Cougars Rack Up 56 In Second Half, Down Green Wave For 2nd Time This Season
By: Jeff Walker, Sportswriter
Down by four points at the half, the College of Charleston men’s basketball team explode for 56 in the second half, as they down Tulane for the second time in eight days 86-72 in New Orleans. Five Cougars hit for double figures as the Cougars improve to 6-3 overall and erase a short one game losing streak. Tulane fall to 3-6 on the season.
Coming off back-to-back CAA Freshman of the Week honors, Reyne Smith once again lead Charleston with a team best 15 points, including 3 of 9 from beyond the arc. Coming in off the bench Brenden Tucker and Fah’Mir Ali chipped in 13 and 12 points respectively, with Tucker going 5 of 9 from the field, adding a trey, and Ali knocking down four from long range. John Meeks finished with 11 points, with Babacar Faye going 4 of 4 for 10 points.
Trailing by one, Tulane went on an 8-0 run to take a 22-15 lead midway through the opening period. The Cougars would find their mojo closing out the first period with a 15-12 margin to trail the Green Wave 34-30 at the break.
Ali would cut the lead to just one after just two minutes in the second half. Moments later a jumper by Tucker tied the contest at 39 with 17:23 left to play. It was a one possession game for the next nine minutes until Smith drained from long range to give CofC a 55-50 lead with just over eight minutes remaining.
Back-to-back threes by Ali would extend the Charleston margin to 14 (67-53) with 4:51 showing on the clock. Ali and Tucker added two more from beyond the arc, and when Dimitrius Underwood made a couple from the line CofC held a 17-point (77-60) advantage with under three minutes to play. Tulane couldn’t erase the double-digit deficit as Smith went 4 of 4 from the line in the final 51 seconds.
Despite turning the ball over 18 times, Charleston won the battle on the boards, outrebounding Tulane 40-29. CofC added 10 from downtown, finishing the contest shooting 52 percent from the floor. The Green Wave had three players in double figures with Jaylen Forbes and Kevin Cross tying for a game best 17 points apiece. Jadan Coleman went 3 of 6 from long range to finish with 13 points for the home team.
College of Charleston return home to TD Arena this Sunday as they play host to Presbyterian. Game time is set for 2pm. Listen to all CofC games on their radio partner 910 AM.
