HONOLULU, HAWAII – The College of Charleston men's basketball team finished the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic with a 84-81 victory over Charlotte in the fifth place consolation game on Christmas Day.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After falling behind 9-4, Charleston went on an 8-2 run highlighted by a Deywilk Tavarez four-point play.
• The Cougars held the 49ers offense scoreless for over two minutes to take a 24-18 lead behind playmaking from Ante Brzovic and AJ Smith.
• 49ers came within two at 26-24 before five straight Cougar makes pushed the Charleston edge to six at 33-26. The Cougars took their largest lead of the half to enter the locker room up 46-31. Brzovic had his way down low in the frame with 19 points, going 9-11 from the field.
• Tavarez started the second half with another triple to help push Charleston to a 58-37 lead, their largest of the game with 16 minutes to play.
• Charlotte hung around, and after nearly a four-minute Cougar scoring drought allowed an 8-0 49er run to cut it to single digits for the first time since the first half at 72-64 with three minutes to play.
• The 49ers made it a one possession game 81-78 with 19.3 seconds to play. The Cougars converted from the charity stripe to hold on for their tenth win of the season.

KEY COUGARS

• Brzovic had his fourth double-double of the season with a game-high 32 points and 14 rebounds to match his season-high. The senior was 13-18 from the field.
• Smith (17), Boyd (14), and Tavarez (15) all contributed double figure scoring efforts.
• CJ Fulton dished out seven assists and grabbed a season-high nine rebounds.

GAME NOTES

• Charleston won the rebounding battle 40-34 and outshot Charlotte from the field 47% to 40%.
• The Cougar's bench outscored the 49ers 23-4.
• Charleston's nine turnovers are the second lowest of the season.

UP NEXT

• Charleston, now 10-3, starts conference play on January 2 when the Hampton Pirates travel to TD Arena. Action is set for 7:00 p.m.