CHARLESTON, S.C. – Jarrell Brantley and Joe Chealey both had a double-double as College of Charleston held on for a 78-65 victory over Delaware on Thursday night at TD Arena.
 
The Cougars (22-8, 13-4 CAA) have won three straight and clinched the No. 2 seed in next week's Colonial Athletic Association Men's Basketball Championship.
 
Brantley recorded a season-high tying 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Chealey turned in 20 points, a career-high 10 rebounds and was three short of a triple double with seven assists. It marked his first career double-double.
 
Marquise Pointer added 11 points for the Cougars off the bench as they shot 46.9 percent from the field (23-of-49) and 86.2 percent from the free throw line (25-of-29).
 
College of Charleston closed the first half on an 8-2 surge and led 34-28 at halftime. The Cougars opened the second half on a 20-6 run including a Brantley dunk and capped by Pointer's three-pointer for a 20-point lead.
 
They held off a late second-half rally and 10-run by the Blue Hens (12-18, 5-12 CAA), who were led in scoring by Cazmon Hayes (20 points).
 
The Cougars will host Drexel in both teams' CAA regular-season finale on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 5 p.m. (ET) at TD Arena. Tickets are available and can be purchased by calling (843) 953-COFC or online at: www.CofCSports.com/tickets
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• With the win, College of Charleston now owns a one-game lead, 6-5, in the all-time series with Delaware. The Cougars claimed the regular-season series sweep of the Blue Hens for the first time since joining the CAA in 2013.
• The Cougars have now won 22 games on the season – the program's most wins in regular-season play since the 2010-11 season when CofC reached the quarterfinals of the NIT under former head coach Bobby Cremins.
• Jarrell Brantley recorded a season-high tying 21 points and 10 rebounds against Delaware. It marked his 13th career double-double and eighth of the season. He has now reached 20-or-more points five times in his career. Brantley is on a six-game double-digit scoring streak with three 20+ outings.
• Joe Chealey registered his first career double-double with 20 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. He was three shy of a triple double with a career-high tying seven assists. Chealey is on a 12-game double-digit scoring streak with back-to-back 20-point games.
• Marquise Pointer came off the bench and contributed a season-high 11 points against Delaware.
• Offensively, the Cougars have knocked down 70-or-more points in a game over the last six-straight contests including a 78-point scoring output against the Blue Hens.
• CofC made a season-high seven blocked shots in the ballgame including three from big men Jarrell Brantley and two from Nick Harris.

POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Earl Grant
On the game …
"I thought we played well tonight. We played a lot of guys. We didn't play our best, but we played well. We held them (Delaware) to 28 points in the first half. I thought we had great effort. It took us a while to get energy plays that we were used to. It didn't happen until the end of the first half and the early five minutes of the second half. That's how we built our lead. We talk about it all the time as a team and staff. We just have to know who we are. We are better when we play with that energy – getting the deflections, steals, looses balls, taking charges and flying around. We didn't start out the game that way, but once we started to get it going, that's how we built our lead. I'm just happy for our guys that they did what they needed to do to get that win."
 
On clinching the No. 2 seed in next week's CAA Tournament …
"It's big for us. We wanted to try to work on our seeding. Our goal is to win the championship. We have an opportunity to do that. We wanted to get a high seed. Now, we will go into the tournament and play on Saturday (March 4) at 6 p.m. I'm just proud of our players. They put a lot of effort to get to this point, especially considering where we were. I'm really happy for our guys. They have put themselves in a position with a good seed in the tournament."
 
College of Charleston Redshirt Junior Guard Joe Chealey
On the game …
"We got better tonight. We played well and had good spurts. We had a little spurt there in the second half where we had some mental lapses on defense that let them (Delaware) come back in the game. Ultimately, we found a way to close it out. We knew they would keep fighting. But, we knew we had another push in us at the end of the game. It was a really good win for us on our home court."
 
College of Charleston Sophomore Forward Jarrell Brantley
On the team's run at the start of the second half …
"Coach (Grant) just emphasized on us finishing and not letting up. We came together as a team and we did what we do best."