CHARLESTON, S.C. — The College of Charleston men’s basketball team closed out the first half with a 29-9 run to spark the Cougars to a 79-58 win over Tusculum Monday night at TD Arena. It was the season-opener for Division I Charleston, but an exhibition contest for the visiting Pioneers.
The Charleston duo of Chol Machot and Chris Davis, Jr. poured in 14 points each as six Cougars finished in double-figure scoring. Machot added 10 rebounds, while Kendall Taylor posted 11 boards and a dozen points to complete his double-double.
The Tusculum pairing of Amari Allen and Jordan Attia tallied 10 markers apiece to lead the Pioneers. Thirteen (13) different TU players found their way into the scoring column on Monday.
Charleston finished the night shooting 40.3 percent from the floor going 31-of-77, but was held to just 1-of-24 shooting from three-point territory (4.2%). The sizeable Cougars outscored Tusculum 56-24 in the paint and tallied 22 points off of 18 TU turnovers. CofC finished the game with five turnovers to go along with 13 assists on its 31 made field goals.
TU went 22-of-68 for 32 percent from the floor, 6-of-25 from three-point territory (24%) and 8-of-11 from the free throw line (73%).
The Cougars held a slight 51-47 edge in rebounding with Tusculum scoring 17 second chance points on its 14 offensive rebounds.
Charleston jumped out to a 12-6 lead, but the Pioneers scored five straight including a three-pointer by TJ Printup and Attia’s bucket to trim the deficit to 12-11 with 13:49 left in the opening half.
The Cougars responded with nine straight points to spark a 23-6 run to lead 35-17. Attia interrupted the run with his three-pointer at the 2:38 mark, but the Charleston would score the final six points of the half to take a 41-20 lead into the locker room.
CofC would lead by as many as 64-34 in the second half with 11:16 to go. Tusculum went on a 9-0 run sparked by five points from Denaj Kimber and a steal and three-pointer from Attia as TU trailed 64-43 with 9:44 on the clock.
Charleston swelled the lead back out 30 thanks to an 11-2 spurt to go up 75-45 with 4:56 remaining in the game.
The Cougars led by 28 (79-51) before the Pioneers scored the final seven points of the game including a three-point play from Jai’Den Davis.
Printup accounted for eight points, Kimber and Wesley Johnson finished with five points each while Landon Ingham finished with four points. Davis led TU with his even rebounds, while J3 Swindell tallied six boards on the night.
Tusculum opens its regular season next Friday (Nov. 14) against Clayton State at the Region Crossover event in Murfreesboro, North Carolina. TU will also face host Chowan on Saturday to close out the opening weekend for the Pioneers.
