PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas - Senior Antwaine Wiggins (Greeneville, Tenn.) rattled off eight-straight points in a crucial stretch in the final minutes of the second half to lead the College of Charleston men's basketball team to a close 68-66 decision over UNC Asheville in the Battle 4 Atlantis consolation game held Friday night at the Atlantis Resort's Imperial Arena.

Wiggins, who struggled the night before against UCF in the team's tournament opener, scored 17 of his game-high 23 points in the second half of play. He was one of three Cougars (4-1) in double figures next to a career-and season-best 14-point performance by freshman Adjehi Baru (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) and 11 points from junior Andrew Lawrence (London, England).

It was a back-and-forth contest for the majority of both halves as the lead see-sawed on 10 occasions. CofC's largest lead was seven on a fast break layup by Lawrence, 49-42, with 10:50 remaining in regulation, while UNC Asheville's was six with nine minutes left in the first.

The Bulldogs (2-4) chipped away at the Wiggins' inspired lead with key three-pointers of their own from preseason Big South Conference Player of the Year Matt Dickey, Quinard Jackson and J.P. Primm to tie it up at 59-59 with 2:23 to go.

Freshman Anthony Stitt (Charlotte, N.C.), who has been a surprise spark to the Cougars' offense in the last three games, threw up a gutty jumper from the corner courtesy of Lawrence for the 63-61 advantage with 44 seconds remaining.

UNC Asheville wouldn't go down without a fight, despite sending CofC to the free throw line within the final 30 seconds of the ballgame. The Cougars went 6-of-8 from the charity stripe leaving room for the Bulldogs to rally after Wiggins missed the front end of his free throws with five seconds on the clock.

Time expired as they became the third 2011 NCAA Tournament team in the last four games to fall to the hands of the Cougars.

CofC will next face the winner of either UMass or Utah in the fifth-place game scheduled for tomorrow at 7 p.m. (ET) on HDNet to close out its Battle 4 Atlantis appearance.

POSTGAME NOTES

• For the fifth-straight game, CofC used the starting lineup of junior Andrew Lawrence, sophomore Jordan Scott, senior Antwaine Wiggins, sophomore Trent Wiedeman and freshman Adjehi Baru (4-1).

• With the win, the Cougars claimed their third all-time victory in the series with UNC Asheville (3-4). Both teams from the Carolinas had not met each other in over 20 years since the 1990-91 season.

• Coach Cremins improved to 3-0 lifetime versus UNC Asheville in his 31 years as a Division I head coach. It marked his first victory against the Bulldogs with the Cougars.

• Antwaine Wiggins scored 17 of his game-high 23 points in the second half of play. It was one point off from his career high (24) and marked his fourth 20-point outing of his career and second of the season. He has now compiled 894 career points to date.

• CofC has now beaten three 2011 NCAA Tournament participants this season in Morehead State (OVC), Clemson (ACC) and UNC Asheville (Big South).

• Adjehi Baru registered a career-and season-high 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field against the Bulldogs.

• Andrew Lawrence turned in his third consecutive double-figure scoring game with 11 points and six of the team's 11 assists of the game.

POSTGAME QUOTES

College of Charleston Head Coach Bobby Cremins

On the game ...

"What an entertaining basketball game. They (UNC Asheville) are tough to guard and are relentless. It went back and forth and back and forth. I'm so proud of this young man (Antwaine Wiggins). As you know, last night, he really struggled. For him to come back, he struggled early on, but he never quit. He scored eight-straight points for us at a very crucial time. It was a great win and a very difficult game for us. It was very difficult to defend them. We were trying to get the ball inside and take advantage of the height. Anthony Stitt made a gutty jump shot from the corner. I feel very fortunate to win. I'm very proud of our team and how we fought tonight. They are a nightmare to defend. I'm really excited for Antwaine. He has been playing some great basketball and I'm glad he didn't get down on himself."

College of Charleston Senior Forward Antwaine Wiggins

On what Coach Cremins talked about at halftime in the locker room ...

"He told us as a team to, 'stay together and if things don't go your way, keep fighting and stay confident.' That's what we tried to do as a team and also for myself. I just tried to stay confident. I tried to make some shots, play the fundamentals and play defense. That's what I did and things started to turn around in the second half."

On playing more aggressively in the rebounding department ...

"I think we did really well on the defensive end in rebounding tonight. Adjehi (Baru), Trent (Wiedeman), Matt Sundberg and I all contributed on the boards. We just boxed them out and played really well on the defensive end. We are excited to play another game. We all see it as an opportunity to get better."