Dec. 18, 2010

Box Score

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Kierre Greenwood hit a floater in the lane with 2.9 seconds left to play and Coastal Carolina escaped with a 59-58 win over East Carolina Saturday afternoon from the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

Coastal Carolina (9-2) trailed 53-50 with just over three minutes to play after Chad Wynn hit a pair of free throws for East Carolina. Greenwood answered on the other end with a jumper from the elbow to cut the lead to one with his first points of the game.

Mike Holmes drew an offensive foul on Darrius Morrow on the ensuing East Carolina possession to give the ball back to the Chanticleers. On the offensive end, Holmes was fouled in the act of shooting and hit both free throws to push Coastal in front 54-53 with 1:19 on the clock.

Robert Sampson put the Pirates ahead 56-54 on the following possession with a three-pointer at the top of the key for just his sixth trey of the season.

Chad Gray drew a foul on the other end for Coastal and hit the first shot to pull Coastal to within a point. Gray missed the second free throw, but Holmes knifed his way through the Pirate defense and pulled down the rebound and muscled up a putback to give the Chants their first lead since the 8:19 mark.

Corvonn Gaines responded with a layup to give East Carolina a 58-57 lead with 9.3 seconds left to play before Greenwood raced the length of the floor for the game-winning shot.

Gaines nearly hit a game-winning jumper from just inside half court, but his shot hit off the side of the rim at the buzzer.

Desmond Holloway scored a game-high 22 points and was 7-for-9 from the free throw line. Holmes finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and was 8-for-10 from the free throw line.

Jontae Sherrod led East Carolina with 19 points, six rebounds and three 3-pointers. Gaines added 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Coastal sprinted out to a 10-0 lead over the first 3:09 of the game on a pair of three-pointers from Holloway, a dunk from Gray and two free throws from Holmes as the Chants started the game 3-for-3 from the field.

The Chants went cold after the first three minutes and went 1-for-19 from the field over the next 15:15 and watched as East Carolina used a 23-7 run to take a 23-17 lead.

Dexter Moore hit a three-pointer form the wing to pull the Chants to within three points and halt a streak of 15 consecutive missed shots by Coastal.

Brandon Crawford scored four points over the final 1:29 of the first half to leave the Chants trailing 25-24 at intermission.

In the second half, the game was tied 11 times and neither team lead by more than five points.

Coastal ran its winning streak to seven games and has now won 13 straight games in the month of December.

Coastal returns to action Monday evening at 7 p.m. when the Chanticleers host Thomas More from Kimbel Arena.