BOONE, N.C. — The College of Charleston has had its share of heartbreaking losses this season, so perhaps it was only fitting that the Cougars would earn a heartwarming basketball win.
Trailing by five points, Charleston outscored Appalachian State 10-0 over the final 2:12 of the game to beat the Mountaineers 68-63 Thursday night at the Holmes Center.
"This is the biggest win of the season for us by far," said Charleston coach Bobby Cremins. "It looked like we were going to lose another close one, and finally the breaks went our way. I'm really excited."
Charleston (11-12, 6-7 SoCon) had lost at home to Appalachian State (14-8,
9-4) 70-66 in Charleston on Jan. 3, a victory that jumpstarted the Mountaineers to nine victories in their last 10 games. Meanwhile, the Cougars struggled and went 4-5 over the same span.
But on Thursday night, Charleston made all the plays down the stretch against the Mountaineers.
Andrew Goudelock, who led the Cougars with 19 points, made a jumper with 25 seconds to play to put Charleston ahead 64-63.
After a Mountaineers' turnover, Charleston guard Tony White Jr., an 82 percent free throw shooter who missed the front end of a one-and-one in the closing seconds of the Cougars' 67-66 loss at Wofford on Jan. 28, made two free throws with 14.5 seconds to play for a 66-63 Charleston lead.
Charleston forward Jeremy Simmons, a 56 percent free throw shooter, made two free throws with 6.6 seconds to play for the coup de grace.
"I can't say enough about our team," Cremins said. "I'm just really excited abut this victory. This is what we needed. We needed something good to happen. Finally, when it looked like we were going down for another defeat, the breaks went our way. We got a tremendous win. Now we've got something to build on."
The Cougars missed 12 of their first 13 3-pointers, but made their next two to lead 30-27 at the half.
The game started out close and stayed that way in the first half , with neither team leading by more than three points.
An 8-0 run to start the second half put the Cougars ahead 38-27 with 18:33 to play, but the Mountaineers rallied to get back in the game.
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