CHARLESTON, S.C. - White-hot shooting from downtown led the College of Charleston men's basketball team to a 72-57 win over Morehead State in a nationally-televised game pitted at the 8 a.m. (ET) time slot of ESPN's College Hoops Tipoff Marathon on Tuesday morning with students clad in pajamas at TD Arena.
The Cougars (2-0, 0-0) won their second-straight game at home, while 2011 NCAA Tournament participant Morehead State (0-2, 0-0) lost its second game in less than three days.
Sophomore Jordan Scott led the way with 22 points, hitting 5-of-7 three-pointers, while senior Antwaine Wiggins tallied 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field.
Sophomore Trent Wiedeman reached double figures in rebounds for the second-straight contest, grabbing 12 boards and putting up seven points inside. Freshman Adjehi Baru finished with eight points and six rebounds, while junior Andrew Lawrence led the team in assists with five, while also scoring nine points.
The Cougars got out to a quick start yet again, hitting three-straight threes to lead 9-0 for the second time next to their opener against Holy Cross on Nov. 11. CofC continued to build an 18-5 advantage until the Eagles finally hit their first field goal at the 13:18 minute mark.
Charleston solved the Eagles' trapping zone with excellent ball movement, consistently finding open shooters in the perimeter or at the top of the key.
CofC built its largest lead of the game at the 4:26 mark after a Wiggins steal led to a fastbreak alley-oop dunk from Lawrence back to Wiggins, putting the Cougars up by 22 points, 36-14. They hit 8-of-16 three-pointers in the first half, leading 37-25 at the break.
Morehead State threatened at the end of the first half and start of the second, cutting the lead to just 10 at the 9:15 mark after a three-pointer jumper from Marsell Holden. However, the Cougars immediately responded by rebuilding a 59-42 lead after an old-fashioned three-point play from Wiedeman and fast-break dunk from Wiggins.
MSU was led by 13 points and six rebounds from Terrance Hill. The Eagles could not threaten in the final minutes as the Cougars played good perimeter defense to avenge a 69-49 road loss to MSU on Jan. 2, 2011 in Morehead, Ky.
Up next, the Cougars will travel to Clemson (1-0) for a Saturday, Nov. 19, non-conference rematch at 7 p.m. (ET) at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C. The game will be televised live on ESPN3.