Associated Press
DAVIDSON ó College of Charleston came into the game against Davidson wanting to make amends for their previous loss to the Wildcats this season ó a 79-75 defeat on Dec. 29.
The Cougars did just that on Saturday night, rallying from a 14-point deficit in the second half by ending Davidson’s 43-game Southern Conference winning streak in a 77-75 victory.
With a national TV audience watching on ESPN2 and Dick Vitale in the house, Tony White Jr. scored 19 points and Dustin Scott had 14 for College of Charleston. (17-6, 9-4), which snapped an 11-game losing streak to Davidson. Jermaine Johnson added 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Donovan Monroe 10 points.
“They’ve always been in our way of accomplishing something in this league,” White said of the Wildcats, who were 47-8 all-time against the Cougars. “They’ve gotten the best of us for a number of years… so this is a great feeling to get that monkey off our backs.”
Stephen Curry scored 25 points for Davidson (20-4, 13-1), which was vying to tie the league record of 44 consecutive regular-season wins set by Jerry West-led West Virginia between 1956 and 1960.
But the nation’s leading scorer at 28.9 points per game was held to six points on 1-of-11 shooting in the second half. Curry finished 7 of 23 from the field, including just 4 of 13 on 3-pointers.
Still, Curry had a chance to lead Davidson to a win in the closing seconds. He cut College of Charleston’s lead to 76-75 on three free throws with 3.1 seconds left.
After White hit 1 of 2 from the free-throw line to put the Cougars up by two points, Curry had a good look at the basket with a chance to hit the game-winner, but Antwaine Wiggins raced in from behind and swatted his shot away at the buzzer.
“I was surprised that I got it,” Wiggins said.
“I’d like to think our defense had something to do with that tonight,” College of Charleston coach Bobby Cremins said. “Sometimes you’ve got to expect the unexpected. Not many people have beaten Davidson, and we got this one on the road.”
Bryant Barr added 16 points, all in the second half, and Andrew Lovedale 13 for Davidson, which was outrebounded 50-31 and saw its 10-game winning streak end.
Davidson, which led 38-36 at the half, then opened the second half with a 22-10 run. Barr hit three straight 3-pointers during the run, and his layup with 13:21 left gave the Wildcats a 60-46 lead.
But the Cougars rallied, outscoring Davidson 18-3 over the next seven minutes and regaining the lead at 64-63 on Scott’s layup with 4:59 remaining.
That set up a stretch in which the teams exchanged the lead twice. The Wildcats last led at 67-64 with 4:23 left on Lovedale’s jumper and two free throws, and tied the score at 68-68 on a Barr free throw with 2:53 remaining.
However, College of Charleston pulled ahead to stay on Johnson’s layup with 2:29 left, and led 76-72 with 19.2 seconds remaining on a pair of Jeremy Simmons free throws.