CofC Get By Hampton 83-70 On the Road

The College of Charleston men’s basketball team pick up their third win in a row as they down Hampton University 83-70 on the Pirates home court. Up by just two points at the break, the Cougars dial up the offense in the second half, outpacing Hampton 40-29 in the second half. With the victory CofC improve to 24-3 overall and 12-2 in the CAA.

Pat Robinson III lead all scorers with a career best in a Cougar uniform, finishing with 30 points, shooting 10 of 14 from the floor, including 5 of 6 from long range and 5 of 7 from the charity stripe. Robinson scored 25 of his total in the first 20 minutes of action.

Charleston Head Coach Pat Kelsey gave PR III his due. “Pat was sensational tonight. He single-handedly helped us get back in the game in the first half. Pat’s been a go to guy for us. He’s selfless.”

Ryan Larsen went 7 of 12 adding 3 of 6 from 3-point land to add 17 points for the Cougars. Surprisingly Larsen had just two points at intermission. Ben Burnham aka ‘Benny Buckets’ continued his offensive attack, coming in off the bench for 13 points with a big slam dunk going to his alter ego Ken.

It was slow going for Charleston in the first eleven minutes of play. The Cougars found themselves in unusual territory trailing by 15 (27-12) with 9:07 left in the opening period before getting behind a 31-14 run including three straight treys from PR III that ultimately allowed the visitors to take a slim 43-41 advantage into the locker room.

Coach Kelsey agreed his players were out of their element for over ten minutes. “We didn’t get off to a great start, and give credit to Hampton, they came to play.” However, after the break the Cougars came out with a different mindset doing what they do best, controlling the tempo and attacking the boards. “We fixed that at half time.”

Inside of five minutes in the second period the Cougars enjoyed their first double digit lead, up 58-47 with 15:48 remaining on the clock. When ‘Ken’ Burnham threw down an old school two handed dunk CofC went up 15 (68-53) past the midway mark. Charleston would maintain a double digit lead for the remainder of the contest, enjoying another 15 point (75-60) margin when Dalton Bolon made three the hard way with 6:21 remaining.

The best the Pirates could muster was cutting it to 10 points on a couple of occasions before falling 83-70. Charleston as usual bested their opponents on the glass, outrebounding Hampton 40-31, grabbing nine offensive boards. Charleston got 45 points off the bench with PR III and Burnham accounting for 43 of that total.

Hampton had four players in double figures with Jordan Nesbitt leading the way with 20 points including two 3-pointers. Russell ‘Deuce’ Dean finished with 17 points, with Marquis Godwin and Bethea Ray adding 12 and 10 points respectively. The Pirates fall to 3-10 in conference play and 6-20 overall.

Charleston will have quick turnaround as they prepare to host Northeastern on Monday, February 13 at TD Arena. Action is set for 7:00 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear pink and celebrate Valentines Day a day early with “I Love Our City Night.”