Men's Basketball Southern Conference

College of Charleston Clinches South Division Title

DAVIDSON, N.C. - The battle between two of the best teams in the Southern Conference turned out to be just what it was hyped up to be. College of Charleston, division leader in the South, knocked off the Davidson Wildcats, 94-89, at Belk Arena in overtime, marking the first time in five games that the Cougars were able to put up a victory against Davidson. The Wildcats fell to 16-9 overall, 10-5 in the league, while Charleston improved to 22-6, 12-3 in league play.

Senior Wayne Bernard led five Wildcats in double figures with 18 points. Sophomore Conor Grace netted 15 points and tallied 16 rebounds in 29 minutes of play. Senior Troy Wheless nailed a career-high 8-of-14 from three-point land, leading all scorers with 31 points.

After building an 88-84 lead with three minutes remaining in the overtime, the Wildcats looked to be sitting in a good position. An empty Davidson possession combined with two consecutive Stanley Jackson buckets tied the game at 88 with 1:55 to play. Turnovers haunted the Wildcats on the two ensuing possessions, and Jackson converted once again to give the Cougars a 90-88 lead.

With just 12 seconds on the clock, Wildcat freshman Brendan Winters got fouled driving to the basket but converted on only 1-of-2 free throws. With Davidson forced to foul, Wheless gave the Cougars a three-point advantage with two free throws. Bernard put up a three-point attempt that fell short with just a few seconds on the clock. Two Charleston free throws sealed the 94-89 win.

After holding a three-point lead at the half, Wheless connected on four three-point attempts in the first four minutes of the second half to build the Charleston advantage to 10 points. Davidson battled back to within one point, 59-58, with 13 minutes left in regulation. The lead changed seven times in the remaining minutes before Charleston's Tony Mitchell netted the game-tying bucket with 43 seconds on the clock that sent the game into extra minutes knotted at 81.

Charleston connected on 15 three-pointers in the game, missing its season high by only one long ball. The Cougars shot 47 percent for the game. In six of Davidson's nine losses, opponents have connected on better than 40 percent of their shots. In the 16 victories, Wildcat opponents have only surpassed the 40 percent mark on four occasions.

Senior Peter Anderer kicked in 16 Davidson points on 5-of-8 from the field. Netting two three-pointers, Anderer is one away from tying the school's career three-point record at 184. Freshman Ian Johnson scored 16 points and junior Terrell Ivory gave the Wildcats good bench minutes, scoring a career-high 12 points on 3-of-4 from the field.

Davidson closes out the regular season with a home contest against VMI on Saturday, March 1. A Wildcat victory would clinch a bye in the first round of the Southern Conference Tournament. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. College of Charleston returns home to take on Georgia Southern at 6 p.m. on Saturday.