College of Charleston
Queens University of Charlotte (exhibition)
Scott Leads Cougars To 89-65 Exhibition Victory Over Queens
10/29/2011 11:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Sophomore Jordan Scott (Darlington, S.C.) scored a game-high 23 points to lead five players in double figures as College of Charleston defeated NCAA Division II Queens University of Charlotte, 89-65, in exhibition play on Saturday night before a crowd of 2,007 at TD Arena.
Scott went 9-of-11 from the floor including 5-for-6 from beyond the arc, while junior point guard Andrew Lawrence (London, England) also lit it up from three going 4-for-5 and ending the night with 18 points.
It was a good sign of the Cougar youth embracing their new roles on the team which previously relied on offensive production from last year's senior class in CofC greats Andrew Goudelock, Donavan Monroe and Jeremy Simmons.
Freshman phenom Adjehi Baru (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) didn't score his first basket until the 10:14 minute mark of the first half, but showed his presence down low with a double-double performance with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Senior Antwaine Wiggins (Greenville, Tenn.) and sophomore Trent Wiedeman, who combined for 49 starts a year ago, were the other CofC players in double figures with 19 and 10 points respectively.
After a closely-contested first half with the Royals, the Cougars finally broke away into a double-digit lead on a three-pointer by Scott with 8:14 to go and never looked back. Defensively, CofC forced Queens into committing 28 turnovers and shooting just 25 percent (2-of-8) from three-point land.
The Cougars will close out exhibition play with NCAA Division II Limestone College on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. (ET) at TD Arena.
POSTGAME NOTES
• The Cougars are now 4-1 all-time in exhibition games played during the Bobby Cremins Era (2007-present). The team's 89 points versus Queens marked the second-highest scoring production in an exhibition game behind 94 points scored against USC Aiken in 2009-10. It was also the largest margin of victory in an exhibition tune-up for the Cougars (+24) under Cremins.
• As projected, CofC used the starting lineup of junior Andrew Lawrence, sophomore Jordan Scott, senior Antwaine Wiggins, sophomore Trent Wiedeman and freshman Adjehi Baru.
• Baru (25 minutes) was one of four freshmen to make their unofficial Cougar debut along with Anthony Stitt (21 minutes), Trevonté Dixon (20 minutes) and Pat Branin (four minutes).
• Six of the CofC returners who played against Queens averaged only 43.0 percent of the team's overall minutes of play during the team's 2010-11 NIT season.
• The Cougar defense forced Queens to commit 28 turnovers with only 14 miscues of its own.
• CofC all-time leading scorer Andrew Goudelock provided color commentary on the live video stream of the exhibition game on CofCSports.com.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Bobby Cremins
On the game ...
"It was a chance for us to learn a lot about ourselves and grow as a team. I thought Queens played well. We got off to a great start. Andrew Lawrence and Jordan Scott were hot. Andrew made three threes in the first half. I thought it was a great learning experience for us. I want to thank the crowd for coming out considering Saturday afternoon football games going on. We have about 20 percent of our offense in. We have to execute better. I haven't put a lot of things in that I need to get in. I'm looking forward to this coming week of practice. We learn by playing games like this one. Normally, we only play one exhibition game and we have two this year and then things get real for us."
On seeing the young players' development today ...
"You learn little things. We all know Jordan is a very good athlete and can shoot the basketball. He has to play good defense and take care of the basketball. That's what held Jordan back in the past. It was nice to see him shoot well. Jordan has talent and is very athletic. I wanted him to play more last year, but truthfully, he just wasn't ready. Now, he has come back with a new attitude and he's doing much better and I hope it continues."
College of Charleston Sophomore Guard Jordan Scott
On what he's worked on since the end of last season ...
"I just stayed in the gym late nights shooting by myself and working on my handles. I was trying to get more shots up and be more consistent with everything today."
On his shots going down today ...
"I had a feeling. As soon as the first one went in, everything else just felt good."
