Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Don’t look now, but Drexel’s a factor in the Colonial Athletic Association race.
Just a few weeks after the Dragons looked dead in the water, they’re sitting two games over .500 in league play after a 59-45 win at the College of Charleston ran their winning streak to five games.
Rodney Williams (above, in November) had 10 points off the bench as Drexel won its fifth consecutive game, 59-45 over Charleston. (Photo: Tug Haines)
Drexel (9-14, 7-5 CAA) now sits in a tie with James Madison for fourth place in the league, just a game behind Northeastern (16-9, 8-4) thanks to the Huskies dropping one to Delaware earlier in the day.
With just six regular-season games left, they’re within striking distance of the top teams in the CAA.
Conference co-leaders William & Mary and UNC-Wilmington, both 8-3, meet later on Saturday. Drexel’s already taken down UNCW and Northeastern in its current winning streak, but won’t face W&M until the regular-season finale on Feb. 28.
They picked up the road victory by holding Charleston to just 29.1 percent (16-of-55) overall, including an 0-for-11 performance from 3-point range. Canyon Barry, who scored 16 points in the teams’ last meeting–a 53-51 Drexel win in Philly on Jan. 24 that started the streak–was held to just four points on 2-of-11 shooting.
“I thought we played great defensively,” Drexel coach Bruiser Flint said on the post-game radio show. “The first half, although they only had 18 points, I thought they had a lot of buckets on hustle plays. the second half, I think we shut that down a little bit.”
Drexel, on the other hand, shot 48.8 percent (21-of-43), including a rather uncharacteristic 60 percent (9-of-15) on 3-pointers.
“We made some tough shots, too,” Flint said. “Tavon Allen made some huge ones with the shot clock running down.”
An early 10-0 run gave Drexel a lead it would not relinquish, but the Dragons really created some space in the minutes before halftime. Damion Lee‘s four-point play kicked off a 12-3 spurt that ended with a Freddie Wilson 3-pointer that made it 25-13 with 2:35 until the half.
After trailing by nine at the break but allowing Drexel to score the first five points of the second, Charleston would not get within single digits the rest of the way.
Flint’s certainly helped by having sophomore big man Rodney Williams back in the lineup. The 6-foot-7, 230-pound forward missed eight games in the middle of the season with a stress fracture in his foot, but looks to be back to form after scoring 10 points, grabbing three rebounds, dishing out three assists and blocking five shots against the Cougars.
The Dragons also got a very good effort from Allen, who scored 18 points on an efficient 6-of-10 from the floor; the redshirt junior would also collect five assists and a steal.
Fellow redshirt junior Damion Lee, the CAA’s leading scorer, had a fairly quiet night with 12 points to round out the Dragons in double figures. Freshman guard Sammy Mojica, who had scored in double digits in each of the first four wins, finished with seven points and six rebounds.
“I thought everybody contributed today,” Flint said. “Like I keep telling everybody, we can’t just depend on Damion scoring 30 points per game.”
Drexel returns home to try and run its win streak to six with a visit from Towson on Tuesday night.
