College of Charleston Comes Back from 13-point Halftime Deficit to Win CAA Tournament

That was one of the better games of conference tournament week so far. Northeastern was in control of this game the entire first half. In fact the Huskies took a 13 point lead at halftime before College of Charleston figured it out in the second half. Charleston ended up winning the game 83-76, outscoring Northeastern 18-11 in overtime. The 13-point comeback is the biggest halftime deficit a team has overcome in the CAA Tournament.

Ultimately it was Joe Chealey leading the way, finishing with 32 points to lead Charleston. Although, as it typically is with the Cougars it’s the three-headed monster it has with Chealey, Grant Riller and Jarrell Brantley that led them to victory. The three finished with 70 points as they average 53 on the season. They are the only three players at Charleston that average at least double digits – although Cameron Johnson does put up 9 a game.

There were some tough calls down the stretch for Northeastern, including a travel call – which was a travel, just not exactly when the ref blew the whistle (he missed the original one). That led to an ISO set for Joe Chealey to get a layup with about 10 seconds left in regular to tie the game. Northeastern was unable to get a shot off, in fact losing the ball out of bounds.

Charleston was one of the trendy mid-major picks before the season started as a team to watch and despite a weird nonconference, the Cougars are still just that. Charleston finished the season 26-8, winning both the regular season and CAA Tournament. They lost in the nonconference at URI by 6, but then put up a 14-4 CAA record. This is a different Charleston team than what we’re used to seeing under Earl Grant. They tend to be defensive-minded and slow the game down a bit. Not this year. This is a team that still plays slow, but is a top-100 offense on KenPom. They take care of the ball, ranking just 10th in the country in turnover percentage and do an excellent job of getting to the free throw line.

10 in, 58 to go.