Men's Basketball Defeats Evansville in Paradise Jam Finale

Monday, November 24

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

5:30 PM

College of Charleston

4-4,0-0CAA

Evansville

3-5,0-0MVC

Col. of Charleston

Evansville

Men's Basketball Defeats Evansville in Paradise Jam Finale

11/24/2025 9:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

ST. THOMAS, USVI – The College of Charleston men's basketball team defeated Evansville 78-59 in the third place game of the 2025 Paradise Jam at the University of the Virgin Islands on Monday night. The Cougars finish the tournament 2-1.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Cougars took an early 12-5 lead, making 5 of 6 from the field including triples from Jaxon Prunty and Martin Kalu, and back-to-back makes in the paint from Christian Reeves.
Two more Kalu threes kickstarted a 13-3 Cougar run to take a 21-8 lead with twelve minutes to play.
Evansville came within eight at 37-29 with under a minute to play before Connor Hickman ended the half on his second made three to send Charleston into the locker room up 40-29. Kalu led the Cougars with nine points in the half followed by Hickman with eight.
Chol Machot led the Cougars out of the locker room with a three, the seventh of the night for Charleston. They would finish with ten total on the night.
A 13-3 run Cougar out of the under eight media timeout extended the Charleston lead to 70-52 before going up by 20 for their largest lead of the night to secure the win.

2H 6:17 | CofC 70, UE 52

Tough finish from @connor1035 makes it a 13-3 Cougar run ?? pic.twitter.com/qaMtloNwz8
— Charleston Basketball (@CofCBasketball) November 25, 2025

KEY COUGARS

Kalu led Charleston with a game-high 21 points and seven rebounds, making a season-high five threes.
Hickman contributed 16 points, 8 rebounds and three assists on the night. His eight rebounds tie his career-high.
Machot was the final double-figure scorer for Charleston with 14 points and seven rebounds, going 4-5 from the field.
Chadlyn Traylor made his first career start, ending the night with six points and five assists.
Reeves was a perfect 4-4 from the field with five boards.

KALU TIMEEEE

Back-to-back threes for Martin ?? pic.twitter.com/WGlJiHMNQK
— Charleston Basketball (@CofCBasketball) November 24, 2025

GAME NOTES

Charleston made ten three pointers for the second time this season.
The Cougars outshot the Purple Aces 47% to 38% from the field and won the rebounding battle 42-24
Chris Mack earned his second-career victory over Evansville where he played for the Purple Aces from 1988-1990.
Charleston finishes 2-1 for the second straight season their MTE after taking fifth in the 2024 Hawaiian Airlines Diamondhead Classic. This is the best MTE finish for Charleston since winning the 2022 Charleston Classic.