Tuesday, February 26, 2008

CofC Lose on the road to the Spartans

GREENSBORO, NC – UNC Greensboro had only four players hit the scoring column, but three went for more than 20 as the Spartans topped College of Charleston, 75-67, in Southern Conference men’s basketball action at Fleming Gym on Thursday night.

The Spartans set a school record by shooting 84 percent from the floor in the second half, going 16-for-19. They made their first 10 shots of the half to erase a seven-point second half. Mikko Koivisto led the way with a career-high 25 points for UNCG (16-11, 10-8), which clinched the final bye slot in the upcoming Southern Conference Tournament with the win.

Kyle Hines had 23 points and eight rebounds for UNCG to extend his streak of games with 10 or more points to 77 in a row. The All-America candidate from Sicklerville, NJ also had three blocks and four steals. Kevin Oleksiak also had 22 points for the Spartans.

It was just the second time in UNCG’s Division I era that three Spartans topped 20 points in the same game. The only other time that happened was in an overtime loss to NC State last January.

The only other Spartan to score was Ben Stywall with five points, all of which came in the final 15:34.

Jermaine Johnson led the Cougars (12-16, 7-11) with 18 points and eight rebounds. Andrew Goudelock added 12 points and Donovan Monroe chipped in with 11 points for College of Charleston.


For the entire article courtesy of UNC-G athletics (click here)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

College of Charleston

"The game was decided the first five minutes of the second half," said Charleston coach Bobby Cremins. "They came out of the locker room and they got it going. We turned it over and they capitalized with their outside shooting. They're a good, solid basketball team."

Charleston (12-16, 7-11 SoCon) stayed with the Spartans in the first half, but Greensboro (16-11, 10-8) was too hot to match in the second half.

With the loss, the Cougars will not finish above .500 during the regular season for the first time since the 1978-79 season.

The Cougars shot 50 percent from the field in the second half, but the Spartans' 84.2 percent shooting was too much.

"We played well the first half," Cremins said. "In the second half, we had unforced turnovers, and they just killed us with their great shooting. They're a good, solid basketball team. We were right there, and they took it away from us."

Charleston trailed by as many as seven points in the first half, but a 15-3 run got the Cougars rolling, and they led 31-26 at halftime.

The last time the two teams met, UNC Greensboro power forward Kyle Hines scored 32 points and the Spartans shot 66.7 percent from the field in an 88-71 victory over the Cougars on Jan. 24 at John Kresse Arena.

Hines scored 23 points to go with 11 rebounds against the Cougars on Monday night, and got help from his teammates.

Mikko Koivisto scored 25 points for the Spartans, and Kevin Oleksiak scored 22.

Jermaine Johnson led the Cougars with 18 points.

The Cougars wrap up the regular season with home games against Georgia Southern on Thursday and Furman on Saturday.

The SoCon Tournament begins March 7 at North Charleston Coliseum.