College of Charleston
UNCG
UNCG Defeat Cougars In SoCon Tilt, 73-66
1/13/2012 4:41:00 AM | Men's Basketball
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO
CHARLESTON, S.C. - UNCG overcame a six-point second-half deficit to defeat College of Charleston, 73-66, in Southern Conference action on Thursday night at TD Arena.
The Spartans (3-14, 1-4) snapped an 11-game losing streak and won their first league game of the season, while the Cougars (11-5, 3-2) lost their second SoCon game in the last three outings.
UNCG was led by Trevis Simpson's 16 points and five rebounds, while Derrell Armstrong also netted 16 points for the Spartans.
CofC had three players in double figures as sophomore Trent Wiedeman (Suwanee, Ga.) scored 15 points and senior Antwaine Wiggins (Greeneville, Tenn.) and junior Andrew Lawrence (London, England) each contributed 14. Wiedeman also grabbed nine rebounds in the seven-point loss.
After a strong shooting performance in the first half, the Cougars went cold in the second stanza, hitting just 9-of-31 shots (29 percent) from the field. CofC went 6-of-26 from three-point land, hitting just 23.1 percent from long range. The Cougars also struggled from the free throw line shooting 57.1 percent (16-of-28).
After an early injury to starting freshman guard Anthony Stitt (Charlotte, N.C.), bench players Nori Johnson (Greer, S.C.) and Matt Sundberg (Kennesaw, Ga.) each registered career highs in minutes played, 28 and 30 respectively, but combined to shoot just 3-of-13 from the floor.
The Cougars opened the game on a tear building a 16-6 lead with 14:49 to go in the first half after a three-pointer from Wiggins. Wiedeman dominated the Spartan interior defense, scoring 10 first-half points on 4-of-5 shooting, most of which came in the lane on turnaround hook shots.
UNCG responded with a 14-2 run, including seven points from Nicholas Paulos, to grab a two-point lead at 20-18.
The Cougars regained the lead with another Wiggins' trey, and led until the very end of the first half when Armstrong hit a layup and was fouled with three seconds to go, giving UNCG a 36-35 halftime lead.
CofC led by six points with 11:24 to go in the game, when UNCG's Drew Parker hit a three-pointer and got a steal to quickly cut the lead to 55-54. Armstrong helped the Spartans regain the lead at the 4:31 minute mark as he hit a jumper from the paint.
An offensive putback from Wiedeman tied the game on the next possession, but Simpson scored and was fouled to give the Spartans a lead they did not relinquish. The Cougars missed several jumpers in the final three minutes as UNCG emerged with the upset victory.
CofC will host SoCon North Division foe, Elon (8-7, 3-1), on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. (ET) at TD Arena. The game will be televised live locally on MyTV Charleston and carried nationally on ESPN3.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the second time this season and second-straight game, CofC went with the starting lineup of junior Andrew Lawrence, freshman Anthony Stitt, senior Antwaine Wiggins, sophomore Trent Wiedeman and freshman Adjehi Baru (1-1).
• Anthony Stitt made his second career start and played only 11 minutes, all in the early part of the first half, prior to an injury to his non-shooting left hand. He was out for the remainder of the game and his injury will be evaluated over the next four-to-six weeks.
• For UNCG, the win snapped a five-game losing streak in the all-time series with the Cougars. It marked only their eighth all-time win against CofC and first since Feb. 25, 2008. The Spartans also picked up their first Southern Conference win and first career coaching win for interim head coach Wes Miller, who is currently the youngest Division I head coach in the nation at age 28.
• The loss was CofC's second-straight at home next to its 76-84 setback to George Mason on Dec. 30 at TD Arena. It was the Cougars' first two-game loss on their home court at TD Arena and first to lose two in a row at home since falling to UNCG (Jan. 24) and Davidson (Jan. 26) in John Kresse Arena during conference play in 2007-08. The Cougars have now only lost eight times with a 43-8 mark in the state-of-the-art venue which opened its doors in November of 2008.
• Trent Wiedeman posted a near double-double with a team-leading 15 points and nine rebounds against UNCG.
• Nori Johnson played a career-high 28 minutes against the Spartans and tied a career-high with two steals.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Bobby Cremins
On the game and the injury to Anthony Stitt ...
"It turned out to be a tough night. First off, Anthony Stitt getting hurt (in the first half). His injury, right now, is serious and it looks like he broke his hand. He jammed the basketball right into his finger and we will see the prognosis later. But, injuries are part of the game. You hate to see this, especially to a kid like that. He has been so wonderful for us. We were a little banged up going into the game. As far as I was concerned, he was right there for Southern Conference Rookie of the Year. It's really tough to lose a player like that. But having said that, we still played well enough where we could have won the game. I want to congratulate Wes Miller on his first Southern Conference (and career) win. His team did a great job and made some great shots. They can shoot. We had a great opportunity to still win the basketball game. We just could not capitalize when we got the lead and were up six or seven points and could not build on it. We missed some big rebounds and some big free throws. We played well enough to win. It's just a shame we couldn't maintain it to win it. Nori Johnson played his heart out and had some great looks tonight. The biggest thing for us right now is to move forward."
College of Charleston Sophomore Forward Trent Wiedeman
On the loss and the injury to Anthony Stitt ...
"It was very disappointing. I thought we could go the rest of the way undefeated. It was a goal we set and wanted to do. We just have to move on, because we have Elon on Saturday. We missed him (Anthony Stitt), but we can't make excuses. We still should have won the ballgame. We didn't finish well. We were in the game at the end. They are a good team. They were a 2-14 team coming in, but they play a really tough schedule. I know Wes Miller is the interim coach, but he's done a really good job since he has stepped in and I have a lot of respect for him. They are not a bad ball team. We just didn't finish and play well tonight."
