Cougars Victorious in CAA Opener

Thursday, January 2

Charleston, S.C.

7:00 PM

College of Charleston

11-3,1-0CAA

Hampton

8-6,1-1CAA

Hampton

Col. of Charleston

1/2/2025 9:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The College of Charleston men's basketball team earned their first conference victory of the season with a 94-67 win over Hampton on Thursday night in TD Arena.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Ante Brzovic started the game with seven straight points to give the Cougars the early 7-2 lead.
The Pirates came within four points at 15-11 before two straight Charleston steals led to fast break buckets, including an Elijah Jones slam dunk. Charleston went 5-5 from the field during a two-minute stretch to take a 25-15 edge with 11 minutes to play.
Four Cougar turnovers in two minutes coupled with a 9-0 Hampton run brought the Pirates within three at 28-25. A pair of free throws from Derrin Boyd and back-to-back layups from Brzovic and Deywilk Tavarez pushed the lead back to nine with six minutes to play. The teams traded points for the remainder of the half as Charleston went into the locker room with a 42-35 lead. Brzovic had 14 points in the half.
Boyd started the second half with his second and third treys of the night before the Cougars took their largest lead of the night at 54-38 on an AJ Smith lay-up.
Boyd's fourth and fifth made threes tied his career high for makes from behind the arc and helped the Cougars cruise to the 94-67 win to start CAA play with a win.

Oh he's feeling it ?? pic.twitter.com/vPZs6pNRRQ
— Charleston Basketball (@CofCBasketball) January 3, 2025

KEY COUGARS

Boyd led Charleston with 26 points, his new Cougar high. The graduate student was 5-9 from three-point range and made all nine attempts from the charity stripe.
Brzovic had 21 points, his sixth 20+ point performance of the season. He was one rebound away from a double-double, grabbing nine on the night.
Smith (13) and Tavarez (10) rounded out the double figure scorers. The duo has scored in double figures each of the last three contests.
Djordje Curcic had a career-high nine points, all from three.
Justas Stonkus grabbed a career-high eight rebounds.

GAME NOTES

Charleston shot 49% from the field compared to Hampton's 36%.
The Cougars outrebounded the Pirates 46-32, the seventh time this season Charleston has outrebounded their opponent.
Charleston scored 17 points off the fast break.
The 27-point victory is the largest of the season for Chris Mack's program.

UP NEXT

Charleston, now 11-3, will have a quick turnaround when Towson comes to TD Arena on Saturday, January 4 for a rematch of last season's CAA semifinal match. Action is set for 2:00 p.m.