ELON, N.C. – Just four short days ago, College of Charleston Head Coach Earl Grant learned that his third-leading scorer and veteran senior guard, Anthony Stitt (Charlotte, N.C.), would be out for the next two-to-four weeks recovering from a nagging-knee injury. Two days ago, his team would start the first day of the spring semester and attend the memorial service for former walk-on, Chad Cooke (Bolingbrook, Ill.).

Since Grant was first hired back in early September, everything surrounding the program has seemed to be based on limited time – a shortened preseason before non-conference play and less time for the transition period between different systems and coaching philosophies to be learned.

But for 40 minutes on Wednesday night, his team seemed to put everything they've been through over the last seven months behind them – resulting in the Cougars' first conference win of the season.

Four players scored in double figures as CofC (6-12, 1-4 CAA) won its third in row against former Southern Conference rival Elon (10-8, 2-3) in the all-time series. The Cougars are in year No. 2 as a member of the Colonial, while the Phoenix are in their inaugural season. Both schools last met in the semifinals of the 2013 SoCon Tournament in Asheville, N.C.

The two previous meetings on the road at Elon had resulted in single-digit wins for both programs. But for the majority of the ballgame, CofC trailed only three times in the first half and won by a convincing margin, 66-50, at Alumni Gym. It snapped an eight-game skid the Cougars were relieved to overcome after a difficult pre-conference slate against SEC, ACC and Big 12 competition.

Sophomore Canyon Barry (Colorado Springs, Colo.) led the way with a season-and game-high 23 points. He scored 16 of those points after the intermission – nearly as much as the 23 second-half points scored by the Phoenix. Barry was joined in double figures by sophomore Joe Chealey (Orlando, Fla.) with 17 points, senior big man Adjehi Baru (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) with 12 and freshman Cameron Johnson (Athens, Ga.) 11.

Barry, Chealey and Johnson hurt Elon on the perimeter shooting 8-of-14 combined behind the three-point arc. They also defensively frustrated the Phoenix, who committed 15 turnovers and were held to a season low in points (50). Not too shabby for the Cougars against the league's second-best and Top 60-ranked scoring offense in the country, who came in averaging 73.3 points per game.

Another stat CofC was able to take advantage of was free-throw shooting (58.3%) – a category normally reversed in favor of its opponents this season. The Cougars made 14-of-24 attempts to Elon's 13-of-19 attempts.

Their two-game CAA road swing continues this weekend as CofC travels to preseason favorite Northeastern for a Saturday, Jan. 17 tilt at 7 p.m. (ET) in Boston, Mass.

For now, time is on the team's side to continue to learn and improve – one game at a time.

POSTGAME NOTES

• For the second time this season and second consecutive game, the Cougars started Joe Chealey, Cameron Johnson, Canyon Barry, Donovan Gilmore and Adjehi Baru (1-1). It marked the second career start for Johnson, who replaced the sidelined Anthony Stitt in the lineup the last two games.

• With the win, College of Charleston has now won three in a row versus Elon including the last two on the road in Elon, N.C. The Cougars own a 14-5 advantage in the all-time series. It also marked the first career conference win for head coach Earl Grant.

• Canyon Barry has now scored in double figures in three-straight games with a season-high 23 points at Elon.

• Joe Chealey is also on a double-digit scoring streak of his own with 17 points against the Phoenix to match 17 points versus Delaware on Jan. 10.

• Cameron Johnson turned in only his second career game in double figures with 11 points.

• The Cougars led at halftime for only the eighth time this season and are 5-3 when doing so.

• CofC won the rebounding war, 32-23, behind a team-leading six boards from freshman Evan Bailey off the bench. It tied a career-and season-best for him.

• Defensively, the Cougars shut down the No. 60-ranked scoring offense in the nation holding Elon to a season-low 50 points – 23.3 points below its average.

• CofC shot a season-best 53.7 percent from the floor (22-of-41) against Elon.

• The Cougars are now 6-1 versus old SoCon foes over the last two seasons since being members of the CAA.

POSTGAME QUOTES

College of Charleston Head Coach Earl Grant

On the road win …

“It felt good to see that we were up late in the game. The biggest thing that excites me as a coach, I feel if a team can't really score on you, you always give yourself a chance. The only thing you can depend on is your defense. The nights when the shots don't fall, if a team scores 50, you have a chance. That's what I want our program to be about – defensive rebounding and being stingy on defense. Our guys were really locked in tonight. I give them all of the credit. They really kept a good attitude through all of the things they had encountered and they kept fighting. They were ready to play tonight and I'm so happy for them that we were able to get this win.”

On the team's free-throw shooting …

“I thought that was a big thing that we were missing, especially in the last couple of games. Our opponents had attempted more free throws and made more free throws than what we attempted. We talked about it the last couple of days. We really worked on driving the ball and trying to finish. We were intentional when we addressed it in practice this week. Our guys did a great job of finding times to drive, sharing the ball and really attacking the rim with some power.”

College of Charleston Sophomore Guard Canyon Barry 

On the road win …

“All through the week, Coach Grant stayed positive and the team stayed positive. We are a family. We are going to come together. We knew it would happen eventually. It was good to get a win tonight.”

On the team's free-throw shooting …

“That's something Coach Grant has been preaching to us about. 'You have to stay positive. If you come in with a lot of energy at practice every day, then things will go your way.' And, tonight it went our way. We haven't been shooting nearly enough free throws per game. Teams have been beating us in that statistic almost every game. Tonight, we were able to get to the line, and now, we just have to make them. We shot a terrible percentage in the second half and still were able to win the game. That's something we need to get better at moving forward.”