Andrew Goudelock always has the green light to shoot.
He’ll be in the spotlight on ESPN2 tonight when his College of Charleston team faces Wofford in the Southern Conference tournament championship beginning at 9 p.m. in McKenzie Arena.
Goudelock scored 31 points to lead the Cougars to a 63-58 win over Furman on Sunday night in a SoCon tournament semifinal.
“I’m going to keep playing within the team and take what the defense gives me,” said Goudelock, who shot 8-of-28 from the floor and 12-of-14 from the free-throw line. “When the big games come, I try to give it my best effort and not leave anything on the court.”
Jordan Miller led the Paladins (22-10) with 11 points, Amu Saaka had 10 points and nine rebounds.
“Jordan has been a star in the tournament and we had to guard him,” Charleston coach Bobby Cremins said. “But what a great game.”
Charleston started 2-of-15 from the floor and 0-of-6 from the arc, and the Cougars went almost eight minutes between field goals.
But they never trailed by more than more than three until Colin Reddick converted a three-point play with a second left in the half resulting in a 29-25 halftime lead for Furman.
Furman had two quick spurts that resulted in an 11-point edge in the second half. Saaka capped the second run with a high-flying dunk over Willis Hall who got an up-close look at Saaka’s waistband with more than 11 minutes to play.
“We were in serious trouble,” Cremins said. “Furman came in with a great game plan and took it to us.
“We just hung in there and never quit.”
Charleston responded with an 18-3 run to take a 55-51 lead as Furman went more than seven minutes with only three free throws. Charleston maintained at least a three-point lead the rest of the night.
“We turned it over a couple times, missed some shots and they made plays and got momentum,” Furman coach Jeff Jackson said. “They got going, they got some flow and we weren’t able to cut it off.”