news-record.com

GREENSBORO — The numbers went UNCG's way Monday night, but the bounces didn't.

The College of Charleston escaped the Greensboro Coliseum with a 67-64 win over the Spartans in the kind of game that will leave box score readers puzzled.

UNCG held a 49-29 rebounding advantage — thanks to 25 offensive boards — and took 15 more shots than the Cougars, but trailed the whole game. The Spartans cut an 11-point deficit to three and had a chance to send the game to overtime, but Kyle Randall missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

It was UNCG's third loss on its new home court and dropped the Spartans to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in the Southern Conference. The game came after a Saturday performance in which they drubbed Samford in a road game, 73-40.

"We played pretty hard, but we didn't play as well as we did Saturday," coach Mike Dement said. "In that game we had four players in double figures and tonight we had two. We need to get three or four players in double figures (consistently)."

One way to look at the outcome was a 3-pointer by each team. In the second half, the Cougars' Andrew Goudelock launched an off-line 3 that hit the left side of the rim, bounced up and hit twice near the top of the backboard, came down and hit the rim again, then fell in.

"It hit the top of this, it hit the top of that and then it goes in," said coach Bobby Cremins, whose team is 4-3 overall and 3-0 in the conference.

The shot gave Charleston a 59-48 lead and seemingly put the Spartans on the ropes.

"It was like a punch in the stomach," said UNCG guard Korey VanDussen. "I thought it was going to bounce over the backboard, and somehow it went in."

Contrast that shot to the one by Randall. The Spartans rallied instead of hanging their heads and had a chance to tie after Brian Cole rebounded Tony White's missed one-and-one. The ball was knocked out of Cole's hands out of bounds and UNCG had an inbounds play with 5.4 seconds left.

Ben Stywall threw it in to Randall, and the Cougars chose not to foul. Randall got an open look, but his shot hit the backboard to the right of the rim.

"We go over that play in practice," Randall said. "It's a little easier then, because nobody is on you. But I should have knocked it down. The play is designed so that if I get the ball, I just go and shoot. I got a good look. Unfortunately, it didn't go in."

That miss was symptomatic of the Spartans' night from the floor. They shot only 35.7 percent and only their 29-8 advantage in second-chance points kept them hanging around.

Stywall exerted himself with 21 points and 14 rebounds, including 11 offensive grabs. But only Brandon Evans supported him in double-figure scoring, with 10 points.

"Coach said we should go hard to the offensive board and that's what I tried to do," Stywall said. "I went to the glass as hard as I could."

On the other end, the Cougars got a scintillating performance from Goudelock, one of the league's best players, plus 14 points from Casaan Breeden and 10 from Jeremy Simmons.

Cremins, whose last appearance as a coach in the coliseum with Georgia Tech in the 1998 ACC Tournament, said his team made the game exciting.

"It got crazy and we got sloppy," he said. "It was hairy, but we hung on. We have the makings of a good team, but we've got to get better."

UNCG's next opportunity for its first coliseum win comes Sunday against Princeton.

"When we finally win in this building, it will show us we can win in a big arena," Randall said. "We're sure it will come, hopefully Sunday."

NOTES: UNCG's Mikko Koivisto is battling a hip strain that is limiting his minutes. Dement said the senior guard can play offense, but can't slide his feet on defense. Koivisto played 11 minutes Monday after he could go only two minutes Saturday. ... The Spartans grabbed their most rebounds since getting 50 against Georgia Southern on Dec. 30, 2006. They had a 20-rebound margin in that game, too, but won.

COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON (4-3, 3-0) — Simmons 4-7 2-3 10, Breeden 5-6 1-2 14, Monroe 4-10 0-1 9, Goudelock 12-17 0-0 28, White Jr. 0-5 0-1 0, Sundberg 0-1 0-0 0, Lawrence 2-6 0-0 6, Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Hall 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 27-55 3-7 67.

UNCG (2-5, 1-1) — Stywall 8-18 5-7 21, Brown 2-3 0-0 4, VanDussen 3-6 0-0 7, Randall 3-14 0-0 6, Toney 1-8 1-2 4, Koivisto 1-3 0-0 3, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Bone 0-0 0-0 0, Evans 3-11 4-5 10, Cole 4-7 0-0 9. Totals 25-70 10-14 64.

Halftime—Coll. of Charleston 37-31.
3-point goals—Coll. of Charleston 10-29 (Goudelock 4-8, Breeden 3-4, Lawrence 2-6, Monroe 1-4, Hall 0-1, Sundberg 0-1, White Jr. 0-5), UNCG 4-13 (Cole 1-1, Koivisto 1-2, VanDussen 1-2, Toney 1-4, Stywall 0-1, Randall 0-3).
Fouled out—None.
Rebounds—Coll. of Charleston 29 (Simmons 9), UNCG 49 (Stywall 14).
Assists—Coll. of Charleston 13 (White Jr. 6), UNCG 8 (Randall 3).
Total fouls—Coll. of Charleston 12, UNCG 11.
A—2,383.