Cougar Defense Dominates Paladins, 61-37
Charleston, S.C. - The College of Charleston used a record-setting defensive performance and got 16 points from Jody Lumpkin en route to a 61-37 win over Furman in men's Southern Conference college basketball action before 3,512 at John Kresse Arena on Saturday.
With the win the Cougars improved to 20-4 overall and 10-2 in league play. The Paladins are 9-12 and 4-8. The Cougars reached the 20-win mark for the eighth consecutive season and the 17th time in 22 seasons under coach John Kresse.
"It was just a dominate swarming performance on the defensive end," said Kresse, who improved to 7-0 all-time against Furman. " I couldn't believe we held Furman to 13 points in the first half and 37 for the game."
Charleston sprinted to a 10-2 lead just five minutes into the contest and was never really threatened en route to its 18 consecutive home win. The Cougars held the Paladins to just six field goals in the first half and took a 25-13 lead to intermission.
In the second half the Paladins cut the margin to eight on two occassions, the final time coming at 29-21 with 15:34 to play. The Cougars answered with an 18-4 run to take a 47-25 lead with just 7:00 minutes to go.
Lumpkin added four blocked shots and six rebounds, while teammate Jeff Bolton had 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor. Karim Souchu led Furman with just nine points on 4-of-16 shooting, including 0-for-7 from behind the 3-point arc.
The Cougars shot 47.7 percent from the field (21-44), while limiting Furman to just 28.0 percent shooting (14-50). It was the lowest shooting percentage by a Cougar opponent all season. The 37 points surrendered was the fewest by a Cougar opponent since the team went Division I in 1991-92 and Furman's lowest offensive output since the 1963-64 season. It was the fewest points allowed by Charleston in 521 games dating back to a 35-25 win at Lander on February 4, 1984.
"They did a great job in the zone and didn't give us much penetration," said Furman coach Larry Davis. "That forced us to take jump shots and we didn't make them."
Both teams play league games on Monday. CofC plays at The Citadel at 7:15, while Furman travels to Appalachian State for a 7:30 tipoff.