Coastal Athletic Association (CAA Sports)

Charleston Returns to CAA Final with Late Comeback

3/11/2024 9:09:06 PM

Rob Washburn

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 11, 2024) – Top-seeded Charleston closed the game on a 13-1 run to rally past 5^th-seeded Towson, 61-56, in the semifinals of the Jersey Mike’s CAA Men’s Basketball Championship on Monday night at the Entertainment & Sports Arena.
 
It was the 11^th consecutive victory for the Cougars (26-7), who will battle for their second straight CAA title at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night against either Hofstra or Stony Brook. Towson dropped to 20-14 overall.
 

Junior guard Reyne Smith scored a team-high 16 points and Bryce Butler added 13 points off the bench for Charleston. Freshman guard Tyler Tejada registered 13 of his team-best 16 points in the second half for Towson, while Charles Thompson contributed 14 points and Dylan Williamson had 13 points.
 
Towson’s Christian May knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Tigers ahead 55-48 with 4:12 to play, but that would be their last field goal of the game. Cougars’ guard CJ Fulton hit a three from the top of the key to reduce the deficit to three and Charleston knotted the game at 56-56 on a pair of Kobe Rodgers free throws with 1:10 remaining.
 
Charleston’s Ante Brzovic blocked a Williamson layup attempt on the ensuing possession and then put the Cougars ahead to stay by finishing a lob pass from Fulton with a dunk to make it 58-56 with 33 seconds on the clock.
 
After Towson missed the front end of a one-and-one, Smith was fouled and hit one free throw to increase the Cougars’ lead to three. The Tigers had a chance to tie it, but a Tejada 3-point attempt was off the mark and Smith sank a pair of free throws with 3.5 seconds to go to secure the win.
 
Charleston led by as many as six points in the game’s opening minutes before Towson caught fire behind the play of Thompson. The Tigers’ big man tallied 11 points in a seven-minute stretch to give his team a 23-22 lead with 4:52 remaining. Towson pushed its advantage to four after a trey and layup from guard Williamson, but Smith nailed a 3-pointer and a short jumper in the final 40 seconds of the half to put the Cougars up 31-30 at the break. Smith hit three first-half treys and paced Charleston with 11 points.
 
 
Towson shot 40.4% from the floor and Charleston hit just 38.5% of its field goal attempts in a physical, defensive contest.
 
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