Box Score Jan. 4, 2010
Final Stats
CONWAY, S.C. - The Coastal Carolina University men's basketball team (14-2, 4-0 Big South) won its 10th game in a row and Head Coach Cliff Ellis picked up his 650th career win in a 76-62 win over Presbyterian College (2-14, 0-4 Big South) Jan. 4 in Conway, S.C.
The first half was tight throughout, with five ties and 12 lead changes. The largest lead in the first half was 20-15 in favor of Presbyterian at 9:22 on a layup from Chase Holmes. The Chants would eventually tie the game at 22 at 6:46 on a Chad Gray jumper and take the lead on a layup from Mario Edwards at 6:06. Presbyterian would answer with a Zach Faircloth three at 4:08, giving the Blue Hose a 27-24 lead. Coastal would end the half on a 6-2 run, as back-to-back dunks from Logan Johnson and Sam McLaurin gave the Chants a 33-31 lead at the break.
Joseph Harris, Johnson and Danny Nieman had eight points apiece for the Chants in the first half. Edwards added seven first-half rebounds. For PC, Holmes had 10 points and Jake Troyli added eight. Coastal shot 48.3 percent (14-of-29) from the floor in the first half, while the Blue Hose were at 50 percent (14-of-28) from the field.
The game would be tied on three different occasions in the second half, the last at 38-all on PC's Travis Smith's jumper at 17:37. Coastal answered that with an 8-0 run that was fueled by six points from Kierre Greenwood. Greenwood then hit a three at 14:02 for a 48-40 lead with 13:44 left. PC would cut the lead to 50-47 at 12:42 on another Faircloth three, but the Chants would go on a 12-4 run, capped by a Johnson layup at 5:30 for a 62-51 lead. Coastal would lead by as much as 16 points in the final two minutes for its fourth Big South win of the season.
Johnson led five Chants in double figures with 16 points. Nieman had 14, while Gray and Greenwood had 13 apiece. Harris chipped in with 10 points. Mario Edwards had six points and eight rebounds, while Greenwood dished out four assists and had four steals.
For Presbyterian, Holmes ended the game with 15 points to lead four players in double figures in scoring. Khalid Mutakabbir had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Coastal had seven blocked shots on the night, with McLaurin and Gray having three and two rejections, respectively.
The Chants shot a blistering 60.7 percent in the second half and were at 54.4 percent in the game. They also outrebounded PC 36-28. The Blue Hose were at 44.8 percent shooting in the game.
In total, there were 14 lead changes in the contest.
Ellis now moves his overall coaching record to 650-386. He also has 572 win as a Division I head coach, which is 11th among active head coaches.
Coastal Carolina will head to Asheville, N.C., to take on UNC Asheville Thursday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m. Presbyterian hosts Liberty the same night at 7 p.m.
