skip navigation

MEN’S BASKETBALL: Drexel Ends Regular Season With Comeback Victory Over Charleston, Prepares for CAA Tournament

By Nick Borowski, 03/01/22, 2:45PM EST

Share

By: NICK BOROWSKI

PHILADELPHA – Drexel University (15-13) welcomed College of Charleston (16-13) to the Daskalakis Athletic Center in a battle for the 5th seed in the Colonial Athletic Association. Despite going down 16 in the second half, Drexel came back and won 80-79.

Drexel guards Cam Wynter and Xavier Bell combined for 36 points to elevate the Dragons over Charleston.

Drexel head coach Zach Spiker played his five seniors Coletrane Washington, Matey Juric, Melik Martin, James Butler and Wynter to start the game. Unfortunately for the Dragons, Charleston started out hot hitting their first two shots, both by guard Dimitrius Underwood, and ended up taking an 8-4 lead into the under 16-minute timeout.

The teams went back and forth before Charleston eventually took a 22-14 lead. Drexel responded swiftly with a 6-0 run of their own with two points from Bell and four points from Wynter. The Dragons took that momentum into the under 8-minute timeout, but could not keep it going when getting back onto the floor.

Led by John Meeks and Underwood, Charleston outscored Drexel 20-11 in the final 7:47 of the half. Underwood and Meeks had seven of the team’s 20 points in that final stretch.

It was an unsettling end to the half from Drexel, but in that stretch checked in former Drexel walk on Luke House, a product of Archbishop Carroll High School, who was rewarded a scholarship on February 18th. House picked the pocket of Charleston guard Reyne Smith, leading to a media timeout and by the way the bench reacted, you would think he just made the game winning shot. Spiker noted what House brings to the team and the program.

Drexel vs. Charleston Highlights by Nick Borowski

“You watch practice, you get in the building early, he is getting work done… House guarded Reyne Smith, he got a deflection and dove on the floor, and the energy in the building changed. Everyone identifies with Luke House and appreciates how hard he works. I couldn’t keep going through and not finding some minutes for him,” said Spiker.

When the teams came back out for the second half, they began to trade baskets like they were earlier in the game, but every time it looked like Drexel had some momentum building up, Charleston crushed it and eventually took a 55-39 lead after Charleston guard Brandon Tucker took it coast to coast for an easy layup.

Drexel realized that if they were going to get back into this game, the time was now and responded with a quick 9-2 run to cut the lead down to nine, 57-50. After the under 12-minute timeout, Charleston responded with a 7-0 run of their own, ballooning the lead back to 15.

The resilience of Drexel has been noted after falling down big against Delaware and William & Mary, and battling back to make the games interesting in the end. But every time Drexel cut it to single digits, Charleston responded with a basket of their own. It wasn’t until a Butler basket at 5:27 remaining before the Dragons really started to make noise.

Drexel shot 7-7 in the following four minutes after huge baskets from Bell, Butler, Amari Williams, and Martin. But with 2:56 left in the game with Charleston leading 71-70, Charleston guard Dimitrius Underwood got fouled on a layup to bring the lead back to three. Underwood then missed the free throw but Charleston got the offensive rebound and Underwood got back to the rim and sunk another shot to put the lead at five.

That could have been demoralizing for the Dragons, instead, Williams and Butler each scored two points in 36 seconds to bring the score to 75-74, Charleston leading.

On the ensuing Charleston possession, Underwood missed a layup but Charleston got another offensive rebound from Brendan Tucker who ended up scoring to put the lead at 77-74, Charleston.

With 30 seconds to go, Wynter got fouled and hit both of his free throws, bringing it back to a one point game, 77-76. With no shot clock left, Drexel was forced to foul Tucker who also hit both of his free throws. With the lead at 79-76, Drexel went for a three, but Washington missed it. Luckily for the Dragons, Martin was working the offensive glass and he kicked it back out to Washington who pump faked and got fouled.

Shooting a one-and-one, Washington and the Dragons needed these free throws and he delivered bringing the score to 79-78. With 13 seconds to go, Drexel fouled Charleston’s leading scorer on the day, Dimitrius Underwood.

The whole crowd was cheering, trying to distract Underwood to make him miss the free throw and it worked. With just 13 seconds left, Wynter pushed the ball down the court into the near wing where Williams set a screen and faded to the post where he was wide open due to a miscommunication on defense and he slammed it home with just 1.7 seconds remaining.

Charleston called timeout, but the game was definitively over when Charleston’s inbounds pass went off Tucker’s and hands out of bounds.

“Honestly at the end of the game we thought they were going to give us one. Our strategy was to drive the ball or find our open shooters. Amari slipped to the rim and I gave it to him,” said Wynter when describing the final sequence.

Drexel head coach Zach Spiker opened with compliments to Charleston in his post press conference.

“It starts with their physicality, every position. They are like Noah’s Arch. They have two of everything. Big, long, athletic guys that get to the rim… They are a really talented team,” said Spiker.

This was Drexel’s final game of the regular season and will go into the CAA Tournament as the No. 5 seed, taking on Delaware (19-11) on March 6 at 2:30 p.m.