NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – Sophomore Grant Riller scored 25 points and nailed four of his team's 11 shots from behind the arc as top-seeded College of Charleston earned a spot in the title game for the second straight season, defeating fourth-seeded William & Mary, 83-73, in semifinal No. 1 of the 2018 CAA Men's Basketball Championship presented by Jersey Mike's Subs.
 
The Cougars (25-7) advance to tomorrow night's championship game where they will face second-seeded Northeastern (23-9) at 7 p.m. (ET) at the North Charleston Coliseum. The game will be televised live nationally on CBS Sports Network.
 
In a back-and-forth affair throughout, CofC went into halftime leading by five (39-34). Paul Rowley brought the Tribe within one, 47-46, on a 3-pointer with 13:08 remaining, but that's when the game swung open for the top seed. Charleston utilized a critical 22-13 run over the next seven-plus minutes with all but two of its points during that stretch coming behind the arc. Riller brought the crowd alive with a trey that put his team ahead, 69-59, and from there W&M played catchup the rest of the way.
 
Junior Jarrell Brantley finished with 14 points and a team-best 10 rebounds and senior Joe Chealey added 16 points in the win. Marquise Pointer contributed valuable minutes off the bench, scoring 10 points on a perfect 3-of-3 effort to go with four rebounds and five helpers.
 
Appearing in the semifinals for the fifth straight season, William & Mary (19-12) was led by sophomore Nathan Knight, who shined for the second time this weekend with a game-high 31 points on 13-of-18 shooting along with seven rebounds.  Rowley hit 4-of-8 from beyond the arc and had 14 points, senior David Cohn added 11 points and seven assists, and senior Connor Burchfield chipped in 10 points and eight boards. Sophomore Justin Pierce, who had seven points and six rebounds, was the only other Tribe player to find the scoreboard in the setback.
 
The Tribe, which leads the nation in 3-point field goal percentage, didn't drain its first trey until Rowley ended a four-minute scoreless drought with one at the 10:00 mark. Riller, though, had the answers with a three 3-pointers that gave the Cougars a 26-15 advantage.
 
Knight and Burchfield brought the Tribe faithful alive with back-to-back treys on consecutive Tribe possessions, while CofC hit its own brief cold streak as the half winded down. Riller and Knight stole the early headlines, leading the way (and their teams) with 18 and 17 points, respectively after 20 minutes of play.
 
Charleston shot 50 percent in the game (31-of-62) and forced 11 W&M turnovers. The Tribe made just 10-of-26 shots from 3-point range.
 
Tickets are available to the 2018 CAA Men's Basketball Championship and can be purchased via www.Ticketmaster.com or in-person at the North Charleston Coliseum Box Office.
 
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the second-straight CAA postseason tournament game, College of Charleston went with the starting five of Joe Chealey, Grant Riller, Cameron Johnson, Jarrell Brantley and Nick Harris.
• With the win, College of Charleston advances to its second-straight CAA championship game and is now 1-1 in postseason CAA games versus William & Mary. Both teams last met in the 2014 CAA Quarterfinals.
• CofC turned in back-to-back 25-win campaigns under head coach Earl Grant. It marked only the eighth time in the school's NCAA Division I history (1991-Present) to record 25-or-more victories in a single season.
• Jarrell Brantley turned in his third-straight double-double performance with 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds versus William & Mary. It marked his fifth double-double of the season.
• Grant Riller registered a team-high 25 points including four three-pointers against William & Mary. He also added three assists and three steals. Riller, who had 18 first-half points, has now tabulated 1,036 career points to date.
• Joe Chealey recorded 16 points and went a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line versus William & Mary. He has now scored 1,793 career points to date and ranks fifth on the all-time scorers list.
• Cameron Johnson also turned in a nice stat line with 11 points including three three-pointers, five rebounds and three steals versus the Tribe.
• Marquise Pointer came off the bench and scored 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field, 2-for-2 from long range and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe versus William & Mary. It marked his seventh double-figure scoring game of the season. He also led the team in assists (5).
• The Cougars drained 11 three-pointers versus William & Mary – tied for the third-most in a single game this season versus Cal Poly on Nov. 22 and at William & Mary on Feb. 24. It marked the seventh time this season that CofC made 10-or-more threes in a game.
• For the 10th time this season, the Cougars shot 50 percent or better from the field (31-of-62).
• Defensively, the CofC defense held the CAA's top scoring offense in William & Mary (85.4 ppg) to 73 points – its fifth-lowest scoring production of the season in 31 games played this season.
 
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Earl Grant
On the game …
"I thought our guys did a great job of paying attention to detail. We talked about it yesterday to focus on preparation and not think about the next day. We executed the game plan and that's what we needed to do to win. We needed to defend at a high level and I thought we defended at a high level tonight."
 
On the play of Marquise Pointer off the bench and his key plays …
"I don't know which one you were talking about, because there were a handful of them tonight. Marquise (Pointer) is just a winner. He's been winning his whole life – AAU, 14-and–under and high school state championships. He's just a winner and we are just glad he is part of our team."
 
College of Charleston Senior Guard Joe Chealey
On enjoying the moment or it being all business for the team …
"You have to enjoy it. For me personally, it's my last season and it's gone by in a blink of an eye. You try to savor every moment. It kind of takes the pressure and stress away from you, if you get caught up in the moment and you just play each possession."