Winthrop Downs Coastal Carolina 68-49
1/31/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CONWAY, S.C. — Coastal Carolina University's poor shooting performance ended its three-game winning streak with a 68-49 Big South Conference men's basketball loss to Winthrop University on Thursday night in Kimbel Arena. Winthrop improves to 11-9 overall and moves into a tie at the top of the Conference with UNC Asheville at 6-2. Coastal falls to 5-14 overall and 2-5 in Big South play.
Coastal Carolina, which relied on improved shooting and fewer turnovers in its recent turnaround, connected on just 6-of-30 from the field in the opening 20 minutes for a shooting percentage of just 20 percent. The Chanticleers also committed 10 of their 19 turnovers in the first half.
The result of Coastal's cold hand from the field was a large Winthrop lead early into the contest. The Eagles slowly built its lead in the opening minutes and held a six-point advantage at 16-10 with 11:10 on the clock. Coastal's Alvin Green scored on a fastbreak layup to notch the Chanticleers 10th point, but it proved to be the last field goal the Chanticleers would score for a period of eight minutes and 20 seconds. While Coastal did connect for a couple of free throws during that time, Winthrop poured in 19 points to open a 35-12 lead on Tywan Harris' layup with 3:48 remaining in the first half. Clint Nagel ended the drought from the field with an offensive rebound and put-back with 2:50 to play. The Eagles went on to take a 39-17 lead at the break.
Coastal opened the second half with a 10-2 run as Derrick Robinson connected for five points during the stretch to close the gap to 27-41 just 2:42 into the second period. The Chanticleers would eventually close the gap to 13 points, but another Winthrop run pushed the lead to as many as 26 as the Eagles cruised to the victory.
Alex English, Jr., came off of the bench to lead Winthrop with 16 points, while Greg Lewis added a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Green paced Coastal with 14 points and tied his career-high with seven rebounds, all of which came in the game's first 18 minutes. Brandon Newby tallied 12 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds after coming off of the bench.
Coastal Carolina will travel to Lynchburg, Virginia, for a 7:30 p.m. meeting with the Liberty University Flames on Saturday. The Chanticleers will then complete their two-game Big South swing through Virginia with a 7:00 p.m. game at Radford University on Monday.
