Pointer’s OT shots lift Cougars to title Players say install moving quickly
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Joe Chealey had 32 points and the College of Charleston rallied from 17 points down in the second half to win the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament championship and earn its first NCAA Tournament berth in 19 years with an 83-76 overtime victory against Northeastern on Tuesday night.
Fans mobbed the floor when things ended, swarming a team that looked cooked about an hour earlier.
After rallying to tie, the Cougars caught fire in overtime. They hit their first four shots, including two three-pointers by freshman Marquise Pointer (Jonesboro) to take a 75-69 lead. Northeastern (23-10) could not come back.
The Cougars (26-7) appeared done early in the second half, trailing 42-25 after Vasa Pusica’s three-pointer with 17:27 to go. That’s when Charleston ramped up the pressure, forcing 14 turnovers in the second half and tying the game 65-65 on Chealey’s layup with 10.1 seconds to go.
Charleston got the ball back with the chance to win in regulation, but Chealey’s long three-pointer hit off the front of the rim.
Jerrell Brantley gave the Cougars their first lead of the game, 67-65, in overtime before Pointer’s first three-pointer gave Charleston the lead for good. Two minutes later, Pointer did it again as the large, loud crowd at the North Charleston Coliseum roared in delight.
Northeastern’s last chance disappeared when Pusica lost the ball out of bounds on a drive with 40 seconds to go. Chealey closed things with four free throws to send Charleston back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since John Kresse led the school to four appearances in six seasons from 1994-99.
Pusica had 30 points to lead the Huskies, who saw their nine-game winning streak ended. Shawn Occeus added 19 points.
Grant Riller scored 20 points for Charleston, 14 of those after halftime. Brantley finished with 18.
FAYETTEVILLE — Red Bull-guzzling Chad Morris wasn’t thrilled with what he called the “extremely slow” pace of offensive installation for the Arkansas Razorbacks through two spring practices.
His players think the install has moved apace.
“I don’t think we’ve been slow,” sophomore quarterback Cole Kelley said after the Razorbacks’ third spring practice on a cold, windy late afternoon on the outdoor practice fields Tuesday. “I think day one we did a whole install for day one. Day two we did a whole install, and day three we did a whole install. This is my second coaching staff, but the last coaching staff we didn’t really go this fast, I don’t think.
“I think we’re picking it up well. We’re making some mistakes, but … we’re making them full speed. Guys aren’t just putting their hands up stopping. We’re going full speed.”
Perhaps the biggest news from early in camp has been the move of starting cornerback Kamren Curl to strong safety with senior Santos Ramirez moving to free safety. The most frequent firstteam cornerbacks have been Ryan Pulley, whose pectoral muscle injury forced Curl into 11 starts in 2017, and sophomore Chevin Calloway.
“I’m very amazed what Kam is doing at safety,” Ramirez said. “Kam has shown great coachability, and of course he saw that last year playing corner. Kam is not afraid to come down and put his face on someone.
“For Kam, the main thing right now is just to make sure his eyes are in the right place, and when he gets his eyes in the right place he can be a shutdown safety.”
Kelley and Ty Storey have split quarterback repetitions with the first-team offense, and others have rolled in as well.
“We’ve all kind of rolled through,” Storey said. “I think they’re trying to kind of throw us all in there and see what happens. But most of all I think they’re trying to make sure we learn the offense and pick up on it.”
Storey led a touchdown drive in the two-minute offense Saturday, connecting with freshman Mike Woods on a fade route for the score.
“It was a blast just being able to get out there, back with the team,” Storey said. “Just being able to go up-tempo, especially for a quarterback, you can kind of get in a rhythm.
“We obviously picked up some momentum and carried it through till the end. Obviously Mike Woods made a great catch and scored, so it was good.”
Kelley’s two-minute drive ended with a Pulley interception as he was trying to throw a short route to Jonathan Nance.
“They were in man-free, and I got back to my dig,” Kelley said. “The inside release guy is always good against man. And really Pulley made a good play. In the SEC West, they might not call it. In my opinion, it was a P.I. [pass interference], but Pulley gets away with those a lot, so I’m not going to fault him.”
The running game appeared to get in gear on the frigid day.
“Seems like the running backs are getting used to getting the flow,” tight end Jeremy Patton said. “We broke off some great runs today at practice. It’s fast, new and fun.”
Patton said sophomore Chase Hayden had a couple of 60-plus yard breakaways in team periods, and that Devwah Whaley and T.J. Hammonds both had good runs.
Patton described the role of tight ends in the Morris offensive system.
“It’s definitely going to be different, but I think the load’s going to be about the same,” he said. “He’s had a lot of successful
tight ends in the past. Really, our job is to be the utility guy on offense.
“We’re moving around. You’ll see us at wideout, you’ll see us in the slot, you’ll see us in the backfield. So we’re really the guy that brings everything together for this offense.”
Morris said the first wave of installation would go for three practices, then the offense would cycle back through the material, hopefully at a faster pace.
“We’re just about finished with what we’re going to install for the spring, but it’s really smooth,” Patton said.
Senior linebacker Dre Greenlaw said the return to a base 4-3 defense under coordinator John Chavis has been a welcome change for him after he played on the inside in a 3-4 set last year.
“I definitely feel a lot better just being out in space and being able to have an openfield vision of the quarterback and receiver instead of just being inside that box,” Greenlaw said. “I like the 4-3. The 4-3 has always been my favorite defense.”
Ramirez is jacked up about the opportunities for bringing more blitzes.
“We’re going to get way more pressure with Coach Chavis out there,” Ramirez said. “He has a very aggressive mindset and I love the mentality he brings to our defense.”
The Razorbacks will conduct a closed fourth spring practice Thursday, then hold their first major scrimmage of the Morris era Saturday morning on the practice fields.