Expectations were high for the College of Charleston Cougars as they came into tonight’s game at Carolina First Arena. The Cougars were undefeated at home and in the Southern Conference coming into the game.

Wofford, (13-8, 5-3), second in the South Division behind the Cougars, was determined to put an end to a six game winning streak that has catapulted enthusiasm for the Cougars. But, the Cougars weren’t going down without a fight.

The Cougars led by six at the half and led by 10 with 12:52 seconds to play. However, that lead quickly disappeared as the College missed shots and fouled Wofford.

The final minutes of the game were tense for the crowd of 5,175, the second largest at Carolina First Arena in Downtown Charleston, S.C.

They were tense for Coach Cremins, too.

“These Wofford games. They’re going put a few years on me,” he said. “It was a war.”

With 2:22 left in the game, the entire crowd rose to their feet as they anxiously watched the College of Charleston Cougars and Wofford Terriers tie the game up repeatedly.

Wofford’s Jamar Diggs drove to the basket and drew the foul from Andrew Goudelock, sending him to the line with 34.6 seconds left. He misses his first free throw as a sea of white t-shirts and painted college students throw their arms into the air and scream as loud as they can. He makes the second one.

As Donavan Monroe takes an in-bounds pass, he’s fouled quickly to stop the clock. Monroe easily makes his first but fails to drop his second free throw. As his shot bounces out a rebound battle turns into a foul by Casaan Breeden sending Wofford’s Noah Dahlman to the line for 1-and-1 with 31.5 seconds left in the game.

He sinks his first to bring the Terriers one point closer and ties the game up at 68-68. Then it was up to one final possession. 

Tony White, Jr. dribbled behind his back and went right through Wofford’s defense before laying in the final basket that rolled slowly in giving Charleston the final 70-68 score.

“This is my place,” screamed Tony White, Jr as he grabbed his jersey.

Despite improving to 13-6 and 8-0 in Southern Conference, Wofford dominated the Cougars on the glass, outrebounding the Cougars by 11 and scoring 20 second chance points.

Tony White, Jr. scored 12 for the Cougars. He was supported by the impressive performance of freshman Willis Hall coming off the bench.

Filling in for the injured Jeremy Simmons, Hall scored 16 points, his career high, and 2 blocks.

With eyes on him to see how he would fill Simmon’s shoes, Hall explained that it was just another day at the office.

“I just try to carry the lunch pail every day,” he said. “It was a lot of fun out there.”

Simmons is out indefinitely with a sprained MCL. To prevent any further damage, Cremins pulled him out of tonight’s game. Even without Simmons, who will hopefully return as soon as possible, Cremins was happy with the win.

“Winning this game without Jeremy says something about this team,” he said.

Hall was backed up by sophomore Matt Sundberg who scored 6 points, with 4 coming from three point land. Donovan Monroe and Andrew Goudelock put up double figures to help the Cougars, 15 and 10, respectively.

The Cougars travel to Western Carolina on Monday hoping to defend their success in the Conference. White summarized the team’s feelings on the game.

“Night in and night out, we got to bring it,” he said. “There aren’t any easy games in this conference.”