilburn, Ga.) scored 15 points, including the go-ahead basket with 3:22 remaining, to quell a Furman second half rally and give the College of Charleston men's basketball team the 69-66 season-finale win in front of 2,208 fans at Timmons Arena in Greenville, S.C.
The Cougars, which closed out their regular season 20-10 overall and 14-4 in the Southern Conference, posted their 23rd career 20-win season and third in the last four seasons. The Paladins fell to 13-16 and 7-11.
Charleston led 47-35 with 15:36 left in the game, before Jordan Miller led a Paladin rally, scoring 11 of his team-leading 20 points in a 12 minute stretch that saw Furman our-score the Cougars 26-14, culminating with a three-pointer by Miller 3:41 that tied the game 61-61.
Goudelock responded with a lay-up at 3:22 to keep CofC in the lead and after Tony White, Jr. (Knoxville, Tenn.) extended the lead to four with a lay-up and Furman responded with another basket to cut the lead back to two, Goudelock was there again, this time with a lay-up with 37 seconds remaining to keep the lead at four.
White nailed two free throws with 19 seconds left to give the Cougars a six point lead before Miller hit a three-pointer with five seconds to go to that gave the Cougars the final three-point, 69-66 win.
The Cougars scored the first six points of the first half, four of them coming from Jeremy Simmons (Lithonia, Ga.) who had 10 points six rebounds on the afternoon, and led 11-4 with 15:03 remaining before Furman used a small 8-2 run to cut the margin to one, 12-13 with 13:23 on the clock. Charleston extended its lead to seven, as Furman trailed 16-23 with 9:39 to go until six unanswered points by the Paladins cut the Cougar lead to one, 22-23 with 8:55 remaining.
Andrew Lawrence (London, England) nailed a three-pointer with 6:46 to go to spark an 18-5 run that saw the Cougars take their largest lead of the game at 14, 41-27 with 1:45 to go before intermission. Amu Saaka, who finished with nine points, scored a lay-up with 1:23 left to cut the Cougar lead to 12, 41-29, at halftime.
Charleston, which shot 52.8 percent from the field in the first half, shot just 34.6 in the second to finish the game with 45.2 percent. The Paladins shot 36.4 percent. The Cougars went six-for-16 from beyond the three-point arc, compared to an eight-for-21 effort for the Paladins. Furman out-rebounded Charleston, 45-37 and had three more turnovers, 14-11.
The Cougars out-scored the Paladins 38-24 in the paint with Furman holding the 23-18 edge in bench points.
Following Goudelock's team-leading 15 points was Donavan Monroe (Waxhaw, N.C.) who had 14, going six-for-11 from the field. Casaan Breeden (Clio, S.C.) led the team, along with Simmons, in rebounds with six. Willis Hall (Charlotte N.C.) was the other Cougar in double-figures with 10.
Bryson Barnes followed Miller in scoring for Furman with 16 points. He also pulled down 13 rebounds to lead the Paladins.
The Cougars have the number two seed in the Southern Conference South Division locked up and will play the winner of the game between the North Division third seed and the South Division sixth seed on Saturday, Mar. 6th, 30 minutes after the 7 p.m. game at Bojangles Coliseum. The winner of that game will play in the semifinals Sunday, Mar. 7th at 8:30 p.m. at Time Warner Cable Arena
