A Game To Remember

A Look Back at the 2009 SoCon Tournament Semifinal Clash Between College of Charleston and Davidsson

Obviously, just like in football, a lot has changed on the SoCon hardwood in the past decade.

The 2008-09 season was Stephen Curry’s junior campaign as a Davidson Wildcat, and it would be he and the Wildcats that would go on to claim the 2008-09 regular-season title, but the Wildcats’ bid to capture its fourth-straight conference tournament title was ended by Andrew Goudelock and the College of Charleston Cougars.

The Davidson run was ended one game early in the semifinals of the tournament, as the Cougars posted a 59-52 win at Chattanooga’s McKenzie Arena to produce what was an unforeseen upset in the conference tournament, and it would ultimately mark the final game for Curry against Southern Conference competition, as he would make himself officially eligible for the NBA Draft a year earlier following the season.

In the championship game, homestanding Chattanooga and College of Charleston would contest the SoCon title game, with the Mocs able to hold off Bobby Cremins’ Cougars, with an 80-69 win in the title game. While the College of Charleston and Davidson are no longer part of the Southern Conference, they put on a show that particular March weekend in the Scenic City.

 The semifinal meeting between the two was epic and one that will go down in the SoCon annals as one most will never forget. After all, the game featured two of the league’s top scorers of all time, in Davidson’s Curry and Charleston’s Goudelock. Curry finished his career in just three years at Davidson, but ended his career as the league’s top all-time scorer with 2,635 points, while Goudelock finished out his career for the Cougars by scoring the third-most points in league history, with 2,571-career points in his time in the Holy City.

The semifinal matchup between the Wildcats and Cougars also offered one between two of the most legendary head coaches to ever set foot on the Southern Conference hardwood sidelines, in Charleston’s Cremins and Davidson’s Bob McKillop.

Cremins would employ the services of a player that would become known around the league as “The Curry Stopper” and that came in the form of 6-7 combo guard/forward Antwaine Wiggins. Wiggins, with his long arms and tremendous athelticsm and prowess defensively, was able to force Curry into tough shots all afternoon, giving the Cougars more than a chance at an upset. Wiggins and CofC’s defense would make the game into a slugfest.

For the game, Wiggins would be responsible for holding Curry to 20 points on just 5-of-18 shooting from the field and a paltry 2-for-11 from three-point land, which were obviously well below his shooting standards. Because of such struggles for Curry and the Wildcats, College of Charleston held Davidson to just 31.6% shooting (18-for-57) from the field.

Curry was one of two Wildcats in double figures in the loss, with the other being Ben Allison, who posted
12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line.

The Cougars, who didn’t shoot the ball that well from the field, connecting on just 32.8%  of their shots from the field, but did have three players score in double figures in the contest, with diminutive guard Tony White, Jr. leading the way with 17 points, while Donovan Monroe added 13 points and four boards off the bench.

While Goudelock, who scored well under his season average of 16.7 PPG with 12 points, expended the kind of injury on the defensive end switching on and off Curry, as Cremins and the Cougars plenty to think about throughout the game. In one particular instance in the opening half of play of the contest, Goudelock helped set the tone for game.

After Curry stole the ball from Goudelock and appeared to be on his way in for an uncontested layup, Goudelock chased down curry from a little beyond mid-court, and at the right moment swatted the Curry delivery off the backboard. Setting the defensive tone for the rest of the way for the Cougars.

It would be a basketball game that had everything the Southern Conference administration and fans could hope for. A raucous atmosphere on both sides, and though it was just a semifinal game, had all the drama, intensity and ambiance of a championship tilt. While Goudelock’s block may have energized the crowd and even got the neutrals on the Cougars side, the path to victory on that early March evening for the Cougars was not as simple as you might think, as the game featured its share of twists and turns on both sides.

For Davidson, it had an RPI in the mid-50s, however, a loss in the SoCon semifinals for the Cougars probably spelled N-I-T for the Wildcats--even with a player of Steph Curry’s ilk. One thing Charleston seemingly had plenty of in its back pocket on this evening was confidence. After all, early in the 2008-09 season, the Cougars had done enough to snap Davidson’s 43-game homecourt SoCon winning streak a month earlier, handing the Wildcats a 77-75 loss at Belk Arena, and it was Wiggins, who held Curry to just 1-of-12 shooting in the second half of play to preserve such a win, and that included blocking Curry’s potential game-winning triple attempt.

This time, the Wildcats were keen on exacting revenge against the Cougars in the third matchup between the two. After all, Charleston handed Davidson one of only two conference losses it had suffered all season. The Wildcats seemed to sitting pretty at the half, holding a 29-20 intermission advantage. But the Cougars had made the game a grinder--the kind they had been accustomed to winning all season, and that, at least, gave them a shot in the second half.

It would be Goudelock and the Cougars that would immediately throw the opening punch of the second half, as back-to-back threes had all of the sudden gotten Charleston within a bucket, trailing 31-29.

With the momentum now fully in its corner, Charleston used an 8-0 run moments later to make give the  Cougars a 40-33, and a look of concern started to spread across the faces of the huge throng of fans on hand from Davidson, as the Cougars assumed a 40-33 lead. All told, Charleston had run off a 20-4 run to open the second half. In the second half of the contest, the Cougars were simply awesome on the defensive end of the floor, holding the Wildcats to just 8-for-28 shooting from the field, and just 23 points.

The Wildcats trailed the contest 51-48 with 4:17 remaining, but would misfire on four attempts from three-point range over the next 2:58, which proved crucial in helping the Cougars cling to a lead and weather a storm that seemed inevitable for Davidson.

Charleston contiued to lead the remainder of the way. Up 53-50 with 1:04 remaining in the contest, it was a clinic put on by Goudelock and White, Jr. down the stretch to help Charleston produce the upset ad move on to the title game.

It was the end of the NCAA Tourament road for Davidson and Curry. The Wildcats would end up qualifying for the National Invitational Tournament. Both teams ended the epic semifinal clash in front of nearly 6,000 at the Roundhouse with identical 26-7 records.

The game between College of Charleston and Davidson in the 2009 league tournament was one of the best in the league’s postseason party in the modern era, yet neither team would capture the title. It will be a night Cremins and CofC fans will not soon forget, however.