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CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Andrew Goudelock knew the shots would start to fall, even after he missed his first five attempts Tuesday night.

"I get this feeling. My hands get kind of warm," he said. "I know what's going to happen."

Goudelock had a career-high 39 points, including eight 3-pointers, and College of Charleston beat defending champion Dayton 94-84 in the first round of the NIT.

"Drew put on a show. It was good to see," Cougars coach Bobby Cremins said.

The sixth-seeded Cougars (25-10) will take on No. 2 seed Cleveland State in the next round. Goudelock didn't disappoint the near sellout crowd of 4,717 for his final game at Carolina First Arena. The senior's first 3-pointer gave Charleston the lead for good, 20-18. The senior hit two 3s three minutes later that pushed the lead to 31-21.

"I knew if Drew could get hot, they'd have trouble guarding him," Cremins said.

Goudelock kept it up after halftime, adding a 3 and a jumper that gave the Cougars their largest lead at 73-55 with 8 minutes left.

Chris Wright had 21 points for Dayton (22-14), which normally would have been at home as the higher seed but its arena was being used for the NCAA tournament's opening games.

"Don't remind me," Flyers coach Brian Gregory said with a smile.

A year ago, Gregory said his Dayton players were angry at losing in the Atlantic 10 tournament and took that edge into the NIT. This time, after falling to Richmond in Sunday's A-10 title game, Gregory thought his club came in more disappointed than ticked.

Still, the Flyers battled back to cut Charleston's lead to 81-74 with 1:34 left on Paul Williams' inside basket. That was as close as they could get in their sixth game in the past 11 days.

Gregory sees the same drive in Charleston - the Cougars lost the Southern Conference tournament finals to Wofford last week - to make a long NIT run as he did with his team last season. Goudelock is that extra punch that opponents will have to stop.

"He's a Triple Crown-type player from the guard spot," Gregory said.

Donavan Monroe added 23 points for the Cougars, who were 30 of 38 from the foul line. Goudelock surpassed his previous best of 34 points set last month against Elon. His eight 3-pointers tied his career high.

POSTGAME NOTES

• For the 11th time this season, CofC used the starting lineup of senior Donavan Monroe, senior Andrew Goudelock, junior Antwaine Wiggins, sophomore Willis Hall and freshman Trent Wiedeman (8-3).
• With the victory, the Cougars take a 1-0 lead in the all-time series with Dayton. They also improved to an impressive 13-1 this season when playing in the friendly confines of Carolina First Arena.
• CofC scored a CofC single-game NIT record 94 points versus Dayton and are now 3-3 in six all-time NIT games played in program history.
• Andrew Goudelock scored his 12th point on a three-pointer at the 3:13 minute-mark of the first half to become the 62nd player in NCAA Division I men's basketball history to record 2,500 career points. He is second this season to do so behind BYU All-American Jimmer Fredette.
• Goudelock turned in his seventh 30-point game of his career and sixth this season with a game-and career-high 39 points against the Flyers. It marked a new CofC Division I single-game record for most points surpassing former standout Dontaye Draper who registered 38 points versus Appalachian State in an 89-87 overtime victory over Appalachian State in the semifinals of the SoCon Tournament on March 2, 2007 in North Charleston, S.C.
• Goudelock also added nine rebounds in the contest to become the only player in the last 15 seasons to reach both of those totals in an NIT game.

POSTGAME QUOTES

College of Charleston Head Coach Bobby Cremins

On the game ...

"I challenged our team to play for the love of the game and play for our conference. I thought this was an important game for us. Whenever Donavan Monoroe and Andrew Goudelock play like they did tonight, we have a chance to beat anybody. I knew if Drew got hot, they would not be able to guard him. Tonight was a wonderful night. It was a great atmosphere, a great crowd and a great opponent."

College of Charleston Senior Guard Andrew Goudelock

On having a home NIT game and the crowd ...

"The fans were great tonight. I love this atmosphere, this program and this city. They have done so much for me, I just embrace those guys. Everyone around here is like my family."

On moving forward from the Wofford loss to beating Dayton tonight ...

"We were as low as we could have been against Wofford. Everybody was sad, because we felt like we had a chance to do something special. It broke our hearts when we lost. It was a quick turnaround. Tonight, we came out here and heard all of our fans screaming. It's was the loudest (atmosphere) since I've been here other than the North Carolina game. We are just thankful that we get to play again. I love playing with my teammates."

College of Charleston Senior Guard Donavan Monroe

On the game ...

"I just fed off the fans energy. I got going early and made some shots. It was a great atmosphere and we just came out to play tonight."

Dayton Head Coach Brian Gregory

On the game ...

"It was a quick turnaround for us. You watch Bobby's (Cremins) team on film and you know how good they are and how explosively there are offensively. They showed how dangerous they are tonight. I thought our guys played hard, but we didn't have enough fuel in the tank to take that next step and get over the edge."

Dayton Senior Forward Chris Wright

On the play of Andrew Goudelock ...

"He is probably one of the best scorers I've played against in my life. There were times where we defended him well and put a hand in his face, but he did a good job of staying poised and he can pretty much score from anywhere on the floor."