CHARLESTON, S.C. - Led by junior guard Chandler Hash's game-high 19 points, the Anderson men's basketball team shocked the College of Charleston, 65-49, in exhibition action Thursday night at TD Arena.
It was the first loss for the Cougars to a Division II school
since a 70-67 loss to Belmont Abbey on Dec. 8, 2001 at John Kresse
Arena under former CofC head coach John Kresse. Sophomore Adjehi
Baru registered his third career double-double with a team-high 11
points and game-high 14 rebounds for CofC.
The Trojans held the Cougars to their lowest field-goal shooting
performance of the season (33.3 percent). AU was led by Hash's
effort and 17 from Denzail Jones and 11 from Bo Holston. Kyle
Sledge pulled down a team-high six rebounds.
In a contest that was an exhibition for the Trojans, but counted in
the record books for the Cougars, Anderson led by as many as16
points in the first half and widened the margin to 23 late in the
game.
Anderson (6-2), which was playing its second game in as many days, earned the upset by holding off each challenge from Charleston, which suffered its second straight setback and was looking to bounce back from a loss to fourth-ranked Louisville after a nine-day layoff.
The first-ever meeting between the two teams saw the Trojans trail just once early, at 3-2, before Holston's jumper gave Anderson a lead it would not relinquish with nearly 17 minutes left in the opening half.
The Trojans jumped out to an early 7-3 lead, as Sledge scored the first basket of the game from close range and following a 3-pointer from the Cougars' Matt Sundberg, Holston regained the lead for AU and Hash, who scored eight points in the opening minutes, drained the first of three 3-pointers on the night for the four-point lead.
Anderson edged out to a 14-7 lead and built a double-digit cushion, at 19-9, on a trey by Jones.
With the Trojans holding their largest lead, at 30-14, Charleston used an 11-4 run to climb back within nine at the 2:05 mark, before Holston slowed the CofC outburst with a basket to push the advantage back to double digits, at 35-25, with 1:29 left in the half and the Trojans held a 37-30 lead at the break.
Hash scored 14 first-half points, while Jones added eight and Holston chipped in seven.
The Cougars' Anthony Thomas scored the first basket of the second half to pull Charleston within five, but Anderson countered with a 12-4 surge and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
The Trojans visit Winston-Salem State on Saturday for their
third game in four days, then travel to Young Harris on Wednesday
for their final nonference tilt before taking a three-week break
over the Christmas holidays
