The College of Charleston men’s basketball team was unable to recover from a slow start, falling to Towson 61-52 on Thursday night in Maryland. Despite outscoring the Tigers 35-27 in the second half, the Cougars could not erase a first-half deficit.
Charleston struggled offensively early in the game, committing three turnovers within the first four minutes and shooting just 22% from the field before halftime. This left them trailing 34-17 at the break.
The Cougars opened the second half with an 8-0 run, forcing four Towson turnovers and limiting their opponents to one basket on eight attempts during that stretch. Back-to-back three-pointers by Connor Hickman and Jlynn Counter led a 13-2 surge, cutting Towson’s lead to four points at 44-40 with eight minutes remaining.
However, Charleston then hit a cold streak, making only one of their next eight shots. Towson capitalized and maintained their advantage for the rest of the game.
Hickman led all scorers with 20 points and added five rebounds. Counter contributed seven points along with six assists and seven rebounds. Chol Machot recorded his third double-double of the season, scoring ten points and grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds while also blocking two shots. Machot has now recorded at least one block in 13 consecutive games.
Towson shot 34% from the field compared to Charleston’s 31%. The Cougars won the rebounding battle by a narrow margin of 43-41 but finished with their lowest point total of the season. The loss also ended Charleston’s seven-game winning streak.
Charleston is now 11-7 overall and holds a 4-1 record in conference play. The team will continue its road trip with a game against Stony Brook on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. on Long Island.
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