Charleston surges past Bearcats in second half 77-49

CHARLESTON -- After holding a five-point lead going into the break on Tuesday, the Charleston Bluejays used 47 second half to pull away from the Dexter Bearcats for a 77-49 win.

"We ended up playing well in the end," Charleston head coach Danny Farmer said. "We started out slow, but Dexter always plays us tough. We put some full-court press on them in the second half and it made a big difference. They didn't expect that."

Holding a one-point advantage with two minutes to go in the second quarter, the Bluejays were able head into the half up by five thanks to a basket by Greg Tucker, who followed that up connected on a pair of free throws on a Dexter technical to give Charleston a 30-25 advantage.

After a quick basket by Dexter's Jacob Lee started the third frame, the Bluejays proceeded to score 12-straight points to push ahead 42-27.

Already with a comfortable lead, Charleston continued to push ahead and held a 53-38 lead at the the end of third before scoring eight straight to open the fourth.

Capping the eight point outburst, Michael Hull connected on back to back 3-pointers that allowed Charleston to go ahead 61-38 with 6:45 to play.

The Bluejays largest lead of the night came with under a minute left in the game off a basket from Tucker that put them up 76-47.

"I'm kind of disappointed with the way the score ended up," Dexter head coach Rob Nichols said. "Because I think the kids competed a lot better than that. Fatigue got us in the end.

"We only went about six deep tonight and against a Charleston team that goes nine or 10 deep, over the course of a game that pressure going to get to you and it did tonight."

Up until the half the Bearcats held on their own against the Bluejays, overcoming a 13-5 deficit early in the game to tie Charleston at 18 on a Brad Potts bucket from the paint with 5:22 to play in the second quarter.

Still locked in a tie at 20, the Bluejays took the lead for good midway through to the frame when Tucker hit a free throw before connecting from behind the right side of the arc to put Charleston up by four.

"First half I thought we played really well," Nichols said. "We executed in the half court pretty good as we had two sophomore out there a lot of the night. It's probably a one-point game at the half if we don't have a technical there at the end.

"I think fatigue got us in the third quarter and they just ramped the pressure up a little bit."

Leading Charleston on the night, Tucker had a game-high 22 points on 8 of 16 shooting while contributing three steals and a rebound to the Bluejays cause. Scoring 11 of his 17 points in the second quarter, Hull connected of 6 of 10 shots from the floor, including three 3-pointers. he also grabbed four rebounds, a steal and blocked a shot.

Aaron Cassell was third on the team with 12 points with Jamaul Gray scoring six and leading the team in both rebounds and steals with six each.

As a team Charleston shot 29 of 69 with 29 rebounds and 19 steals.

For Dexter (0-1), Lee had a team-high 20 points with Tyler Miller's 10 points good for second on the team. Chase Young contributed eight points while D.J. Dowdy and Potts had six and five respectively.

DEXTER (49) -- Chase Young 8, Tyler Miller 10, D.J. Dowdy 6, Brad Potts 5, Jake Lee 20. FG 21, FT 4-9, F 19. (3-pointers: Miller 2, Potts 1. Fouled out: none.)

CHARLESTON (77) -- Aaron Cassell 12, Ryan Parham 6, Michael Hull 17, Greg Tucker 22, Jamaul Gray 6, Krushon Scott 8, Darrion Carter 6. FG 29, 13-19, F 15. (3-pointers: Hull 3, Cassell 2, Tucker 1. Fouled out: none.)