CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - With an NCAA Tournament bid on the line, the College of Charleston men's basketball team fell short of defending champion Wofford, 77-67, in the finals of the 2011 Southern Conference Tournament held Monday night at McKenzie Arena.
The Cougars (24-10) were vying for their first Big Dance appearance since 1999, but the Terriers (21-12) refused to let a second-straight trip slip out of their hands and won their eighth game in a row.
Cameron Rundles scored 21 points including a couple of big three-pointers to lead Wofford past CofC. The Terriers lost both regular-season games to the Cougars, but shot 46.4 percent from the floor and made 22-of-24 free throws including eight down the stretch to hold off any last-minute comeback.
Senior All-America candidate Andrew Goudelock (Stone Mountain, Ga.), the nation's fourth-leading scorer, scored a game-high 25 points, while senior Donavan Monroe (Waxhaw, N.C.) added 19 and junior Antwaine Wiggins (Greeneville, Tenn.) had 12.
Wofford never let the Cougars get any further than six points in the second half. Both teams swapped the lead 10 times with seven ties, before Wofford took the lead for good with a 10-1 run.
CofC is guaranteed an automatic NIT bid as the league's regular-season champion.
POSTGAME NOTES
- For the 10th 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 (7-3).
- With the loss, the Cougars are now 1-4 when playing in the SoCon Tournament championship game.
- Andrew Goudelock and Donavan Monroe were named to the All-Tournament First Team and Trent Wiedeman to the All-Tournament Second Team.
- Goudelock scored a game-high 25 points to move into fourth all-time in career scoring in the SoCon record books with 2,488 career points to date. He surpassed Davidon's John Gerdy who compiled 2,483 career points from 1975-79. It marked his 46th career 20-point game and extended his double-figure scoring streak to 20 games.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Bobby Cremins
On the game ...
"Obviously, this is a great disappointment. However, give credit to a great Wofford team that is an experienced team. Mike Young and his team are a class act. They will be a great representative for our conference in the NCAAs. I hate it for our seniors, because they have been great. We got in foul trouble which really hurt us, and I should have taken Drew (Goudelock) out of the game, when he picked up his second foul. It was an unusual situation, because it never happened to us this season. Drew does not pick up too many fouls. We were doing ok in this game for 36 minutes and were surviving. We were up four in the second half and things got a little out of hand for us. I went with the small lineup tonight again, because it has been good to us. They have been doing a great job for us lately. It is really hard to beat a team three times, especially against a team like Wofford. However, I felt like we had a great chance today, but it just did not go our way. Give all the credit to Wofford. They went to the NCAA Tournament last year and lost to a really good Wisconsin team by only four. Anyone who underestimates them could be in trouble in a couple of weeks. I thought coming into the tournament, they would be the team to beat. Now, we will go to the NIT and give it our best shot. Life goes on."
College of Charleston Senior Guard Andrew Goudelock
On coming up short twice in the SoCon finals when held in Chattanooga ...
"That is what we play for. It's a big disappointment for us seniors. Life goes on like Coach (Cremins) said. It's going to take a while. We have to swallow the pill though and get ready for the NIT."
College of Charleston Senior Guard Donavan Monroe
On coming up short of making the NCAA Tournament ...
"It was something we wanted being seniors. We came up short. It happened for a reason and we will play in the NIT tourney and hopefully make a run. We will keep our heads up. They (Wofford) are a great team."
