LSU Pulls Away from Charleston in Final Minute

Final Score: LSU 75, College of Charleston 65
Top Performers:
Duop Reath- 23 pts (10–16 FG), 8 rebs, 2 asts
Joe Chealey- 23 pts (2–5 3pt, 9–9 FT), 5 rebs, 2 asts

When playing on the road, the slightest variance can mean the difference between winning and losing. The Cougars found that out the hard way as LSU broke out of a tie game with less than two minutes remaining and got their revenge on The College.

The game started in bizarre fashion, as the Cougars started hot on offense but did not have the same defensive effectiveness that they showed against Davidson and East Carolina. The Tigers started the game on a 6 for 8 run, punctuated by a couple dunks and a made three.

It was clear early on that the Cougs would struggle with the athleticism of LSU. Duop Reath and Craig Victor, the two bigs, negated any defensive strategy Charleston threw at them. Front them in the post and they would catch the ball up high and shoot over Brantley or Goodwin. Double team them and they would pass to the open man. Force them to catch the ball outside the paint and they would hit a jumper. The Tiger frontcourt duo combined for 38 points and 18 rebounds (LSU held a 43–29 edge on the boards).

Despite giving up that type of size and speed, the Cougars deserve credit for battling back from a double-digit deficit in the second period. Joe Chealey was aggressive all game, shouldering the scoring for Charleston and pacing his team in minutes, threes and free throws. When the Cougars were able to get into the paint, they did a great job of either drawing fouls (and hitting free throws) or moving the ball for open looks.

Which leads us to the final minutes and that slim margin for error. With the game tied, Brandon Sampson hit a well-contested jumper to put the home team ahead. On the other end, with a chance to tie or take the lead, Chealey was indecisive on a three point attempt and shuffled his feet for a traveling violation. Back to the other basket, the Cougs were overly aggressive on a steal attempt. The Tigers maintained possession off the loose ball scramble and scored on the broken play.

Throw in a missed three from CofC and a few free throws to get the final 10-point margin. The Cougars did not play a perfect game, and it stings a bit to know they still had a chance at the end. They deserve a lot of credit for battling through their limitations, but they have to feel like they let one slip away in Baton Rouge.

Some more notes:

• Nick Harris twisted his ankle in the second half and walked gingerly to the bench. Fans will wonder if the result would have been the same if he had not exited the game with five minutes to play. Fortunately it looks like the injury was nothing major.
• Chevez Goodwin was giving up a lot of weight and height to his opponents, but gave the Cougars a solid 14 minutes off the bench. He finished with 7 points on 3–4 shooting.
• Cougars not named Joe Chealey were a combined 0–13 from behind the arc. What started as a funk is slowly starting to look like a trend. Brantley is statistically the Cougars best outside threat, and he is shooting 36% on the season. Six Cougs who see regular playing time are shooting below 33%.
• Coach Grant was not happy about the rebounding disparity during his postgame interview. “Defensive rebounding is one of the things we count on. They had 12 offensive rebounds and that’s too many. That’s one of the reasons why we lost. That was one of our keys to the game — defensive rebounds to take them out of transition. We didn’t do a good enough job on the glass tonight.”
• The Cougars are a different team when they get into the paint. They give themselves opportunities at the line (17–19 last night), second chance points and drive-and-kicks. Charleston had the advantage there last night (36 vs 34 points in the paint). It’s the missed wide open threes or running into bigger bodies at the rim that are hurting the offense.
• Next up for Charleston is a trip to Cullowheeeeeee! to battle the 4–7 Western Carolina Catamounts.