Dragons End Regular Season with 80-67 Loss at Charleston

Saturday, February 25

Charleston, S.C.

5:00

Drexel University

9-21, 3-14

College of Charleston

23-8, 14-4

Drexel

Col. of Charleston

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Dragons End Regular Season with 80-67 Loss at Charleston

2/25/2017 7:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Charleston, S.C. – Drexel ended the 2016-17 regular season with an 80-67 defeat at the hands of the College of Charleston on Saturday night. With the loss, the Dragons are now 9-21 overall and 3-15 in the CAA. Charleston finished the regular season in second place in the CAA with a 14-4 league mark. The Cougars are now 23-8.

In a game which featured more fouls (49) than field goals (47), the Cougars took advantage of their opportunities at the line. Charleston was 27 of 40 from the stripe and Jarrell Brantley was 10-for-15 on his own. He led everyone with 22 points and also had four steals. Joe Chealey added 16 points, while Cameron Johnson had 14.

Drexel trailed by double digits for almost the entire second half before cutting it to eight points on a Mohamed Bah lay-up with just under a minute to go. Charleston's defense was tough on the Dragons for most of the night, but Zach Spiker's team still managed to shoot 44 percent from the floor. They did commit 12 turnovers in the game, which led to 10 Charleston points. Kurk Lee led the way with 13 despite struggling with his shot. The freshman was just 2-for-12 from the floor, but he did grab eight rebounds, shoot 8-for-12 from the line and come up with four steals. Lee is now just one point away from tying the late John Rankin for most points by a freshman in Drexel history. Lee has 465 points in his first season.

Bah drew a starting assignment and had 12 points. Sam Green came off the bench to score a career-high 11 points and knocked down three three-pointers. Junior Austin Williams also came off the pine and was 4-for-6 shooting with 10 points. Rodney Williams had nine points and tied Lee with eight rebounds before fouling out. He was charged with a technical on the play, which was a made bucket. Drexel had trailed by 13, but with the three-point play and a pair of free throws, the Cougars' lead swelled to 18 with 5:22 to go.

Drexel opened up an early lead at 10-5 on Senior Night at TD Arena. Charleston took the lead minutes later before Kurk Lee three-pointer at 9:58 tied it at 15-15. The Cougars then scored on two Brantley free throws and a Chealey jumper to go ahead for good at 19-15. Charleston extended the lead from the line as the Dragons found themselves in foul trouble. Five Dragons had two fouls in the half and the Cougars were 14-for-21 from the stripe in the first half.

The Dragons head home for a few days and then come back to Charleston for the CAA Championships. Drexel will face James Madison on Friday night at 8:30 in the opening round at the North Charleston Coliseum. The Dragons are the 10-seed while the Dukes enter the tournament as the seventh seed. The winner of that game will face the College of Charleston on Saturday.