CofC Escape With 99-96 Win Over Delaware

Cougars Hold on Despite 64 Second Half Pts. By Blue Hens

By: Jeff Walker, Sportswriter

Up by 17 points at the half and 20 points early in the second period the College of Charleston men’s basketball team allowed Delaware to chip away at the lead, holding on in the final seconds of play to escape a 99-96 winner on the Blue Hens home court. Four Cougars scored in double figures with Reyne Smith raining from long distance, finishing 6 of 10 from beyond the arc for a team best 22 points.

Smith had help on offense for the Cougars with Brenden Tucker going 7 of 12 on the night, adding two missiles for 18 points. Raekwon Horton came in off the bench making an impressive 8 of 9 from the foul line to finish with 15 points. Dimitrius Underwood who has been a scoring machine of late added 14 points for CofC.

It appeared CofC was going to run away with the contest, racing to a double-digit lead (25-15) midway thru the opening period on a layup by Charles Lampten. When Tucker scored a buzzer beating layup just before the break, Charleston took a comfortable 49-32 advantage into the locker room.

Tucker opened the second period with a 3-pointer giving the Cougars a 20-point margin with 19 minutes left to play. 12 minutes later the Cougars still maintained a double-digit lead, up 72-58 with nine minutes showing on the clock. Delaware would rally for six unanswered before another layup by Tucker followed by a dunk by Babacar Faye secured a 12-point advantage for CofC with just over four minutes to play.

But the Blue Hens were relentless finding enough late game offense for a 23 to 12 rally that made it 95-94 on a Jyare Davis layup with eight ticks on the clock. Forced to foul Smith would close out the game for the Cougars making 4 of 4 from the line to allow CofC the win. With the victory the Cougars improve to 16-12 overall and 8-8 in the CAA.

Although Charleston led throughout the contest, Delaware shot lights out in the final 20 minutes of play, scoring an unprecedented 64 second half points making good on 21 of 29 shots from the field (72%), making the game a nail-biter in the end. With the loss the Blue Hens fall to 10-6 in the conference and 19-10 on the season.

Ryan Allen led four Blue Hens in double figures shooting 8 o 15 from the floor including four 3-pointers for a game high 28 points. Teammate Janeer Nelson Jr. made 8 of 15 as well with three from long range for 23 points. Davis went 8 of 11 to finish with 20 points with Andrew Carr chipping in 10 points for the home team.

The Cougars have now won two in a row on the road and finish the season with two more games away from TD Arena. Charleston continues its crazy stretch of four road games in eight days when the Cougars take on Drexel Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. ET on FloSports.

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