February 5, 2002
Erick Wilson has received lots of personal attention from Citadel basketball coach Pat Dennis this season. Much of it has been rather unenjoyable.
"He catches a lot of heck from me," Dennis said of his sophomore point guard, who has gone from the starting lineup to the end of the bench and back again.
But Monday night, Wilson was at the center of a heaving mass of cadets in the middle of McAlister Field House, celebrating a 60-58 victory over archrival College of Charleston before a loud crowd of 5,481 fans and a regional TV audience.
On a night when the No. 1 3-point shooter in Citadel history went 2 of 18 from the field - Travis Cantrell did not hit a bucket in the first 35 minutes - Wilson played the best game of his career, hitting four 3-pointers in the first half and scoring a career-high 14 points.
Wilson's unexpected performance and the Bulldogs' manly rebounding display - Cliff Washburn had 16 points and nine rebounds as the Cougars were out-rebounded by 37-26 - helped The Citadel snap a four-game losing streak and earn a season split with Charleston.
It also knocked College of Charleston (16-6, 6-5) out of a tie for first place in the Southern Conference's South Division. Chattanooga (14-10, 7-4) is alone in first, with Charleston, The Citadel (14-8, 6-5) and Georgia Southern (13-9, 6-5) tied for second.
"This game was vital for us," Dennis said. "We had a major migraine, and we needed two Excedrin bad. We got them tonight."
The Bulldogs' defensive strategy Monday - a press that dropped back quickly to a 2-3 zone - was a headache for the points-starved Cougars, who committed a season-high 18 turnovers while shooting a respectable 46.8 percent against the Dogs.
The major difference was on the boards, where the Bulldogs had a 17-6 edge in offensive rebounds. Mike Joseph had 10 points and five boards, and Gregg Jones, Alan Puckett and Romas Krywonis combined for 17 rebounds for the Dogs.
"They just killed us rebounding," said Cougars forward Jeff Bolton, who led his team with 18 points but had a career-high five turnovers. "We played pretty good defense most of the game, but you can't win when you get beat on the offensive boards like we did tonight."
The Citadel victory was even more unlikely given that Cantrell and Alan Puckett - the top 3-point shooting duo in SoCon history - went a combined 1 of 12 from 3-point range.
"We did an excellent job chasing Puckett and Cantrell on the perimeter," Cougars coach John Kresse said. "But Erick Wilson hit some pressure jumpers for them early.
"We played him more to drive, but his 3-pointers opened things up for them early."
Wilson had made 6 of 26 from 3-point range this season before making 4 of 8 Monday.
"They chase Alan and Travis, and my man leaves me not knowing what I bring to the table because I'm still growing as a basketball player," Wilson said. "I just had to knock those down."
Cantrell's first 3-pointer of the game - he missed his first seven - pushed the Dogs to a 54-46 lead with 4:13 left, and he sank a floating jumper at 1:04 to make it 56-52. When Wilson hit two free throws for a 58-52 lead with 36 seconds left, cadets began to crowd the sideline in anticipation.
But Bolton, who scored 12 points in the final 2:36, leaned in for a foul-line jumper with 29 seconds left and was fouled by Mike Joseph.
Bolton's free throw made it 58-56, and the Cougars' harassed the Bulldogs into a 10-second violation with 18.5 seconds to play.
This time, Bolton forced an off-balance 3-pointer and missed, with Washburn grabbing the rebound. Washburn's two free throws with six seconds left made the score 60-55, and rendered Bolton's bank-in trey at the buzzer meaningless.
"This was big, very big," Washburn said. "If we lose, we go down to third or fourth place. This was huge for us."
* The Bulldogs are at defending SoCon champ UNC Greensboro Saturday, while the Cougars are at home against App State.
