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Arlington, Texas - The Coastal Carolina men's basketball team opened up its first season as a member of the Sun Belt Conference and it was not the start the Chanticleers were looking for in a 90-69 loss at Texas Arlington.

The preseason pick to win the conference broke open a game that was even at halftime by shooting 57 percent in the second half and cruising to the 21-point win.

Six Mavericks (11-3, 1-0 SBC) scored in double digits led by Kevin Hervey's 16 points. Erick Neall scored 13, Drew Charles added 12, Kaelon Wilson 11 and Jorge Bilbao and Nathan Hawkins added 10 each.

Colton Ray-St Cyr led the Chants with a career-high 22 points. He hit seven of his 13 field goal attempts including five-of-nine from beyond the three point line. He also led CCU on the boards with seven rebounds.

Jaylen Shaw also registered double digits with 18 points and also added seven assists and five rebounds.

CCU (5-9, 0-1 SBC) shot 41 percent for the game and hit 35 percent on its threes. The Chants knocked down eight of its 10 free throws.

17 turnovers were a major problem for CCU as those turnovers led to 18 UTA points. The home team also scored 23 second chance points as 14 of its 41 rebounds were on the offensive end.

The opening 20 minutes saw the team's battle to a 35-all tie heading into the locker room.

Ray-St Cyr led the Chants with 14 first-half points on four-of-seven shooting. Shaw had seven as CCU shot 41 percent in the opening half, including hitting eight of their 19 three point attempts for 42 percent.

Charles came off the bench to nail three treys and led the Mavericks in scoring with nine points. Hervey had eight and Neal had seven as the hosts shot 32 percent from the field. They hit seven of their 21 three point field goals for 33 percent.

The Chants will continue the opening Sun Belt Conference weekend Monday when they travel to San Marcos to face Texas State. Game time is 7 p.m. (CT).