BATON ROUGE, La. – College of Charleston's Joe Chealey registered a game-high tying 23 points in a closely-contested road loss at LSU, 75-65, on Monday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
 
The Cougars (8-4), who trailed by 13 points in the second half, tied the ballgame on a made layup by Chealey, 65-65, with 1:48 remaining in regulation. However, CofC missed its last four shots, while the Tigers (8-2) connected on their final five possessions.
 
It was the first loss in the month of December for Charleston after five-consecutive wins against the likes of USC Upstate, Navy, Davidson, Anderson and East Carolina.
 
Jarrell Brantley added 11 points and five rebounds for the Cougars, who shot 36.5 percent from the floor and 11.1 percent from beyond the arc.
 
Duop Reath was one of three LSU players in double figures with 23 points next to Brandon Sampson (20 points) and Craig Victor II (18 points). The Tigers remain an undefeated 7-0 at home and picked up their fourth-straight win shooting 50 percent from the floor (29-of-58).
 
The Cougars will continue their road travel before the holiday break at former Southern Conference foe Western Carolina (4-7) on Thursday, Dec. 22 at 7 p.m. (ET) in Cullowhee, N.C.
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• The game marked the end of a 2-for-1 series between College of Charleston and LSU. The Tigers now lead 2-1 in the all-time series and avenged a 70-58 loss to the Cougars last year in Charleston.
• Joe Chealey recorded his fifth career 20-point game with a game-high tying 23 points at LSU. He shot a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line – the fifth time this season to shoot flawless from the charity stripe in a game.
• Jarrell Brantley was the only other Cougar to score in double figures with 11 points and five rebounds.
• Nick Harris led the team in rebounding for the fifth time this season with six of the team's 29 rebounds in the ballgame.
• Chevez Goodwin came off the bench and registered seven points, three rebounds and two blocks versus the Tigers.
• The Cougars made the third-most steals in a single game this season at LSU (8).

POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Earl Grant
On the final run by LSU …
"We had a couple of breakdowns on defense where we tried to be aggressive. We missed a steal and tried to deflect the ball. We fumbled and they dunked it. The only thing that was different was Antonio Blakeney made his big three and we missed ours. We had a tough travel call late and they made their free throws down the stretch."
 
On Duop Reath being the X-Factor for LSU …
"He got the ball inside deep. He made some tough, talented shots. We allowed him to the get the ball too deep in some of his early possessions. He really hurt us. Anytime a guy can get 23 points, mostly in the paint, that's tough on our defense."
 
On the rebounding differential in the game …
"Defensive rebounding is one of the things we count on. They had 12 offensive rebounds and that's too many. That's one of the reasons why we lost. That was one of our keys to the game – defensive rebounds to take them out of transition. We didn't do a good enough job on the glass tonight."
 
On the team's effort in the loss …
"They clawed back and never gave up. That game could have gone in any direction. We called a timeout, we talked about it and we got it back. We tied the game with 1:48 to go, but then they made a big three and we had a breakdown that turned into a dunk. That's five of their final 10 points right there and the rest were free throws. But, I'm proud of our guys' effort. We have to learn from our mistakes. We had a chance to win the game, but we just broke down at the end and ran out of gas."