Men's Hoops Bests Charleston, 73-63
2/12/2007 10:29:53 AM | Men's Basketball
Joey Beeler
Recap | Box Score
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Stephen Curry scored at least 20 points for the sixth consecutive outing with a game-high 26, and the Davidson Wildcats won their sixth straight with a 73-63 victory over College of Charleston in front of 3,784 fans at John Kresse Arena Monday evening. The win was Davidson's 18th out of their last 19 games as it improves to 22-4 and 13-1 in the SoCon. The Cougars drop to 17-9 overall and three games behind the Wildcats in the South Division with a 10-4 record.
A 6-1 shooting guard from Charlotte, N.C., Curry recorded 21 second-half points to reach the 20-point plateau for the 13th time in his freshman campaign. After going just 1-for-9 from the floor in the first stanza, Curry drilled 7-of-12 attempts, including three long range jumpers in the final 20 minutes of action to lead three Davidson players in double figures. The third one came with 4:21 to play and tied the school single-season record of 89 threes set by Brendan Winters in 2004-05.
For the second time against Charleston this season, Thomas Sander compiled a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Andrew Lovedale, meanwhile, reached double digits for the second game in a row and just the third time in his career with 12 points off the bench.
Ranked second nationally in both total assists and set ups per game, Wildcat point guard Jason Richards recorded his sixth career double-figure assists contest with 10.
Tied at 41, the Cougars grabbed a little bit of a cushion following a Dontaye Draper layup and Tauras Skripkauskas trey. But the Wildcats answered with a 15-0 flurry that was capped off by three consecutive treys, two from Curry and one from freshman William Archambault, to push Davidson in front 56-46 with 9:54 remaining. College of Charleston closed to within five, 61-56 with just over five minutes to go, but that was as close as it would get before the Wildcats stretched the margin back to double figures (71-58) to put the game out of reach.
Four Cougars reached at least 10 points led by Drapers' 13 on just 5-of-16 shooting. Others for College of Charleston in double figures included Philip McCandies (13), Jermaine Johnson (11) and Tony White, Jr. (10).
The first 12 minutes of action featured seven ties and five lead changes before the Wildcats went on an 8-2 spurt to grab the half's largest advantage, 31-25, with 2:25 remaining in the period. Charleston quickly responded with six unanswered points of its own to knot the score, but Davidson's Bryant Barr knocked down a trifecta from the right side with 25 seconds left to send the Wildcats into the locker room with a three-point lead, 34-31.
Behind Lovedale's eight points, Davidson's bench contributed 14 points in the opening frame.
The Wildcats shot 48.3 percent overall and 4-of-8 from downtown in the final period to conclude the game at 45.9 percent (28-of-61) from the field. College of Charleston struggled offensively connecting on just 38.6 percent of its attempts.
Davidson finished with 15 offensive boards to outrebound the Cougars, 41-33.
The fifth largest crowd in the venue's history witnessed the Wildcats claim their seventh straight over College of Charleston and extend their overall lead in the all-time series to 43-9.
Davidson concludes its brief two-game road swing with a 7 p.m. contest at Western Carolina Saturday. College of Charleston will also be away from home this weekend as it travels to Spartanburg, S.C., to face Wofford at 6 p.m. Feb. 17.
