Five Players In Double Figures, Cougars Remain Unbeaten at TD Arena

Jeff Walker, Sports Writer

The College of Charleston men's basketball team pick earn their ninth win in a row while remaining unbeaten at TD Arena, as the Cougars down Monmouth College 94-83 before 4700 plus fans Saturday afternoon. With the victory CofC move to 13-4 overall and a perfect 4-0 in the CAA.

Despite giving up 83 points, it was one of the most well balanced scoring attacks by Charleston, with five Cougars finishing in double figures with two additional players ending with nine apiece.

CofC Head Coach Pat Kelsey admits he has a wealth of players who can put the ball in the basket. "We have a lot of really good players. We have a lot of offensive threats. We really pride ourselves on our depth."

Although the Cougars were up by as many as 23 points late in the second half, they pretty much controlled the tempo of the contest throughout, never surrendering the lead, and once again the stats proved the final outcome. CofC outscored Monmouth 38-8 off the bench, 46-38 in the paint, and outrebounded their opponents 48-35.

As usual Coach Kelsey took away pluses and minuses from the contest. "For about the first 35 minutes I thought we were dominate on the backboard." Up by 22 with less than six minutes to play, Monmouth cut the margin to nine with 2:17 remaining. "I don't think our offensive rebounding, again was too our standard, like the defense in the last couple minutes, but overall I thought it was a really good performance."

Kobe Rodgers came in off the bench to lead the Cougar offensive barrage with a team best 19 points on 7 of 9 from the floor. Frankie Policelli made 4 of 8 from beyond the arc for 16 points. Ante Brzovic had an all around solid game finishing with 12 points to go along with a game high 12 rebounds. The two double B's aka Ben Burnham and Bryce Butler chipped in 10 each for the Cougars. Reyne Smith and CJ Fulton each had three triples to add nine points apiece.

It was Fulton who rang the scoreboard first draining a long range missile. The Cougars were up 8-3 in the first two minutes of action. When Fulton made his second 3-pointer Charleston enjoyed their first double digit lead (25-13) with 11:38 remaining in the first half.

Monmouth would make a small dent in the lead on a rare four point play by Xander Rice, trailing 37-29 under the four minute mark. However, another late surge by the Cougars found the home team enjoying a comfortable 50-36 advantage at the break.

Charleston came out of the locker room with offensive guns blazing, running the lead up to 21 points with 15:25 remaining on the clock. Monmouth would cut the advantage to 13 points past the midway point, but back to back threes by Smith as well as one from Policelli, capped off by an NBA style jam from James Scott soon found the lead back to 22.

When Smith made his final 3-pointer the Cougars were ahead 84-61. But there was no quit in Monmouth, slowly chipping away at the lead, getting it to nine (90-81) with 2:17 showing on the clock. The home team ran it back up to double digits which allowed for a most unusual pairing.

With the game in hand Coach Kelsey put reserve player Jack Miller in, with Monmouth Head Coach King Rice putting in Corey Miller as well. You guessed it! The two are brothers from New Jersey and it was the first time aside from pickup basketball that the two competed against each other.  While neither scored in under a minute of play, the players pretty much let them enjoy the spotlight. Jack missed two from long range while Corey missed the first of a one and one at the line.

Afterwards Jack said, "He got the better of me tonight. I don't want to admit that. I just wasn't on fire. He's my little bro." Coach Kelsey admitted the brother matchup was easily one of the highlights of the evening. "How cool was that. I'll remember that forever, for the rest of my coaching career. Really time stood still."

Monmouth who fall to 9-8 on the season and 2-2 in league play were lead by Xander Rice who is a scoring machine. The guard went 12 of 22, dropping 5 of 10 from long range for game high 34 points. Jack Collins and Nikita Konstantynovskyl added 16 and 14 respectively.

Perhaps the upside for the dozens of Monmouth fans who made the trip to the low country, is they escaped snow and frigid weather, and enjoyed milder temperatures in the number one tourist destination in the country.

The Cougars host to extend their win streak to 10 games as they host Towson on Thursday Jan. 18 to finish a three-game homestand. Action is set for 7:00 p.m. at TD Arena.