Balanced Attack Leads Cougars to Opening Night Victory

Monday, November 3

Charleston, S.C.

7:00 PM

College of Charleston

1-0,0-0CAA

Tusculum

0-0,0-0SAC

Tusculum

Col. of Charleston

Balanced Attack Leads Cougars to Opening Night Victory

11/3/2025 10:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The College of Charleston men's basketball team opened the 2025-26 season with 79-58 win over Tusculum Monday night at TD Arena.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Jlynn Counter scored the first Cougar points of 2025-26 followed by an emphatic Christian Reeves dunk and a Martin Kalu triple to help Charleston take an early 11-4 lead.
Tusculum came within one point before Chol Machot converted a second chance bucket to end the Cougar drought.
Charleston held Tusculum scoreless for nearly three minutes, forcing the Pioneers to go 0-5 from the field and score just nine more points in the half to take a 41-20 lead into the locker room. The Cougars ended the frame on a 6-0 run, highlighted by ten points in the half for Counter to lead the home team.
Reeves continued the momentum out of the locker room with another emphatic dunk to start the second half. The Cougars maintained control, earning 22 points off Pioneer turnovers to cruise to Charleston's fifth straight opening night victory.

Out of the break with authority ?? pic.twitter.com/8Z32Djlt63
— Charleston Basketball (@CofCBasketball) November 4, 2025

KEY COUGARS

Six Cougars ended the night scoring in double figures, led by Chris Davis Jr. and Machot with a game-high 14 each. Kendall Taylor and Reeves contributed 12 a piece followed by Kalu with 11 and Counter with ten.
Taylor and Machot recorded their first double-doubles as Cougars with 11 and ten rebounds, respectively.
Counter dished out seven assists in his Cougar debut.
The Charleston big men controlled the paint all evening. Reeves went 5-7 from the field while Machot ended 6-9.

KT gets the double-double in his first game as a Coug ?? pic.twitter.com/T38WO13Rvc
— Charleston Basketball (@CofCBasketball) November 4, 2025

GAME NOTES

The Cougars committed five turnovers, the lowest total of the Mack era and fewest since February 10, 2024 vs. Drexel. In turn, Charleston caused 18 Tusculum turnovers.
Charleston won the rebounding battle 51-47.
Machot, Kalu, Davis Jr., Chadlyn Traylor, Taylor, and AJ Fowler all made their NCAA Division I debuts Monday night.
The Cougars struggled from behind the arc, going 1-24.

UP NEXT

Charleston will travel to Lynchburg, Va. for the third annual Field of 68 Tip-Off hosted by Liberty. The Cougars will take on the host Flames on Friday, November 7 at 6:00 p.m. before facing Florida Atlantic in a neutral site battle on November 8 at 6:00 p.m.
Both games will be broadcast by the Field of 68 Media Network on YouTube.

For complete coverage of Charleston men's basketball, follow us on X (@CofCBasketball) and Instagram (@CofCBasketball).