From the Post & Courier: Cougs fall to WCU

Western Carolina 65, Charleston 57

The College of Charleston's up- and-down basketball season took another downward turn Saturday at John Kresse Arena.

The Cougars shot 35.3 percent from the field and committed 21 turnovers in a 65-57 Southern Conference loss to Western Carolina.

"It's not as bad as it could be, but it was a bad loss," said guard Andrew Goudelock, who led the Cougars with 15 points. "We could have won this game, should have won this game. Down the stretch we didn't make plays. We have no one to blame but ourselves."

Charleston (12-14, 7-9 SoCon) was coming off a 79-73 victory over Chattanooga Thursday night, while the Catamounts (8-17, 4-11 SoCon) were coming off a 57-51 loss to The Citadel, previously winless in the conference.

"We really made a commitment to fight for the whole 40 minutes this game and to respond after our poor showing on Thursday," said Catamounts' forward Jake Robinson. "We had two rough days thinking about that loss."

The Catamounts didn't exactly come out with guns blazing, shooting 39.3 percent from the field, but they got 25 points from guard Brandon Giles and seemingly made every big play down the stretch.

The Cougars play at Elon at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

3-Point Goals — Western Carolina 5-16 (Gore 0-1, Giles 2-7, Waginger 0-2, Robinson 3-6); C of C 6-15 (Scott 0-3, Wiggins 1-3, Goudelock 3-3, White 2-4, Monroe 0-1, Hammond 0-1). Steals — W. Carolina 10 (Giles 4); C of C 5 (Scott, Johnson 2). Blocks — W. Carolina 3 (Gordon, Giles, Wilson); C of C 5 (Scott 3). Turnovers — W. Carolina 8 (Wilson 3); C of C 21 (Scott, Johnson, White 4). Technicals — W. Carolina 1 (Waginger). A — 3,104.

Click here for the entire article by Charles Bennett.

The Cougs Face Western Carolina tonight at 6 pm.

The College of Charleston Cougars (12-13, 7-8 SoCon) will host the Catamounts (7-17, 3-11 SoCon) of Western Carolina tonight at 6 pm at the Kresse Arena. Game coverage will be on WTMZ 910-AM. The Cougs have won 9 straight against WCU, including an exciting win last December in Cullowhee and their coach Larry Hunter is 0-4 against the Cougars.



(Photo courtesy of the Catamounts' sports web-site)

See you at the game!

A Thrilling Win For The Cougs Against Western Carolina!

The College of Charleston Cougars won their third straight game this season and their ninth straight game over the Western Carolina Catamounts on Saturday, improving to 4-3. The Cougars will head to Chattanooga for their next game on Saturday, December 15th.

Jermaine Johnson earned SoCon Honors, as Player of the Week, with his career-high 26 points, and tying his career best 14 rebounds. Jermaine was excellent from the charity-stripe hitting 7 of 8, and cool as a Kennedy in the last 5-minutes of the game, putting 8 points on the board and grabbing 4 rebounds to secure a Cougar win! Andrew Goudelock added 25 points with a career-high 15 assists. Antwaine Wiggins and Jeremy Simmons both had 11-points as the Cougars brought home their first SoCon win of the season.

The key to the Cougs' win here is more than just the BMOC (Johnson) but also the depth of the College's bench: the Cougs bench outscored the Catamounts 34-4. The College shot 55.2% from the field in the first, but only 40% in the second half allowing Western Carolina to get back into the game, as they outscored the Cougs in the second-half 52-46. The Cougs still need to work on their shots from behind the arc, but they definitely have improved dramatically (since last season) from the charity-stripe.

Teams-1st---2nd--Total
CofC---40---46---86
WCU---32---52---84

Charleston vs Furman tonight 7pm on CSS!

On their way to a 20-win season, the College of Charleston basketball team (18-9, 11-4 SoCon) continues their road-trip as they face the Furman Paladins tonight, 7 pm. The game will air on CSS (Comcast Channel 42). This will be the 68th meeting between the two schools with Furman holding a 39-28 lead in the series. However, the College has won 5 straight and 16 of the last 18 meetings between the two schools. With the SoCon Tournament quickly closing in (February 28th at the North Charleston Coliseum), the Cougs have the opportunity to become more comfortable playing in a larger arena as tonight’s game will not be on held on Furman’s campus, but at the Bi-Lo Center in downtown Greenville. Tonight’s game marks only the 2nd time the Paladins have played a regular season game in the Bi-Lo Center since 1999-Furman lost to Davidson on January 10, 2007 for their first return to the Bi-Lo Center.

The College is playing their 2nd of 4 games in a 7-day stretch. The Cougars defeated Wofford soundly at the Benjamin Johnson Arena on Saturday, 71-58. A win tonight will clinch a 1st round bye for the Cougs and give them a 4th seed spot in the SoCon Tournament. After tonight the remaining games on the Cougars’ schedule are at home against the Citadel on Thursday and away at Georgia Southern on Saturday (ESPN 2).

The Paladins have won 4 of their last 5 games, and are in competition with Western Carolina for the 5th seed and bye in the SoCon Tournament. Obviously, this is too close to call as both teams have a Conference leader and a give-me left on their schedules: The Paladins have two away games left on their schedule at Davidson and at Wofford. The (Western-Carolina) Catamounts have App State and Elon left on their schedule.

Go Cougs!

Cougs Win Over Western-Carolina...but at what costs?

With Renardo Dickerson on the injured-reserve it was with great hesitation that I watched Marcus Hammond leave the game after injuring his knee during tonight's game. Marcus scored 5-points and 3 assists in his 22-minutes of playing time tonight, before being injured. Initial reports note a needed knee surgery meaning Marcus will be out for at least three weeks. Get well Marcus! The Cougars won for the 13th time in 15 games tonight, improving to 16-8, 9-3 (SoCon) with their win over Western Carolina (9-14, 6-6 (SoCon) 76-64. (Photo of Marcus Hammond from CofC Sports.com)

From the Den
The Cougars shot lights out in the first half, hitting 68% of their shots and putting 44-points on the board. Coach Cremins' main concern was the 3-ball threat the Catamounts have in their arsenal, and despite W.C. freshman Nick Aldridge scoring 39-points against the College, we did hold them to 1 for 13 from behind the arc, maintaining our number 1 ranking in the SoCon at defending the three-point shot.

The Cougs led 54-31 with 17-minutes left on the clock, until Aldridge hit the aforementioned 3-ball to start a 22-8 run by the Catamounts. Despite fighting a flu-bug Jermaine Johnson would finally get mean in the paint, leading the Cougars with 18-points. David Lawrence added 15-points (hitting 4 of 6, 3-pointers), 6 assists and 6 rebounds. Philip McCandies added 14-points and led the team with 11-boards. Dontaye Draper matched his jersey with 11-points in the game. Great job tonight to all of the Cougars! Western Carolina, thanks for playing.

The College hosts Western Carolina tonight at 7 pm (CSS)

The College of Charleston Cougars (15-8, 8-3 SoCon) welcome the Catamounts of Western Carolina (9-13, 6-5) to the John Kresse Arena this evening for their 16th meeting between the two schools. (The College leads the series 11-5/9-1 since both schools joined the Southern Conference.) The game will broadcast on CSS (Comcast 42) this evening at 7 pm. (Photo compliments of APMN.org)

The last time these two teams met, the Cougars won on the road by 7-points with David Lawrence and Jermaine Johnson both putting 17-points on the board and Dontaye grabbing a career-high 8-boards against the Catamounts. Although Western Carolina’s coach Larry Hunter is 0-2 against the College of Charleston, he joins Coach Cremins as being one of the few coaches in the SoCon having coached more than 780 games in their careers: Larry Hunter-531-252, .678 Win %, Coach Cremins 469-315, .598 Win %.

The Catamounts bring their “Princeton-style-offense” to Kresse Arena after defeating the Citadel by 10-points on Saturday. With only 7-games left on the calendar before the SoCon Tournament, you can bet Coach Cremins took advantage of the 7-day stretch since last Monday’s loss to Appalachian State, to rest the guys for two days and then to get the Cougars ready for action tonight. Another reason to focus on the end of the season, the College still trails Davidson by 2-games as the Wildcats won their 10th conference game this weekend. (The College of Charleston has the best record in the SoCon since 1998-99 but with 96-wins, Davidson only trails the College by 4 games on the All-time list.)

Victory is mine! Defeating a complex basketball hoop and the Cougs win over Western Carolina 82-75!

Talk about frustration

Craig and I put together a goal for a big fan and chef of the CofC Sports Fan, Brett-don't tell his daughters; it is a surprise. I digress; if you purchased a filled-base, hydraulic lifting/adjustable Reebok goal for your kids this Christmas and it is not preassembled, you need to get to work now! That thing was frustrating. Granted the first pill always costs a million bucks to make, so I imagine that we would be able to assemble another goal pretty fast.

From the Den

The Cougars improved their record to 6-6, (2-1 SoCon) defeating Western Carolina this evening, 82-75! The big men, Josh Jackson and Jermaine Johnson combined for 30 points (Josh with 13 and Jermaine with 17). David Lawrence went 3 for 7 from behind the arc, scoring 17 points. Dontaye Draper hit 2 for 5 from behind the arc, putting 16 points on the board.

Strategy

At this weeks Bobby Cremins Show, Coach mentioned Western Carolina's Princeton offense as something we needed to address. Princeton offense is the back-door cuts and accurate 3-point shots taken by patient players with out much support in the paint. Despite the Cougs having 13 turnovers, all I have to say is, when you live by the 3, you die by the 3. It didn't work for Princeton against USC and it didn't work for W.C. tonight.

Great job by the Cougs tonight! Catamounts thanks for playing!