BOONE, N.C. - Junior Andrew Lawrence (London, England) scored a game-high 24 points to lead College of Charleston to a 74-62 road victory at Appalachian State on Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Center.
Sophomore big man Trent Wiedeman (Suwanee, Ga.) sparked the CofC offense early by scoring all six of the team's opening points of the contest in which the lead changed on six occasions.
The Cougars (14-10, 6-7) didn't relinquish their lead for most of the ballgame outside of a jumper by G.J. Vilarino which put ASU ahead, 12-11, at the 11:14 minute mark of the first half.
It was short lived as Lawrence, whose father, Renaldo, played for CofC head coach Bobby Cremins at ASU in the late 70's, reeled off five first-half three-pointers in a row to rally the Cougars to one of their better first-half performances in the last five games in Southern Conference play.
CofC would go into halftime, 35-32, and the offense would continue to click in the second half as the Cougars extended their lead into double figures as Lawrence drained two free throws, 56-45, with 7:27 remaining in regulation.
Wiedeman was one of three players to notch double figures in the scoring column with 14 points, while sophomore Nori Johnson (Greer, S.C.) poured in 11 on 3-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc.
The Mountaineers (9-13, 5-7) were held to 37.1 percent shooting on 70 attempts from the field against CofC's zone defense. They were also held to an opponent season-low 15.8 percent from behind the three-point line (3-of-19) in their second-straight loss in two days.
The Cougars will next host Western Carolina (10-15, 4-8) on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 8 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 fifth time this season, CofC used the starting five of junior Andrew Lawrence, sophomore Nori Johnson, senior Antwaine Wiggins, sophomore Trent Wiedeman and freshman Adjehi Baru (2-3).
• With the win, the Cougars picked up their first road win at Appalachian State since 2009. They continue to lead the all-time series, 17-11 and have now won six out of the last seven meetings between the two schools.
• CofC Interim Head Coach picked up his second career coaching victory (2-2) since CofC Head Coach Bobby Cremins took a medical leave of absence on Jan. 27. It was the first missed trip in six years by Cremins to his old coaching stomping grounds of Boone, N.C.
• Andrew Lawrence registered his third consecutive game in double figures with a game-high 24 points including 15 in the first half alone. He drained a career-high six three-pointers with his entire first-half points coming from downtown. It marked his third career game with 20-or-more points. He also dished out seven assists with just four turnovers.
• Trent Wiedeman scored 14 of the team's 20 points in the paint versus the Mountaineers.
• Nori Johnson turned in his third career game in double figures with 11 points against ASU.
• Adjehi Baru led the team in the rebounding column for the sixth time this season with a game-high nine boards with eight coming on the defensive end of the glass.
• For the second-straight contest, the Cougars shot better than 43 percent from the field (43.4%).
• CofC tied a season-low with eight turnovers against Appalachian State. Defensively, they held the Mountaineers to 37.1 percent shooting from the floor (26-of-70) and an opponent season-low 15.8 percent shooting from behind the three-point arc (3-of-19).
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Interim Head Coach Mark Byington
On the game ...
"First off, I'm just really proud of our guys for bouncing back in less than 48 hours. We had a heartbreaking loss against Elon, where in the second half and in the overtimes, we had many chances to win the game and couldn't pull through. They didn't let the loss linger. From the opening tip, our guys were ready to play today. They were focused and had great concentration. Andrew Lawrence was tremendous tonight. In back-to-back games and in the last three-game stretch, he has been very good with assists and scoring points. Right now, he has been playing better than any other guard in our league in my opinion. Trent Wiedeman gave us a nice inside punch. App State is as big and as athletic as any team in this league. For us to get any kind of inside scoring was a bonus tonight and Trent gave us that."
On the team's defense and holding Appalachian State to 37.1 percent shooting ...
"We played more zone tonight than we've played in three or four games. We used it earlier in the year to play Louisville and Tennessee. Tonight, we thought we had matchup problems in man-to-man. I don't think any of our guys could've guarded Omar Carter, because he plays the three and four. I thought (Isaac) Butts one-on-one would be a nightmare as well as Andre Williamson. I didn't think we could guard them man-to-man for 40 minutes from what we saw on tape. We wanted to play man-to-man as long as we could and then throw a curveball with zone when we had to."
College of Charleston Junior Point Guard Andrew Lawrence
On the win ...
"We are moving in the right direction. Coach B (Byington) is doing a great job with the new offense. All of the guys are finally buying into it. We are starting to get everyone back healthy which is also a big difference for us. We were just ready to play today. The new offense is a lot better for the personnel we have this year. We were torn about the Elon loss, so we came out here and gave it everything we had. Every game from here on out are important and big games leading up to the conference tournament."
