College of Charleston
Georgia Southern
Wiedeman Leads Cougars To Senior Night Victory Over Georgia Southern
2/24/2012 4:32:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Sophomore big man Trent Wiedeman (Suwanee, Ga.) scored a game-high 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead College of Charleston to a 58-53 Senior Night victory over Georgia Southern in the team's final regular-season home game on Thursday night at TD Arena.
The Cougars (18-11, 9-8) snapped the Eagles' Southern Conference-best six-game win streak and led by as many as 17 points in the first half of play. They have now won six of their last eight games of the season under CofC Interim Head Coach Mark Byington.
Georgia Southern (14-13, 12-5) clawed back with efficient shooting to take a two-point lead with just three minutes left in the second half. However, freshman Anthony Stitt (Charlotte, N.C.), playing in his first game after missing over a month with a hand injury, hit his only three-pointer of the game to take back the advantage and put CofC up for good.
Playing in his last home game of his career at TD Arena, senior Antwaine Wiggins (Greeneville, Tenn.) scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists.
Junior point guard Andrew Lawrence (London, England) scored 10 points, including several clutch free throws, to secure the victory in the final seconds. He also made seven assists, while only committing one turnover.
The Eagles were led by Willie Powers' 17-point performance, as he shot 8-of-12 from the field. Ben Drayton scored 10 points and Eric Ferguson scored eight points and collected seven rebounds.
CofC shot 44.7 percent (21-of-47) from the field and 41.2 percent from three-point range (7-of-17). Georgia Southern, however, committed 20 turnovers which led to 14 points to their South Division foes.
The Cougars jumped out to a 13-0 lead and held Georgia Southern scoreless until the 11:57 minute mark of the first half. Threes from Lawrence and sophomore Jordan Scott (Darlington, S.C.) built a 25-8 CofC lead with eight minutes to go in the first half.
However, the Eagles responded with a 13-4 run, capped by a basket by Marvin Baynham, to pull the margin to 29-21 with 3:21 left in the first half. The Cougars held Georgia Southern to just two points over the next three minutes to maintain a halftime lead of 30-23.
After a jumper from freshman Adjehi Baru (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) on the Cougars' first possession of the second half, CofC's shooting went into a drought, allowing Georgia Southern to cut the lead to 32-31 at the 14:18 minute mark.
Wiedeman helped spark a Cougar run with consecutive dunks, the second coming off a steal from redshirt junior Matt Sundberg (Kennesaw, Ga.) at 12:24.
CpfC was able to maintain a moderate lead over the next few minutes, before Georgia Southern went on another 13-5 run to take 51-49 lead with 3:01 left after a three-pointer by Tre Bussey.
Stitt answered with a three-pointer of his own and Wiedeman hit a layup inside to put CofC out front for good. Lawrence hit three free throws in the final minute to seal the victory.
CofC will close out the regular season at crosstown rival The Citadel (6-22, 3-14) on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. (ET) at McAlister Fieldhouse in Charleston, S.C. The game will be televised live on the SoCon Sports Network and carried nationally on ESPN3.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the ninth 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 (5-4).
• With the win, the Cougars improve to 21-18 in the all-time series with Georgia Southern. It marked the fourth-straight contest between both programs in which the game was decided in single digits (+5).
• CofC has now won 10 consecutive Senior Nights dating back to a 73-71 victory over Georgia Southern on March 1, 2003 under former head coach Tom Herrion at John Kresse Arena.
• Trent Wiedeman led the Cougars in scoring for the sixth time this season with a game-high 18 points. He is currently on a career-best six-game double-digit scoring streak.
• Antwaine Wiggins, who played in his final home game of his career, registered 10 points and moved past former CofC greats Jermaine Johnson (1,276) and Jody Lumpkin (1,269) to rank 15th all-time in career scoring with 1,278 career points to date (eighth all-time in the program's Division I history).
• For the second-straight game, the Cougars snapped their opponents' win streak including Georgia Southern (six games) and Kent State (seven games) on Feb. 18.
• Freshman Anthony Stitt checked into the ballgame at the 15:33 minute mark of the first half. It marked his first minutes since suffering a broken left hand (his non-shooting hand) against UNCG on Jan. 12. He had missed 12 contests during his recovery.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Interim Head Coach Mark Byington
On the game ...
"First off, I think it's great to win your last home game for your seniors. I was really happy for Antwaine (Wggins). Antwaine was more emotional than I thought he was going to be tonight. You can't tell it by what he says, but you can tell by his actions. Usually on Senior Night, it's important that your juniors, sophomores and freshmen play well. Trent Wiedeman played really well in the second half and got going. I thought Andrew Lawrence was terrific tonight against their pressure and against their traps. To have seven assists (with one turnover), he probably could have had 10 if we had finished a little better. It helps having Anthony Stitt back. He's missed five weeks, but he has probably made more big shots than anyone else on our team. He stepped up. He was 0-for-5, but he hit a big three, stepped up and drilled it. I think everyone on our team knew it was going to go in after it left his hands."
On the win on Senior Night ...
"I'm proud of our guys. Hopefully, we are building momentum. We did some good things tonight. Defensively in the first half and in the first 10 minutes, I thought we were terrific. Offense lead defense. We were crisp and we followed the game plan. One of the things this team struggles with is scoring droughts. We have to find a way to get easier baskets, to finish better, to make shots and execute better. Every game is going to be like this from here-on-out, kind of a tournament atmosphere, with lower scoring and more pressure. We will learn from it like every other game and try to get better. Give Georgia Southern credit, their pressure pushed us out a lot tonight."
College of Charleston Senior Forward Antwaine Wiggins
On the game and how the team has overcome adversity ...
"It felt good that we won. I was getting worried for a second. We had a great crowd out there and that really meant a lot to me. It also felt good to see Coach Cremins out in the stands. I didn't expect him to come tonight, so it was a really nice surprise also. Since we have our full roster now, with everyone healthy, Coach B (Byington) is just trying to put the right people in at the right time to get the job done. He knows who is a good free throw shooter, who hits big shots and who will step-up on defense and rebounding. He has been making the right moves at the right time."
College of Charleston Sophomore Forward Trent Wiedeman
On the game ...
"It was a tough game. It was a great environment. We knew Georgia Southern has been really hot lately. We came into the game with a lot intensity knowing we were going to have to play our A-game to win. We just wanted to go out and win for Antwaine (Wiggins) on his Senior Night."
Georgia Southern Head Coach Charlton Young
On the game ...
"Congratulations to Charleston and Mark (Byington). They did a tremendous job from a coaching standpoint. It was a must-win for them and a must-win for us. I was very impressed with the way Mark and his staff played us. It was a tough one for us. But, we still have a chance to go back to Hanner (Fieldhouse) and obtain our goals. It's not a national disaster for us. It's a speed bump in the road. I think we are tough enough to drive over a speed bump. We will get ourselves together, get back to Statesboro and try to win the next one (against Davidson). Congratulations to Mark and his staff. They did a great job."
