College of Charleston
Samford
Cougar Men?s Basketball Earns 68-52 Victory At Samford
1/31/2012 3:30:00 AM | Men's Basketball
College of Charleston improved to 5-6 in conference play and 13-9 on the season. Samford dropped to 7-14 and 4-6 in the SoCon.
Wiggins paced the Cougars with 25 points to go with 6 rebounds. Junior Matt Sundberg (Kennesaw, Ga.) scored 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-10 from three-point land.
Sophomore Trent Wiedeman (Suwanee, Ga.) grabbed 14 rebounds and scored six points, while junior Andrew Lawrence (London, England) scored 11 points and made eight assists against no turnovers. Over the last two games, Lawrence has now made 16 assists while committing just one turnover.
Samford was led by Raijon Kelly and Tyler Hood who each scored 11 points, while Drew Windler had 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Cougars hit 11 three-pointers as a team, including eight in the first half, while CofC outrebounded Samford 43-34. The Cougars also beat the Bulldogs in points off turnovers (18-9) and second-chance points (21-9). College of Charleston hit 91.7 percent of its free throws, shooting 11-of-12 for the game.
College of Charleston built an 18-8 lead midway through the first half after a three-pointer from Lawrence. However, Samford went on a 16-4 run to take a 24-22 lead at the 4:57 mark. Three-pointers from Wiggins and Sundberg revitalized the Cougar offense and College of Charleston led 38-28 at the half.
Samford's biggest threat came at the 9:55 mark of the second half as Kelly capped an 8-0 run with two three-pointers to cut College of Charleston's lead to 50-42. However, the CofC defense stiffened and allowed only 10 points over the final 10 minutes, taking the 68-52 final outcome.
The Cougars will continue SoCon play on the road at Elon on Thursday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. (ET) at Alumni Gym in Elon, N.C.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the third time this season and second-straight game, CofC used the starting lineup of junior Andrew Lawrence, sophomore Nori Johnson, senior Antwaine Wiggins, redshirt junior Matt Sundberg and sophomore Trent Wiedeman (1-2).
• With the win, the Cougars remain an undefeated 12-0 in the all-time series with Samford and 5-0 as Southern Conference members. CofC also snapped a four-game losing skid and improved to 3-1 against North Division foes this season.
• CofC Interim Head Coach Mark Byington claimed his first career coaching victory since taking over the reins of the program after CofC Head Coach Bobby Cremins took a medical leave of absence on Jan. 27.
• Antwaine Wiggins recorded a career-high 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field including a season-high five three-pointers against the Bulldogs.
• The Cougars drained 11 three-pointers in the contest against Samford. It was the seventh time this season to connect on 10-or-more treys in a single game this season.
• Matt Sundberg turned in his fourth double-figure game of the year with 14 points, a career-best in SoCon play in his third career start.
• CofC outrebounded its opponent for the seventh time this season with a nine-rebound advantage over Samford, 43-34.
• Trent Wiedeman led the Cougars with 14 rebounds, his 13th double-digit board game of his career.
• The Cougars dished out 17 assists against Samford, which tied their second-highest ball distribution of the season next to 17 versus UMass in the Battle 4 Atlantis on Nov. 26, 2011.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Interim Head Coach Mark Byington
On the game and his first coaching victory ...
"I'm happy for the guys. Forget about the coaching victory. They showed a lot of perseverance and a lot of guts. When things aren't going well, they could have any number of excuses. But, I told them I feel the same way tonight as I felt after Wofford. I felt like they played really hard and I was proud of them. Sometimes you get caught up in results. I was really happy our guys made some shots and feel like the weight of the world is off of their shoulders. They also had fun tonight which was really important to me."
On the team's 32 three-point attempts ...
"It's one of those things, believe it or not, when you look at Samford's team, you can't go inside against them. They pack it in and it's a match-up zone. There are very few post catches you can get. As long as we are taking good shots, I'm good. I want guys to share the ball and take open shots. I was really proud seeing 17 assists and 10 turnovers tonight, especially (Andrew) Lawrence getting back-to-back games with eight assists. A lot of different guys stepped up tonight and we got production from everyone."
College of Charleston Senior Forward Antwaine Wiggins
On the win and ending the four-game losing streak ...
"It feels really good. Once you get the win, it's a whole new feeling. Everyone showed a lot of passion and played really hard tonight. It's been tough. It was shock to all of us (when Coach Cremins took a medical leave of absence). We trust Coach B (Byington) as a coach. He has been here for six years with Coach Cremins. We are behind him 100 percent and we know the season isn't over. I'm so excited and Thursday can't come fast enough (to play Elon)."
