Dragons Fade Late in 90-76 Loss to Charleston Saturday Afternoon

Saturday, January 28

Daskalakis Athletic Center

2:00

Drexel University

8-14 (2-7CAA)

College of Charleston

17-6 (8-2CAA)

College of Charleston

Drexel

Dragons Fade Late in 90-76 Loss to Charleston Saturday Afternoon

1/28/2017 3:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BOX SCORE (PDF)

PHILADELPHIA -- The Drexel men's basketball team faded down the stretch on Saturday in its Homecoming Weekend loss to the College of Charleston Cougars at the Daskalakis Athletic Center, 90-76.

With his first basket of the game at 16:50, Rodney Williams became the 36th Dragon to reach 1,000 career points. The senior finished with 15 points (6 for 11) and now has 1,014 career points, which is two shy of Greg Newman for 34th all-time.

The Cougars (17-6, 8-2 CAA) built a 13-point lead at the midpoint of the first half by forcing Drexel (8-14, 2-7 CAA) into eight first-half turnovers that they were able to turn into 10 points their way. Charleston was up by a dozen with 3:40 left in the opening period when Drexel made its run. The Dragons closed the half on an 11-2 run, ignited by freshman Kari Jonsson, who knocked down four first-half threes, including three in the final seven minutes. Jonsson finished the game with 17 points, 15 of which came in the opening frame. Austin Williams, who made his return after missing Thursday's game with an illness, hit a jumper with 15 seconds left to cut the Drexel deficit to 47-44 heading into the locker room.

In the second half, it was Sammy Mojica's turn to ignite the Homecoming crowd and keep the Dragons in the game. The junior hit three threes in the first six minutes after the break, the last of which cut the deficit again to three with 14:04 remaining. He finished with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field. However, that would be the closest the Dragons would come. Charleston's redshirt freshman Grant Riller tallied 30 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field. He and Joe Chealey combined for 53 points on the afternoon, while also getting 18 points from Jarrell Brantley and 10 points from Cam Johnson. Charleston extended its lead, and it hovered around 10 until Brantley's dagger from deep with 4:39 to play to give the Cougars an 80-67 lead. Charleston cruised from there to the 90-76 win.

The Cougars shot 51 percent (26 for 51) from the floor. The Dragons were able to counter by shooting 46.4 percent (26 for 56), but the difference came at the free throw line. Charleston shot 30 for 31 (96.8 percent), which was the best free throw performance against the Dragons in a game where the opponent shot 20 or more since joining the Colonial Athletic Association. Chealey was a perfect 10 for 10 from the line, while both Brantley and Riller were a perfect 7 for 7.

Head coach Zach Spiker's squad will return to action on Monday when they head to Williamsburg, Va. for their makeup contest with William & Mary at 7 p.m.