CofC Hold Off UTC For 85-78 Victory

Reyne Smith Paces Cougars With Game High 24 Pts.

By: Jeff Walker, Sports Writer

As summer ends and the fall rolls around the sports landscape changes. With the World Series behind us diehards focus on professional and college football and basketball. Although the College of Charleston has many dynamic sports programs, with the absence of football the focus over the past four decades has been on men’s basketball, an excitement that began to build when legendary Cougar coach John Kresse began winning traditions at CofC back as far as the 1980’s.

Every year Cougar fans anxiously await the tip off to the men’s basketball season, and the 2022-23 season opened Monday night (Nov 7th) as the Cougars welcomed  former Southern Conference foe Chattanooga to TD Arena, with both teams eager to start the season off with a win. The Mocs came to Charleston boasting an overall 27-8 record last season including sweeping the SoCon Tournament before falling by one point (54-53) to No. 4 Illinois in the NCAA Tourney. Under first year head coach Pat Kelsey the Cougars entered Monday’s contest 17-15, finishing 8-10 in the Colonial Athletic Association.

But a new season brought new anticipation. Despite the Cougars holding on to an 11 point half time lead the Mocs were able to cut the margin to a single possession in the final minutes. When all the dust settled after 40 minutes of hard fought action on John Kresse Court inside TD Arena the home team outpaced the visitors for an 85-78 victory.

Australian native Reyne Smith picked up where he left off last year with the Cougars. The sophomore guard connected on 7 of 13 from the floor including 5 of 10 from long range to finish with a game high 24 points.

A pure shooter Smith said he worked extra hard during the off season to prepare. “I worked really hard over the summer, morning, nights, multiple sessions a day, working on my body fitness, strength, it’s just exciting to see it start to pay off a little bit. It’s the confidence from coach and team mates finding me in the right spot. I give credit to them and credit to myself.”

Dalton Bolon who sat out most of last season with an injury, and transfer student Jaylon Scott each added 11 points apiece for CofC including one from 3-point land.

Scott agrees the road to victory includes Smith. “My honest opinion, he’s the best shooter I’ve ever seen. When he gets it rolling we just make sure we try to find him. As guards me and Ryan (Larson) try to do a good job of making sure he gets his looks, because if Reyne Smith isn’t shooting the ball, we’re doing something wrong.”

A slam dunk by Charles Lampten inside the first minute of play gave Charleston the first points of the contest. But six early points by SoCon Player of the Year Jake Stephens kept the Mocs out in front until a big 3-pointer by Bolon put CofC up 17-15 with under 12 minutes remaining.

The score would be tied twice before the Cougars finished the first half on a 25-14 run, allowing them to take a comfortable 42-31 lead into the locker room at the break. Charleston kept Chattanooga at a distance for the first six minutes in the second period, enjoying their biggest lead of the night (54-40) after just five minutes had gone by.

The Mocs would slowly chip away at the lead, cutting it to three points (60-57) at the 8:20 mark before CofC pushed the margin to nine. With 2:57 left to play it was 72-69, leaving Cougar fans on the edge of their seats. But miscues, and forced fouls by Chattanooga was able to propel Charleston to their first win of the season.

The overall stats were fairly close. Both teams shot less than 50 percent, with each making nine 3-pointers. The CofC bench demolished the Mocs reserves as the Cougars contributed 27 bench points compared to UTC’s six. The Cougars managed to force 21 Mocs turnovers as well.

Three Moc players rose to the occasion with Stephens and Jamal Johnson finishing with a team best 20 points each. Demetrius Davis added 19 points, grabbing a game high 12 rebounds. Lampten lead the Cougars with eight boards. With the loss, Chattanooga fall to 0-1.

CofC head coach Pat Kelsey assessed the first contest this way. “I think that’s typical of an opener. You have to get the jitters out a little bit. I was really proud of our tenacity, toughness, rebound standpoint in the first half. We were elite on the glass in the first half. We got 44 percent of our misses back in the first half.”

Kelsey added the sixth man helped out when it was close down the stretch. “I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the crowd and the energy was awesome. It was electric. The students are on fall break and they still came with those type of numbers. And the crowd outside the students was really really high energy. A good atmosphere for college basketball.”

Charleston travels to Chapel Hill to take on #1 North Carolina Friday at 7:00 p.m. Fans can listen to Everett German and Charleston Radio live on the Varsity App. The game will be televised on Bally Sports South.