POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Led by a double-double performance by senior Antwaine Wiggins (Greeneville, Tenn.), the College of Charleston knocked off Southern Conference leader Davidson, 86-78, in front of a Homecoming crowd of 5,112 on Saturday afternoon at TD Arena.
The win was the Cougars' (16-10, 8-7) third-straight and fourth in six games under Interim Head Coach Mark Byington. Davidson (19-6, 13-2) lost for just the second time in SoCon play this season.
Wiggins continued his strong play over his career against the rival Wildcats, with 24 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Sophomore Trent Wiedeman (Suwanee, Ga.) scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds on 8-of-11 shooting, recording his 14th double-figure scoring game this year.
Sophomore Nori Johnson (Greer, S.C.) also tied his career high from Thursday's night win over Western Carolina by pouring in 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-5 from the beyond the arc. Despite playing in foul trouble, junior Andrew Lawrence (London, England) scored 11 points and dished five assists with no turnovers.
Davidson was led by De'Mon Brooks who scored 25 points and made nine rebounds. Jake Cohen put up 13 points and six boards, while Chris Czerapowicz made 15 points on 3-of-7 shooting from downtown and Nik Cochran recorded 12 points.
The Cougars caught fire from the field shooting 27-of-56 (48.2 percent), while also hitting 10-of-20 three-pointers (50 percent). Davidson managed just 39 percent from the field (23-of-59) with a 7-of-25 (28 percent) performance from long-range. The game was called tightly as four players fouled out, and the squads combined to shoot 68 free throws on the game.
After a three-pointer from Brooks gave Davidson a 15-12 lead at the 13:51 minute mark, the Cougars went on a 14-3 run to build a 26-18 lead after a three-pointer by Johnson with 7:27 remaining in the first half. After free throws from Cochran cut the margin to six, Wiggins hit two of his four three-pointers on consecutive possessions to put CofC up 32-20 and excite the crowd.
Davidson battled back in the final three minutes of the half, going on a 10-3 run that was capped off by a steal and transition layup from Brooks. Wiggins responded on the Cougars' next possession, hitting a driving layup with just three seconds on the clock to put CofC up 38-33 at halftime.
The Wildcats went cold to start the second half, hitting just two field goals in the first six minutes of play as CofC extended the lead to 56-40 after a jump shot from Lawrence. However, just two minutes later, Lawrence picked up his fourth foul and had to sit the bench with 13:14 remaining in the game.
Davidson took advantage with a 13-5 run which included consecutive three-pointers from Czerapowicz and Cochran, cutting the margin to 61-57 with 9:27 left in regulation.
A traditional three-point play from Wiedeman put the Cougar lead back at seven points, but the Wildcats sliced into it again with a three-pointer from Czerapowicz and dunk from Clint Mann to pull the margin to 68-64 with 5:10 to go.
The Wildcats never got closer after a clutch corner three-pointer from Wiggins at the 2:17 minute mark made the score 76-67 in favor of the Cougars. CofC made free throws down the stretch to hold on to its third-straight victory over Davidson at home.
The Cougars will next travel to UNCG for a mid-week bout on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. (ET) at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the sixth time this season, CofC used the starting lineup of junior Andrew Lawrence, sophomore Nori Johnson, senior Antwaine Wiggins, sophomore Trent Wiedeman and freshman Adjehi Baru (3-3).
• With the win, the Cougars claimed their 14th all-time win in the 64-game series with Davidson. CofC snapped a two-game losing skid to the Wildcats and avoided the series sweep. They have now won the last three-straight meetings between the two South Division rivals when playing at home in Charleston.
• CofC handed Davidson only its second conference loss of the season and defensively held them to 39.0 percent shooting from the field (23-of-59) and 28.0 percent shooting from beyond the arc (7-of-25).
• The Cougars packed the house for its fifth sell-out game of the season with a total of 5,112 fans in attendance at TD Arena. It marked the eighth-largest home crowd in the venue's history.
• Antwaine Wiggins registered 24 points along with a game-high 10 rebounds. It marked his sixth career double-double performance and fourth of the season.
• Nori Johnson tied his career-high in back-to-back games with 17 points against Davidson and is currently on a career-best three-game double-digit scoring streak.
• Trent Wiedeman returned to the lineup after missing the Western Carolina game with a sprained ankle. He poured in 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting in only 17 minutes of action versus the Wildcats.
• Andrew Lawrence dished out five assists with no turnovers against Davidson. It marked the fifth time this year and the second time in the last five games in which he distributed the ball without any miscues.
• As a team, CofC was called for 25 fouls which was the second-most of the season.
• Former CofC great Thaddeous Delaney (1994-97) was inducted into the 2012 CofC Athletics Hall of Fame prior to the Davidson contest and honored along with CofC women's golf standout Eve Lux VanderWeele and former CofC Director of Sailing George Wood at halftime.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Interim Head Coach Mark Byington
On the win ...
"It was a great win for our guys and our team. I'm proud of them. They've been through a lot. They have stuck together. It's been one of those seasons where bad things (injuries and losses) have happened. I'm really happy for our guys on our team to be able to beat a very good team like Davidson. Our players and our coaching staff have the utmost respect for Davidson. Coach (Bob) McKillop is one of the best coaches, not only in the Southern Conference, but in the country. Our guys were very focused and excited to play them."
On the fouls and having a limited bench with injuries ...
"It's challenging with the injuries and the fouls. I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but Antwaine Wiggins started the game at the small forward spot for us. He played 12 or 14 minutes of the game at point guard when Andrew Lawrence got into foul trouble, and at the end of the game, he was our four-man and then moved to center. He played four of the five positions. He played everything except for the shooting guard spot tonight. I'm really happy for Antwaine. He played well. Everything I threw at him, he responded well to. He was kind of the guy who kept us together out there tonight. He is a silent leader and leads by example. He showed great poise, when both teams were making runs, he stayed even keel and that was important for us tonight as we dealt with foul trouble and different lineups. The biggest thing for us is that we played good basketball tonight."
College of Charleston Senior Forward Antwaine Wiggins
On the win and being energized for the Davidson game ...
"I think the crowd was excellent. Our team played with a lot intensity. We were really focused and ready to play and that's what helped us win tonight. We were up for it. We are up for every game from here on out. We struggled the past few weeks and are trying to get it (mojo) back before the (SoCon) Tournament and to try to surprise everyone."
College of Charleston Sophomore Forward Trent Wiedeman
On the physicality of the game ...
"It was definitely a very physical game. It's one of the reasons why Coach (Bob) McKillop is such a good coach, because he teaches such good physicality. Every time we play Davidson, we know it will be a really physical game."
Davidson Head Coach Bob McKillop
On the game ...
"First off, give Charleston all of the credit. They made all of the plays. We put ourselves in a position to make a dent into them, but we didn't bring the same kind of play like they did. They had a number of daggers tonight. Nori Johnson hit a three with two seconds left on the shot clock. Antwaine (Wiggins) hit a three from 22 feet with seconds on the clock. That's what great teams do and that's the kind of plays they made tonight. They took us completely out of our flow and rhythm. They forced us into doing things we don't normally do. I give them credit for it. It thought we had addressed it at halftime. I thought we would come out in the second half and respond. They put us on our heels and we were fighting from a hole for the last 32 minutes of the game. The energy that their crowd gave them was too much for us to overcome."
