College of Charleston
3-6
Campbell
5-4
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Campbell | 23 | 24 | 47 |
| Col. of Charleston | 26 | 32 | 58 |
Cougars Roll To Third-Straight Win
12/14/2014 11:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball
CofC Athletics Communications
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The College of Charleston men's basketball team held off Campbell for a 58-47 win in a Sunday afternoon matinee at TD Arena.
The Cougars (5-4), now winners of three straight and four of their last five, stymied the Camels (3-6) with a pestering defensive effort. Campbell, which came into the contest shooting better than 44 percent from the floor, was limited to just 18-of-56 (.321) from the field, their most difficult shooting effort of the season.
Inversely, The College, led by sophomore Joe Chealey's (Orlando, Fla.) season-high and career-high tying 18 points (5-of-9 field goals/2-of-4 three-point field goals/6-of-6 free throws), shot 42 percent (20-of-48) to eclipse 40 percent as a team for the sixth time this season.
Sophomore Canyon Barry (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and seniors Anthony Stitt (Charlotte, N.C.), who both offered 36 minutes of playing time, poured in 14 and 12 points respectively.
With senior big man Adjehi Baru (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) seeing limited playing time due to foul trouble, sophomore Glen Pierre, Jr. (Orlando, Fla.) stepped up in a big way, leading all players with a career-best nine boards, while Barry pulled down eight and freshman Evan Bailey (Canton, Ohio) pulled down six (all season highs) to give the Cougars the edge under the basket.
The Cougars opened the game in purest fashion, knocking down their first three looks from the field and forcing Campbell to settle for 1-of-8 early shooting to build an early CofC lead.
Regrettable early turnovers temporarily haunted the Cougars, however, and Campbell overcame the deficit to tie the game around the midway point of the first half.
The teams went possession-for-possession over the half's remaining minutes, which saw three ties and five lead changes. CofC, behind 46 percent (11-for-24) shooting in the first half, held the lead for the final 7+ minutes and stretched it as far as six. A long-range buzzer-beating three-pointer by Campbell's Kyre' Hamer cut it back to one possession, 26-23, heading into the locker room.
The Cougars continued to batten down defensively in the second half, and after denying the Camels a field goal for the first three-and-a-half minutes, re-extended their lead. The Cougars fell into a cold-shooting spell of their own, however, going seven possessions without scoring which allowed Campbell to pull within one point with less than six minutes left.
With the outcome very much still in the balance, Stitt made an alert, heads-up play on an offensive rebound opportunity and called a timeout before falling out of bounds. The play proved to be pivotal, as Chealey knocked down a floating jumper on the ensuing possession as part of five unanswered points which fueled a 15-3 Cougar scoring run down the stretch.
Charleston solidified the victory from the charity stripe, with Chealey, Stitt, and Bailey combining to knock down seven consecutive free-throws – and Barry stuffing home the rebound when the eighth attempt rattled out – to stave off any potential comeback effort.
The Cougars still face a difficult close to the 2014 calendar year, with a tough road matchup on short rest at Charlotte (4-4) on Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 8 p.m. (ET) in Charlotte, N.C. The game will be televised on the American Sports Network (check your local listings).
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the fourth consecutive game, the Cougars used the starting lineup of Joe Chealey, Anthony Stitt, Canyon Barry, Donovan Gilmore and Adjehi Baru (3-1).
• With the win, CofC has now won 11-straight in the all-time series with Campbell dating back to 1991. Both teams last met in 1998 as members of the Trans America Athletic Conference.
• Joe Chealey tied a career-high in points (18) and a season-high in rebounds (6) against Campbell.
• Canyon Barry turned in his fourth double-figure scoring game with 14 points and a season-high eight rebounds.
• Anthony Stitt registered 12 points against Campbell and inches closer to the 1,000 career-point plateau with 968 to date. It marked his 50thcareer game in double figures.
• Glen Pierre, Jr., led all rebounders with a game-high nine boards which marked a career best for the sophomore reserve.
• For the third time this season and second-straight contest, CofC won the battle of the boards, 40-33 (+7).
• Defensively, the Cougars held Campbell to a season-low 32.1 percent shooting from the floor (18-of-56) and a season-low 47 points (the team's previous low was 48 points against Colgate on Nov. 22).
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Earl Grant
On the game …
“I was proud of my guys for competing the way they did today. It was a total team effort. We gang rebounded. That team (Campbell) was shooting 49 percent from the field and we held them to 32 percent. Our defense is a little bit ahead of our offense. But, our defense is the reason why we were able to have some success.”
On playing a slower-pace of game …
“I don't really think it's a slow pace to be honest with you. We run on every miss and there have been a lot of misses – a lot. Thirty-two percent (shooting). That's a lot of running. We will continue to run and attack. The pace is good for us. In most games, there are going to be 72 possessions between 65-to-72. If you hold them to 32 percent, that's a lot of possessions to run. I want to run a lot, and hopefully, we will continue to do that.”
College of Charleston Sophomore Guard Joe Chealey
On getting into an offensive rhythm in the second half …
“After halftime, we wanted to come out and be disciplined (in the second half). Be patient on offense and take the best shot. Sometimes that might have been in transition. There were some few short runs where we got out in transition and other times we slowed it down and got the best shot off. I definitely think we are settling in and growing as a team.”
College of Charleston Sophomore Guard Canyon Barry
On being more aggressive and taking more shots when they were open …
“Coach (Earl) Grant is one of those coaches that believes that if you are open, trust it and let it fly. I think the team is buying into that mindset. We are all pretty confident on offense right now. In this game, we really tried to focus on attacking the hole. They played a match-up zone, so if you can get that zone swinging and get it out of shape, there are a lot of driving lanes open. I think we did a good job of that today.”
