Charleston Stuns No. 3 UNC
This one, according to Danny Johnson, was for all the people who think of the College of Charleston as nothing more than a successful mid-level program in big-time college basketball.
"We feel like we're a major Division I school. We're contenders and we're competitors, and now we've gone out and proven it," Johnson said after his follow shot with one-tenth of a second left gave the Cougars a 66-64 victory over No. 3 North Carolina Saturday night.
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Johnson's basket capped Charleston's comeback from eight points down with 12 minutes left in the final game of the Food Lion MVP Classic. The shot gave Johnson 11 points in what arguably was the biggest victory in the history of the Cougars, who have competed on the Division I level for just eight years.
"Dreams are built around games like this," said John Kresse, the coach who in 19 seasons has overseen Charleston's transition from an NAIA power to a legitimate force on the major-college landscape.
The victory over the Tar Heels came one night after Charleston lost by 11 points to South Carolina.
"Even though we split in the tournament, it's probably the biggest weekend the College of Charleston has ever had," Kresse said. "This was their chance to shine, and they did it."
Charleston (4-2) had never played a team ranked this high and had lost seven of its previous 10 games against AP Top 25 opponents. The last time the Cougars had defeated a ranked team was an 84-67 victory over eighth-ranked Georgia Tech Jan. 16, 1994.
Saturday night's victory overshadowed a sterling performance by North Carolina freshman Jason Capel, who had 16 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals. But the Tar Heels still fell short in their bid for a second consecutive 9-0 start.
 | The Tar Heels and Kris Lang couldn't avoid the biggest upset in College of Charleston history. (AP) |
"I hope we learn from this," coach Bill Guthridge said. "But you'd like to learn from winning instead of losing."
By battling the Tar Heels to five ties and five lead changes in the first 16 minutes, Charleston reinforced its standing as a program that produced five straight TAAC titles and has made NCAA tournament appearances in three of the last five years.
The Cougars' success early in the game turned out to be just a sign of things to come. By the time it was over, the Cougars had limited North Carolina to 41 percent shooting and were outrebounded by only three by a substantially bigger team.
"They had a sensational second half," Guthridge said of the Cougars, who shot 53 percent in the final half. "We couldn't stop them."
The Cougars' rally appeared to stall when Sedric Webber missed a jumper from the right wing as the clock was winding down. But the ball bounced long and left and into the hands of Johnson, who quickly lofted it back toward the basket. The ball hit the rim, rolled around and dropped through.
"You don't even have time to think when the ball comes to you like that," Johnson said. "All you want to do is put it right back up. That's a gift. That's something you have to take advantage of."
North Carolina called timeout to set up a final play, but the Tar Heels were unable to get off a shot before time expired, setting off a raucous celebration by the Cougars and several thousand of their fans who made the four-hour ride to Charlotte.
"We've had a real nice core group of people who have believed in us for years, and they're really been like a sixth man to us," Johnson said. "It was nice to be able to pay them back with something like this."
Brendan Haywood, North Carolina's 7-foot sophomore, was outplayed by a shorter opponent for the second consecutive game and fouled out with four minutes left, clearing the way for Charleston to make a final push.
Carl Thomas led the Cougars with 20 points and Webber had 13. Jody Lumpkin, the Cougars' 6-foot-8 center, wound up with nine points, nine rebounds and three assists.
North Carolina also got 15 points from Ademola Okulaja, 13 from Kris Lang and 12 from Haywood.
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