Jan. 7, 2012

Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Kierre Greenwood scored a season-high 16 points which included a 3-pointer with 23 seconds remaining in the overtime period to give Coastal Carolina a 80-77 victory over Charleston Southern Saturday night at Buccaneer Field House.

After trailing by nine in the first half, Coastal took its largest lead of the game, 67-61, with 1:53 remaining in the second half on a layup by Anthony Raffa. After a CSU basket, Raffa hit a pair of free throws to put the Chants back up by six with 1:01 left in regulation. Muo Mathiang hit a pair of free throws and a jumper after a Coastal turnover to cut the score to 69-67 with 51 seconds left. A foul by the Bucs with 19.9 seconds left put Greenwood at the line where he connected on one of two free throws to put Coastal up 70-67. Following a timeout from Charleston Southern, Arlon Harper nailed a game-tying 3-pointer with 5.3 seconds on the clock. Greenwood missed a shot at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

In the overtime period, Greenwood scored the first basket to put the Chants up 72-70. Harper hit another trey and Saah Nimley connected on a jumper to erase the Coastal lead, putting the Bucs up 75-72 with 4:04 remaining in the game. Raffa would cut the deficit to one but Mathiang answered back with a layup with 2:55 left. Another Raffa layup and a missed field goal by CSU gave Coastal the ball trailing by one. The Chants would grab an offensive rebound with less than a minute remaining and with the shot clock winding down, Greenwood made the eventual game winner on his only 3-point attempt of the night.

Coastal improved to 11-4 on the year while pushing its Big South mark to 4-1. The Chants move to 1-1 in overtime games, dropping its previous OT game at Campbell on Monday.

With Coastal leading 9-7 at the 13:20 mark of the first half, Charleston Southern went on a 13-2 run over the next 6:11. The Bucs held the Chanticleers without a field goal for almost six minutes during their run to take a 20-11 lead. Chris Gradnigo's jumper broke the drought with 7:09 remaining in the first stanza. Trailing by nine points with 8:34 remaining in the period, Coastal cut the halftime deficit to one. The Chants finished the half on a 14-6 run as they held Charleston Southern scoreless over the last 4:34.

Coastal overcame 18 turnovers by shooting 53.3 percent (32-of-60) from the field and 6-of-12 from long range while holding Charleston Southern to 40.6 percent (28-of-69) from inside the arc and 7-of-24 (29.2 percent) from three.

Sam McLaurin had a game-high 12 rebounds along with 12 points, giving him his team-leading fourth double-double of the year.

Raffa finished 8-of-13 from the field and 5-of-6 from the line for a game-high 23 points including a key steal that led to an overtime layup. Gradnigo came off the bench and added 17 points and seven rebounds in 28 minutes.

Neither team led by more six in the second half as the lead changed nine times that included 10 ties during the second period.

After three straight road games the Chanticleers return to Conway to face Gardner-Webb on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 7 p.m.

CHANTICLEER CALL-IN SHOW

The Coastal Carolina Department of Athletics is proud to announce a new partnership, time and location for the Chanticleer Call-In Show, featuring head men's basketball coach Cliff Ellis and the Voice of the Chanticleers Matt Hogue.

Beginning Monday, Jan. 9, Chanticleer Call-In will broadcast live from 6-7 p.m. at Buffalo Wild Wings in Carolina Forest.

In addition to having the opportunity to interact with Coach Ellis, each men's basketball season ticket account holders will receive five (5) free wings for attending the show. Buffalo Wild Wings will also offer specials for Chanticleer fans during each Chanticleer Call-In broadcast.

For those who may not be able to attend in person, Chanticleer Call-In can be heard locally on ESPN "The Team" (93.9 FM) or world-wide via GoCCUSports.com at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/coastal.portal#.

There will be a total of five Chanticleer Call-In Shows with Coach Ellis, beginning Jan. 9. The remainder of the shows - all of which are on Mondays and set from 6-7 p.m. - are scheduled for Jan. 23, Feb. 6, Feb. 20 and Feb. 27.