Dalton Bolon and reserve Ben Burnham both scored 13 points and No. 23 College of Charleston responded in the final 9 1/2 minutes after falling behind to beat Delaware 75-64 on Saturday at Charleston, S.C.
Ryan Larson’s 12 points and Ante Brzovic’s 11 points and 12 rebounds were also key for the Cougars (16-1, 4-0 Colonial Athletic Association).
Charleston used a 24-7 scoring edge on free throws and a 46-36 rebounding margin to win its 15th game in a row.
Jyare Davis racked up 18 points, Christian Ray had 14 points, Cavan Reilly posted 12 points and L.J. Owens added 10 points for Delaware (9-7, 1-2).
The Cougars were playing just their second game as a ranked team in two decades. The first came with cruising to Wednesday’s road victory at North Carolina A&T, so Saturday they were showered with cheers from their fans in the sold-out arena.
Delaware took a one-point lead with 11:34 to play, wiping out what had been an eight-point hole earlier in the half.
But shortly afterward the Cougars had a response with seven straight points in a 78-second stretch to go up 57-51.
Burnham had all of Charleston’s six points during an 80-second span that provided a 65-55 lead with 5:05 to play.
Charleston ended up shooting just 37.7 percent from the field. But Delaware’s 3-for-15 effort on 3-point tries didn’t allow the Blue Hens to make a final surge.
Charleston’s 23-19 lead was the largest margin in either team’s favor in the first 16 minutes.
Burnham scored the last five points in the Cougars’ 8-0 run that established a 31-22 lead. The score was 35-27 at halftime.
Delaware stayed within range largely because of Davis’ 13 first-half points.
The Cougars benefitted from 15-for-19 shooting on free throw attempts in the first half compared to Delaware’s 2-for-3. The Cougars shot only 32.1 percent from the floor before halftime.
–Field Level Media