College of Charleston
5-5
Charlotte
5-4
| Team | 1 | 2 | OT 1 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Col. of Charleston | 42 | 34 | 9 | 85 |
| Charlotte | 30 | 46 | 14 | 90 |
Chealey Knocks Down 30 In Overtime Loss at Charlotte
12/17/2014 5:40:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Joe Chealey (Orlando, Fla.) scored a career-and game-high 30 points as College of Charleston fell 90-85 in an overtime decision to Charlotte on Tuesday night at Halton Arena.
Just like it did a year prior, the Cougars (5-5) and 49ers (5-4) made similar second-half comebacks. In 2013, CofC overcame a seven-point deficit in the final 39 seconds to upend Charlotte, who had led the majority of the ballgame by as many as 14 points.
This time around, the 49ers went on a decisive 19-5 run in a five-minute span towards the end of the second half. Chealey answered the CofC scoring drought with a three-pointer with 36 seconds remaining in regulation and Charlotte ahead 76-74.
A layup by Adjehi Baru (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) off the dish from Chealey tied the ballgame at 76-all with 23 seconds left in the contest. Charlotte tried to use up the clock to take one last game-winning shot, but was unsuccessful sending the game into the extra 5-minute period.
Both teams had four players score in double figures. Charleston's Canyon Barry (Colorado Springs, Colo.) registered a season-high 21 points followed by Baru (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) and Anthony Stitt (Charlotte, N.C.) with 11 points each.
CofC had led by as many as 14 points at the 14:05 minute mark of the first half of play. The Cougars went into the locker room with a 42-30 advantage after an offensively-sound half shooting 57.1 percent from the floor (16-of-28) and 75.0 percent from beyond the three-point arc (9-for-12).
Every possession and rebound seemed to go Charlotte's way in overtime as made free throws carried the team to victory down the stretch.
The 49ers went 16-for-31 from the charity stripe in comparison to CofC's 3-for-5 free-throw attempts. They were led by Pierria Henry with 20 points and a double-double from Willie Clayton (15 points and 10 rebounds).
The Cougars will look to rebound from the road loss by playing host to former Southern Conference archrival Davidson on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 4 p.m. (ET) at TD Arena. The game will be televised live locally on MyTV Charleston.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the fifth-straight game, the Cougars went with the starting five of Joe Chealey, Anthony Stitt, Canyon Barry, Donovan Gilmore and Adjehi Baru (3-2).
• With the win, Charlotte now leads the all-time series, 12-9, with College of Charleston. The 49ers avenged an 83-82 loss to the Cougars on Nov. 12, 2013 in Charleston, S.C. The last three games in the series have now been decided in single digits. It was the first meeting between both schools in Charlotte since the Cougars' first game as a NCAA Division I member (W, 68-54) on Nov. 23, 1991.
• Joe Chealey became the first player to record 30+ points in a single game since former CofC standout and 2012 London Olympian Andrew Lawrence (32 points) at Elon at Feb. 2, 2012. Chealey set new career-highs in points (30), field goals made (11), field goals attempted (18), three-pointers made (7), three-pointers attempted (9) and minutes played (42).
• Canyon Barry registered his third career 20-point game with a season-high 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc, which tied a career-best outing from behind the three-point line. He also dished out a career-high six assists and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds against the 49ers. Barry dropped 26 points versus Charlotte in both teams' last meeting in Charleston.
• Terrance O'Donohue came off the bench and tied a career-high in points (7) and set a new career-best in minutes played (20) at Charlotte.
• The Cougars knocked down a season-high 16 three-pointers including 9-for-12 in the first half of play against the 49ers. They shot a season-best 61.5 percent from downtown (16-for-26) and tallied a season-high 85 points.
• CofC also shot its second-best percentage of the season from the floor with a 51.5 percent clip (33-of-64).
• This was the first overtime game of the year and fourth over the last two seasons (0-4).
• The Cougars are now 3-3 this season when games are decided in single digits.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Earl Grant
On the game …
“I thought our guys played really well offensively tonight. We did a good job of sharing the ball and we shot it extremely well. I was very disappointed we couldn't find a way to win. Usually, when you score so well and have so many good offensive performances, it would be nice to have a victory to go along with that. I thought the game came down to a lot of things going their (Charlotte) way. On every loose ball, they would get a rebound and stick-it back in. On a free-throw box out, they would tip-it out and make a three. That happened twice. In a lot of the toughness areas, I told our guys we just need to do better, learn from this game and get prepared for the next one (against Davidson).”
On the team's three-point shooting …
“I've seen it before. We've had 14 threes in a game before (over the last two years). I knew we could shoot it, because we spend a lot of time in practice shooting. You can run any type of offense or do any type of scheme, but if you can't make shots, you don't have a chance to win. We haven't shot it great the last couple of games. We've been shooting it good from time-to-time. We have been holding teams to 59 points a game and 38 percent field-goal percentage defense. That's what we hang our hat on. Tonight, I was disappointed our defense failed us.”
College of Charleston Senior Guard Anthony Stitt
On the team's three-point shooting …
“We did a great job of shooting the ball tonight three-point wise. We hit 16. We were able to get into a rhythm early and it translated throughout the game. We were able to get kick-out shots, so we were able to get our feet set, rise up and shoot the ball.”
On the team's game plan going into the matchup with Charlotte …
“We knew that we had to grind it out on the offensive end, by making them turn over the ball and getting side-by-side on the offensive end. We needed to get back into transition defense, make them take longer possessions than they wanted to and try to make them force shots. I think we did a good job of that tonight. For about 30 minutes of the game, we just could not finish and they were able to make some plays down the stretch.”
