Feb. 25, 2010

Final Stats

CONWAY, S.C. - Coastal Carolina University's men's basketball team captured the 2010 Big South Conference regular season crown and the No. 1 seed in next week's Advance Auto Parts Big South Conference Championship with a 71-48 win over visiting Liberty, Feb. 25. Coupled with High Point's win over Winthrop, the Chanticleers earned the outright title, their first since 1991. With the victory, Coastal moved to 25-5 on the year and 14-3 in league play, while the Flames fell to 14-15 and 9-8 in the conference. The wins also broke school records for single-season wins and single-season Big South victories.

Coastal opened on a 7-0 run in the first three minutes, spurred by five from redshirt-senior Logan Johnson, to take a lead it would never relinquish. The Flames cut into the lead and had it down to five at 11-6, but a 15-1 surge pushed the Chant advantage to 26-7 with 5:29 to play in the first stanza. The lead eventually grew to 22 before Coastal Carolina entered the halftime locker room with a 34-15 halftime advantage.

Coastal shot 48.3 percent (14-for-29) in the first half, while the stifling defense limited Liberty to just 23.1 percent (6-for-26) from the floor in the first half, including 1-for-10 from the three-point arc.

The margin grew to as many as 25 early in the second half before the Flames started to make a push, whittling the lead down with 9-0 run to make it 43-27 with just over 12 minutes to play. It eventually dropped to a 14-point deficit at 48-34 before Coastal put on a quick 10-2 spurt over 2:51, six of it coming from senior Mario Edwards, to put it back to a 22-point lead with 6:49 remaining. Liberty would get no closer than 21 the rest of the way.

Coastal shot 41.0 percent (25-for-61) for the game while holding Liberty to just 32.7 percent (18-for-55) from the floor and just 21.1 percent (4-for-19) from the three-point arc. Coastal was also 16-for-25 at the charity stripe compared to Liberty's 8-for-20. The Chants forced 18 Flame miscues to just eight for Coastal and converted them into an 18-2 advantage in points off turnovers. LU did win the board battle by a slim 44-41 margin.

The Chants had four players in double figures, led by senior Edwards with a team-high 13 points, while freshman Kierre Greenwood and junior Chad Gray each chipped in 12. Senior Joseph Harris had 11 points and a team-high seven boards. For Liberty, Kyle Ohman was the only player in double figures with 13 while Patrick Konan had a game-high nine rebounds.

Coastal will honor its 2010 seniors this Saturday, Feb. 27, when it hosts VMI for Senior Day at 2 p.m. in Kimbel Arena. The Chanticleers will also host the quarterfinals at Kimbel Arena on March 2 against an opponent to be determined as well as the semifinals on March 4.