Strong Second Half Propel CofC To 75-63 Win Over Delaware

Cougars Hold Blue Hens To 23 Points After the Break, Improve to 2-0 In CAA

By: Jeff Walker, Sports Writer

Down by six points at the half, the College of Charleston men’s basketball team outscored Delaware by 18 after the break on route to a 75-63 win over on the Fightin’ Blue Hens home court. It was the third straight win for the Cougars who improve to 2-0 in the CAA and 8-6 overall.

It appeared to be a repeat performance of Saturday’s win over Drexel. Despite foul trouble Grant Riller lead Charleston with 22 points, with three other players finishing with double figures. Brevin Galloway continued to be hot from 3-point land, making good on four from long range to add 14 points to the Cougars total. Zep Jasper and Jaylen McManus chipped in 12 and 11 points respectively.

CofC Head Coach Earl Grant says Galloway’s game is improving on both sides of the ball. “He’s been really good with anticipation, getting steals and being active on defense. They turn into offense most of the time. We just told him, ‘you are a green-light shooter and you are a big-time shot maker. If you have a good look, you need to take them.’ We just encouraged him to take shots when he was open. He made a couple of contested ones and he had some big ones to open the game up.”

The game was close during the first 20 minutes of play with the score tied on four occasions. Delaware would go up by as many as eight points (31-23) with six minutes left in the half, before taking a 40-34 lead into the locker room. The Blue Hens would hold the lead midway thru the second period before a 3-pointer by Galloway tied it at 50 at the 9:57 mark.

An 11-0 run by the Cougars helped put some distance between them and their opponents late in the contest. A layup by Kevin Anderson cut the margin to two possessions (69-63) with under a minute left to play. The Cougars closed the game out with Riller and Jasper hitting clutch free throws, giving Delaware their first home game loss of the season.

Coach Grant said he made some changes during intermission. “Some of the breakdowns in the first half were uncharacteristic for us. We gave them 12-14 (points). We made some adjustments defensively and we were able to hold them to 23 points in the second half. It was a total team effort. The guys played hard and we just found a way to win.”

The final stats were relatively close with both teams making 16 of 21 shots from the foul line. Nate Darling lead the Blue Hens with a team best 17 points. Anderson added 11 points. Delaware fall to 11-4 overall and 1-1 in league play.

Up next, CofC will ring in the New Year with its home conference opener versus Towson (6-8, 0-2 CAA) on Thursday, Jan. 2 at7 p.m. (ET) at TD Arena. Tickets are available and can be purchased by calling (843) 953-COFC or online at: www.CofCSports.com/tickets

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