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Cats upset Charleston; coach: ‘We played with abandon’

Posted By David Boraks On January 29, 2011 @ 5:11 pm In basketball | Comments Disabled

Davidson players celebrate [1]

Davidson players celebrated as the clock began to run out. More photos below. (Tim Cowie photo)

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

What a way to end a losing streak. Nik Cochran had his second straight 21-point game and five Davidson players scored in double figures as the Wildcats upset division-leading College of Charleston 75-64 at Belk Arena Saturday afternoon.

JP Kuhlman (15), Brendan McKillop (11), Jake Cohen (10) and De’Mon Brooks (10) helped the Cats improve their record to 9-12 overall, 3-7 in the Southern Conference. The win ended a four-game losing streak for Davidson.

Andrew Goudelock had 21 points to lead the Cougars, who are now 15-7 overall, 8-2 in the conference. The Cougars came into the game leading the conference’s South Division. Jeremy Simmons and Trent Wiedeman had 11 points each and Andrew Lawrence had 10.

ONE HALF AT A TIME

It was another game of two very different halves Saturday afternoon at Belk. But unlike Thursday night, when a Davidson comeback against Citadel fell short [2], this time everything came together, Cochran said afterward.

“This was a big win for us. … It just felt good to play well finally, and have everything kind of come together in this game, especially in the second half,” Cochran said.

Davidson coach Bob McKillop said his team broke out of its slump and played with no fear about losing. “There was not a hesitation in what we did. We played with a sense of abandon,” he said.

The Cats managed to stay close in the first half, and trailed by just 9 points at the break, 33 to 24. But poor shooting plagued the Wildcats, as they missed all 10 of their three-point shots and made only 8 out of 30 field goal attempts (27 percent) in the period.

SECOND HALF: CHARLESTON COMES OUT SHOOTING

The second half got off to a promising start for the Cougars, when leading scorer Goudelock hit a three-pointer from the top of the foul circle just 9 seconds in to make it 36-24. Donavan Monroe hit a layup a minute and a half later to make it a 14-point lead, 38-24.

Then Davidson started to find the mark. Before long, everyone seemed to be hitting, from long distance and under the basket. Starting long shooters Kuhlman and Cochran came to life, and got help from the bench as well.

Cochran had 13 of his 21 points in the second half, including 3 out of 3 three-pointers. Cohen was 2 for 4 on threes and scored all 10 of his points in the second half. De’Mon Brooks came off the bench and hit 2 out of 3 three-pointers in half. Altogether, Davidson made 64 percent of its 3-point shots in the second half.

The big surge caught Charleston Coach Bobby Cremins by surprise. “I thought we were in great shape when we started the second half,” Cremins said later. “Goudelock hits a three and then all hell breaks loose. We got real sloppy and they (Davidson) started to play some basketball.”

“We just started throwing the ball all over the place. That was very uncharacteristic of us,” Cremins said.

Davidson chipped away at the Cougars’ lead on baskets by Cochran, Cohen and Kuhlman. The Cats pulled within 1 point with 9:48 left in the game, when Brooks took a pass from Cochran just left of the foul circle and hit a three-pointer, making it 48-47.

Less than a minute later, Simmons fouled Cohen, and he hit a pair of free throws to give Davidson at 49-48 lead, with 8:52 left. With the Belk Arena crowd frantic and on its feet, the Cats opened up a small lead. Charleston came back to tie the game at 55 with just over 5 minutes left when Goudelock hit a short jumper. Then Davidson began to pull away.

With 2:37 left, Kuhlman hit a layup in the paint to make it 68-60. Shortly after that he made four out of four foul shots to extend the lead to 71-60 with 1:29 left. At the other end, Goudelock was throwing up desperation three-pointers that missed, and the Cats took advantage of more chances to extend the lead.

Then the Cougars were forced to start fouling to slow down the game. Cohen, McKillop and Kuhlman all hit foul shots down the stretch, at one point extending the lead to 13 points, 75-62. Willis Hall hit a layup for the Cougars with 19 seconds left to end the scoring, and the Cats won it, 5-64.

Coach McKillop said he was pleased with his team’s depth Saturday. “I thought so many people contributed today in so many ways,” he said. “You can look at the numbers and distribution of points. It shows great balance. You look at the rebounds, and it was great balance.”

“I think the numbers indicate there was no missing links today. We have a full cast of characters contributing in their own ways and fulfilling a role,” he said.

DOWNLOAD the box score for Davidson vs. Charleston, (PDF) CLICK HERE> [3]

LISTEN/WATCH the postgame interviews, CLICK HERE> [4]

GEORGIA SOUTHERN NEXT

Davidson is on the road for the next two games. On Monday night, they’ll be in Statesboro, Ga., for a 7 p.m. game against Georgia Southern. On Thursday, they are at Samford, in Birmingham, Ala., at 7 p.m. (Central Time). Then they’re back home at Belk Arena next Saturday, Feb. 5, facing University of Tennessee at Chattanooga at 7 p.m.

HALL OF FAME, KICKS FROM CATS

Saturday afternoon was the annual Kicks from Cats fund-raising game. Proceeds will benefit former Wildcat Andrew Lovedale’s new Access to Success Foundation and Samaritan’s Feet.

It also was Davidson Athletics Hall of Fame Day. At halftime, four former Wildcats were inducted into the Hall of Fame: John Falconi ’74 (men’s basketball), Kerry Keith ’69 (wrestling, football), Allison Noznesky Clark ’98 (women’s soccer) and Jen O’Brien ’00 (women’s basketball).

Read more about the inductees, “Davidson Hall of Fame inducts four Wildcat alumni.” [5]

DAVIDSON vs. CHARLESTON PHOTO GALLERY

Images by Tim Cowie. Click any image to launch the slide show.

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URLs in this post:

[1] Image: http://davidsonnews.net/sports/files/2011/01/012911CATS-celebrate.jpg

[2] comeback against Citadel fell short: http://davidsonnews.net/sports/2011/01/26/wildcats-big-2nd-half-not-enough-to-catch-citadel/

[3] CLICK HERE>: http://davidsonwildcats.com/custompages/mbball/2010-11/boxes/dav0129.htm

[4] CLICK HERE>: http://davidsonwildcats.com/news/2011/1/29/MBB_0129110530.aspx

[5] “Davidson Hall of Fame inducts four Wildcat alumni.”: http://davidsonnews.net/sports/2011/01/29/davidson-hall-of-fame-inducts-four-wildcat-alumni/

[6] Image: http://davidsonnews.net/sports/2011/01/29/wildcats-upset-charleston-75-64-coach-we-played-with-abandon/012911cats-celebrate/

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