Cougars Rally Past William & Mary To Remain Unbeaten In CAA

Saturday, January 14

TD Arena

4:00 PM

College of Charleston

15-4, 6-0CAA

William & Mary

8-8, 2-3CAA

William & Mary

Col. of Charleston

Photo by: Al Samuels

Cougars Rally Past William & Mary To Remain Unbeaten In CAA

1/14/2017 8:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score William & Mary Box Score Photo Gallery Postgame Interviews

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – Grant Riller scored 20 points including a big four-point play in the second half as College of Charleston rallied to a 77-67 victory over William & Mary on Saturday night at TD Arena.

The Cougars (15-4, 6-0 CAA) won their seventh in a row and are off to their best start in league play since going 6-0 as members of the Southern Conference in 2009-10.

Charleston trailed by nine with 10:53 left, but then rallied to go up seven points after a 13-2 run punctuated with Riller scoring eight-straight points, ending with his 4-point play.

Two free throws by Omar Prewitt got the Tribe (8-8, 2-3 CAA) back within five with a minute to go, but Joe Chealey made two free throws and Jarrell Brantley three for CofC, who has won 12 of its last 13.

Brantley finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, Chealey 14 points and Evan Bailey 11 off the bench.

For the Tribe, Prewitt scored a game-high 25 points, Greg Malinowski 12 and David Cohn 11.

A showdown between the two undefeated teams in the league is up next as CofC hosts preseason favorite UNCW (17-2, 6-0 CAA) on Thursday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. (ET) at TD Arena. The game will be televised nationally on the American Sports Network. Tickets for the White Out game are available for purchase by calling (843) 953-COFC or online at: www.CofCSports.com/tickets

POSTGAME NOTES

With the win, College of Charleston snapped a two-game skid in the all-time series with William & Mary. It was the first game in the last four meetings between both schools not decided in single digits.
The Cougars have now won seven games in a row – their longest win streak since winning seven-straight games in 2009-10 and 2010-11. They are also off to a 6-0 start in conference play for the first time since the 2009-10 campaign under former head coach Bobby Cremins.
Grant Riller scored in double figures for his third-straight CAA game with a team-high 20 points including a career-best three 3-pointers against William & Mary. It marked his third career 20-point outing.
Jarrell Brantley recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds versus William & Mary. It marked his 10th double-double of his career and 16th double-digit scoring game of the season.
Joe Chealey scored 14 points to turn in his eighth double-figure scoring game in the last nine games.
Evan Bailey came off the bench and registered a season-high 11 points on a season-best 3-of-5 shooting from long range.
The Cougars made their second-most blocks in a single game this season (6) against the Tribe behind two each from Jarrell Brantley and Nick Harris.
CofC scored 77 points against William & Mary tying its second-highest scoring output of the season next to Western Carolina on Dec. 22 and Hofstra on Jan. 7.

POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Earl Grant
On the game …
"I thought our guys played with a lot of spirit and character in a really tough game, against a really good team in William & Mary. A one-day preparation was hard with their style of play. I thought we did a great job of buying into our game plan and trusting each other. We had a lot of different guys come in and step-up and give us some great help off the bench. Obviously, our starters did what they needed to do again. We had a lot of contributors who gave us a great lift off the bench. It was huge win for us against a really good team. We will enjoy it today and get back in the gym on Monday – working to get better and keep moving our program forward."

College of Charleston Sophomore Forward Jarrell Brantley
On the close game and rallying back in the second half …
"We love to compete. We love games like this. It helps that we already love to play defense. Our coaches did a really good job of giving us a game plan where we did our jobs on defense (against their Princeton offense) to make it easier on offense for us."

College of Charleston Redshirt Freshman Guard Grant Riller
On his big three-pointer that was the play of the game …
"It kind of turned the tides a little bit. It was a big energy play that we needed. I was just happy I got one to go down in that moment of the game."