It was Matt Sundberg’s night for the Charleston Cougars as he scored a career-high 17 points to give Charleston an 86-74 victory over the Chattanooga Mocs on Thursday.

The 6-8 sophomore brought the 4,015 crowd at the Carolina First Arena to their feet as he shot 50 percent from the field, including 5-for-9 from behind the arc. To him, the game was all in good fun.

“It was really exciting. I was just shooting and letting it fly. I just kept shooting,” said Sundberg, who also finished with a career-high five rebounds. His five 3-pointers were also a career-high.

But it took more than just Sundberg’s performance for the College to hold onto this game. The Cougars went into halftime with a 29-point lead but let the Mocs cut that margin to as few as 10 points during the second half.

Coach Bobby Cremins, whose team advanced to 10-2 in the Southern Conference and 15-8 overall, said he’ll have to review the game tape to see where his team fell apart.

“We just stopped defending. We gave up three in transition. We worked all week on their transition,” Cremins said. “We did a great job for a good 25 to 30 minutes. Then it seemed to collapse.”

Four minutes into the second half, the Mocs went on a 16-0 run, bringing the score to 59-46. Chattanooga finally cut the score to 10 points at 69-59 before Sundberg connected for a 3-pointer.

Jeremy Simmons, who returned after missing four games with a knee injury, followed up with back-to-back buckets that kept the College in control. Simmons finished with 10 points and nine rebounds and said after the game that his knee feels fine.

“It just felt good to be back on the court with the teammates. I was having fun out there,” Simmons said. “There’s no soreness or anything. I think I’m 100 percent.”

From Simmons’ baskets to Sundberg’s third 3-pointer in three minutes, Charleston then held at least an 11-point lead for the remainder of the game.

The Cougars had gone 2-2 without Simmons in the lineup, but it also gave Cremins an opportunity to learn about Sundberg.

“I’ve said this when Simmons was out, we learn about our players. We know Sundberg’s our most experienced sub. One thing we learned last year was that he can shoot,” Cremins said. “Now we gotta figure out how to utilize that weapon. We gotta figure out how to get him in the mix because the son of a gun can shoot.”

Charleston had been down for six minutes at the start of the game, but Andrew Goudelock gave Charleston a quick 12-10 lead with a wide open 3-pointer at the top of the key.

After Chattanooga tied the game with a pair of free throws, Goudelock hit another 3-pointer, sparking a Charleston 31-12 run that ended at halftime with a 43-24 lead. Goudelock finished with 17 points.

Tony White, Jr. led the Cougs in scoring with 19 points and Donavan Monroe was the fifth player to score in double figures with 10 points.

The balance in shooting gave Goudelock an enjoyable night.

“It’s fun. Whenever you’re on a team where all your teammates are fun to be around,” Goudelock said. “Tonight it was Matt. I was happy to see Matt hitting those big shots. We’re not a selfish team at all. It’s become second nature.”

The Mocs had four players in double-figures, but their combined 46 points were not enough to keep pace with Charleston. With the loss, Chattanooga falls to 4-6 in the conference and 13-11 overall.

DeAntre Jefferson led the Mocs with 13 points and shot 6-of-8 from the field. He also finished with a team-high 7 rebounds.

Mocs’ coach John Shulman said it was frustrating to watch his team play against Charleston’s three-guard set-up.

“Why are they tough to guard? Those guys can break you down. You can’t guard them. Every one of them is so good offensively. They’re a pain in the tail to guard,” Shulman said. “We came down here with a mindset. We were god-awful. You gotta be on you’re A game to beat them. We give them all the credit.”

Charleston will now host Samford on Saturday at 4 p.m. Charleston won the last game on January 14 at Samford. 

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