Charleston’s 30th Win of the Season Sends Cougars to CAA Final
Rob Washburn
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 6, 2023) – Second-seeded Charleston reached the finals of the Jersey Mike’s CAA Men’s Basketball Championship for the first time since 2018, earning a hard-fought 77-72 victory over No. 3 Towson in semifinal action on Monday night at the Entertainment & Sports Arena.
It was the nation’s best 30
th win of the season for the Cougars (30-3), who will take a nine-game winning streak into Tuesday night’s 7 p.m. championship contest against No. 4 UNCW. Towson fell to 21-12 after the setback.
Reyne Smith scored 15 of his team-high 20 points in the second half to lead four Charleston players in double figures. Ante Brzovic contributed 19 points and a team-best nine rebounds, and guards Ryan Larson and Dalton Bolon added 12 points apiece.
Senior guard Cam Holden poured in a game-high 21 points for the Tigers and backcourt mate Nicolas Timberlake tallied 17 points.
Towson held a 70-69 lead after a Chris Biekeu free throw with 1:48 remaining but was unable to connect on five straight field goal attempts down the stretch. Charleston secured the victory at the free throw line as Larson sank six straight in the final 1:08.
Neither team led by more than five in a frenetic first half that featured four ties and nine lead changes. Charleston went up 19-15 midway through the period after a pair of free throws from Brzovic, who was 8-for-8 from the stripe and netted a team-high 15 points for the Cougars in the opening 20 minutes. The Tigers used a 17-8 spurt to move on top 32-27 as Timberlake drained a trey from the wing with 2:54 to go in the period. Timberlake capped the half with a dunk that gave Towson a 38-33 lead at the break. Holden tallied 10 first-half points to pace the Tigers.
After misfiring on 18 of their first 21 attempts from beyond the arc, the Cougars got back-to-back treys from Smith to move back ahead, 45-40. The sophomore guard wasn’t done, converting three more buckets, including another trey, for a streak of 13 consecutive points that extended the Charleston lead to 52-43 with 13:27 remaining.
A three-pointer and layup from Bolon put the Cougars up by 13 (60-47) before Towson battled back. Behind eight points apiece from Holden and Timberlake, the Tigers were able to outscore Charleston 22-7 over the next nine minutes and went ahead 69-67 on Timberlake’s layup with 2:13 to go.
Charleston shot just 34.4% from the floor and was 7-of-28 from 3-point range, but made 28-of-35 free throws and outscored the Tigers by 21 at the line. Towson shot 53.3 in the first half but cooled to 42.4% for the game. The Tigers were only 7-of-25 from beyond the arc.
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