College of Charleston
11-7, 3-4CAA
Towson
13-7, 4-3CAA
Cougars Claim First-Ever CAA Road Win at Towson, 40-37
1/22/2016 3:24:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TOWSON, Md. – It was a low-scoring affair for the top two scoring defenses in the Colonial Athletic Association as College of Charleston claimed a 40-37 road win at Towson on Thursday night at SECU Arena.
The Cougars (11-7, 3-4 CAA) ended a three-game conference skid with another single-digit thriller as sophomore Cameron Johnson (Athens, Ga.) converted a wide-open layup off the dish from freshman Marquise Pointer (Jonesboro, Ark.) with five seconds remaining in regulation.
It marked CofC's first road win at Towson since joining the league in July of 2013. The Tigers (13-7, 4-3 CAA) had previously won three of their last four in league play to position themselves in a six-way tie for first place in the CAA standings.
Both teams entered the contest with the No. 1-and No. 2-ranked scoring defenses in the league – Towson (65.0 ppg) and CofC (65.7 ppg). The Cougars shot 33.3 percent from the floor (16-of-48), while the Tigers shot an opponent season-low 23.9 percent (11-of-46). Each school was also held to its lowest-scoring output of the season.
Johnson led all scorers for the third-straight game with 10 points, while junior reserve Terrance O'Donohue (Norcross, Ga.) tied a season high with eight and redshirt freshman Nick Harris (Dacula, Ga.) and freshman Jarrell Brantley (Columbia, S.C.) with six each.
After Towson went on a 10-2 run in the middle of the second half, a dunk by Harris off the feed from Pointer ended CofC's scoring drought, 34-30, with 9:07 left on the clock. He also hit a jumper with 27 seconds remaining to keep the Tigers at bay with the help of missed free throws by leading scorer and Wake Forest transfer, Arnaud William Adala Moto, who went 4-for-8 from the charity stripe in the final stretch.
The Cougars will return home for a Saturday, Jan. 23 CAA clash with Delaware (5-13, 0-7 CAA) as part of CofC Athletics Hall of Fame Weekend at 4 p.m. (ET) at TD Arena. Tickets are still available for purchase by calling (843) 953-COFC or going online at: www.CofCSports.com/tickets
For more information on College of Charleston Basketball, follow the Cougars on Twitter at @CofCBasketball.
POSTGAME NOTES
· With only eight scholarship players on its active roster, College of Charleston started freshman Marquise Pointer, sophomore Cameron Johnson, junior Payton Hulsey, freshman Jarrell Brantley and redshirt freshman Nick Harris for the fifth-consecutive ballgame (2-3).
· With the win, the Cougars claim their first-ever road win at Towson since joining the CAA in July of 2013. They previously beat the Tigers in non-conference play on the road in 2004. CofC also ended a four-game losing streak to Towson in the eight-game all-time series (5-3).
· For the third-straight contest, Cameron Johnson led the Cougars in scoring with a game-high 10 points at Towson. He has now scored in double figures in five of the last seven CAA games.
· Nick Harris played 26 minutes versus the Tigers and recorded five rebounds and six points including the eventual game-winner. All of his points were in the second half of play.
· Terrance O'Donohue came off the bench and provided key minutes after foul trouble plagued CofC's big men. He tied his season high with eight points at Towson as well as brought down seven rebounds and made a career-high tying two blocked shots.
· The Cougars were held to their lowest-scoring output of the season (40 points) as was Towson (37 points). Prior to the game, both teams were ranked No. 2 (65.7 ppg) and No. 1 (65.0 ppg) respectively in the league in scoring defense. The Tigers also shot an opponent season low 23.9 percent from the floor (11-of-46).
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Earl Grant
On the game …
“I'm so proud of our guys. I told them, 'if it was a football game, the final score would be 7-to-3.' They bought into the game plan and bought into what we have been preaching all week and all year – defending, rebounding and making it hard for people (to score). We've been doing a great job of that this season.”
On the team not giving away open looks to Towson …
“We tried to contest every shot and keep them (Towson) out of the paint. We tried to limit them one shot per possession. We had a lot of guys stepping up and getting big rebounds. Any time you challenge every shot, box-out hard and gain the rebound, it's going to be hard for a team to get an extra possession. We did a great job offensively, even though we didn't score a lot, of controlling tempo in terms of not giving them run-out layups. We had some turnovers on shot-clock violations. But, I kept telling our guys that as long as our defense was set, we would be okay.”
On converting on Towson's 13 turnovers …
“Our guys got a lot of deflections and got their hands on the ball. We knocked a few balls loose. Cameron (Johnson), Marquise (Pointer), and even Evan (Bailey), were able to get a couple of baskets out in transition. The biggest one was the last one, when Marquise threw a pass full-up the court to Cam, to win the game.”
