TROY, Ala. – Vince Cole scored a game-high 21 points and Josh Uduje added 14, but it was not enough as Coastal Carolina University fell to Troy University 69-59 in men's basketball action Thursday evening at the Troy Arena.
 
Troy (11-5 / 2-1 Sun Belt) outscored CCU (9-6 / 1-2 Sun Belt) 19-6 to open the second half and the Chanticleers could not recover.
 
Neither team shot the ball extremely well, but CCU finished the game shooting 42 percent from the field to Troy's 40 percent. However, Troy beat the Chants on the boards, in turnovers, and steals. Troy grabbed 40 rebounds with 15 of those on the offensive end. Those rebounds led to 17 second-chance points.
 
CCU turned the ball over 18 times which led to 20 Troy points while the Chants could only muster six points off 12 Troy turnovers. The Trojans hit 10 of their 13 free throw attempts, and once again, CCU struggled from the line only hitting 12-of-22 shots from the charity stripe.
 
Essam Mostafa also reached double digits in scoring with 10 points, but only managed six rebounds, as he picked up two early fouls. Ebrima Dibba showed his passing ability with a game-high seven assists.
 
Troy's Efe Odigie and Zay Williams finished with 13 points each, while Duke Deen chipped in with 12 points of his own in the win.
 
The Chanticleers carried a 29-28 lead into the locker room at halftime behind 11 points from Uduje. CCU only shot 36.7 percent from the field in the opening half, as the Chanticleers struggled on their three-point attempts, hitting just one of their nine shots from behind the arc.
 
CCU's eight first-half turnovers led directly to eight Troy points, but the Chants did outrebound the home team 26-18 as Mostafa and Likayi had five each before the break.
 
Troy didn't shoot any better in the opening half, knocking down 32.4 percent of its shots, as Odigie led the Trojans with nine points.
 
CCU continues the current road trip with a game at South Alabama, Saturday, Jan. 8, at 4 p.m. ET.
 
The game can be heard on WRNN Hot Talk 99.5 FM. All links for both audio and video at ESPN+ along with live stats can be found at www.GoCCUSports.com.
 
For complete coverage of CCU men's basketball, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalMBB (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUSports.com.