Feb. 25, 2012

Box Score

LEXINGTON, Va. - Anthony Raffa scored a game-high 26 points as Coastal Carolina won its final regular season game 81-64 Saturday afternoon at Cameron Hall.

The Chanticleers (19-10, 12-6) used points from 10 different players to help defeat the Keydets (14-15, 8-10) for only their second home loss of the year.

VMI was held to its lowest shooting percentage of the year finishing 20-of-72 (27.8%) from the field including a 6-of-33 mark from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Coastal shot 52.6 percent from the field (30-of-57) and made 6-of-9 from beyond the arc.

Leading by two at the half, Coastal went on a 10-3 run to open the second period, building a nine-point advantage four minutes into the half. Coastal would extend its lead to 12, but it was short-lived as VMI would pull within five on a 7-0 run to put the score at the 56-51 with 10 minutes remaining. Coastal bounced back and finished the game on a 25-13 run for its fifth conference road win on the year.

The Chanticleers overcame an early six-point deficit to take their second lead of the game 19-18 with just under nine minutes to play in the first half. VMI regained the lead temporarily on a pair of free throws with 20 seconds remaining in the first half. Coastal followed with a 3-pointer from Raffa, who scored 12 of his 26 points before the half to take a 36-34 lead into the break.

The first half saw eight different lead changes and the score was tied seven times. Coastal's largest lead was five points while VMI had a six-point lead at the midway point of the first half.

Chris Gradnigo added 16 points and had a team-high nine rebounds. Kierre Greenwood added to his defensive resume holding the Keydets' leading scorer Kieth Gabriel to 2-of-16 from the field.

Coastal will have to wait for the outcome of Saturday night's game between Campbell and Liberty to determine its seeding for the conference tournament. A win by Liberty would give Coastal the number two seed and the Chants would play the winner of Radford vs. #7 seed (Monday night) on Wednesday at noon. A win by Campbell would hand the Chants the third seed and Coastal would then face the sixth seed at 2 p.m. The sixth seed has yet to be determined. All quarterfinal and semifinal games will be played at Asheville's Kimmel arena Feb. 29 and March 1.