PENSACOLA, Fla. –
Vince Cole scored a game-high 17 points and
Rudi Williams added 14, but it was not enough as Coastal Carolina fell to Georgia Southern 70-64 Thursday night at the 2022 Hercules Tires Sun Belt Conference Championship in Pensacola, Fla., dropping to 16-13 on the season.
The Chanticleers entered the Championship as the seventh seed and Georgia Southern was the 10th seed, but the Eagles built as much as a 14-point (40-26) lead with 18:50 left to go in the game, before a 13-1 run over the next five minutes cut the Coastal's deficit to 43-42, but the Chants could get no closer.
CCU only shot 37.9 (22-58) percent from the field and an even worse 35.7 (5-14) percent on their three-point attempts. The Chants hurt their chances further at the free throw line where they were 15-25 for 60.0 percent.
Ebrima Dibba scored 13 points with eight rebounds, and
Essam Mostafa completed his 12th double-double of the year with 10 points and a game-high15 rebounds as CCU outrebounded the Eagles 41-35.
Elijah McCadden led the Eagles with 15 points, but it was Georgia Sothern's bench scoring that made the difference. Andrei Savrasov came off the bench to score 12 and Kamari Brown also added 10 points off the bench.
Georgia Southern moved to 13-15 on the season and the victory was the Eagles' first win in three attempts verses the Chanticleers this season. The Eagles shot 47.2 percent from the field (25-53), and that includes knocking down nine three-point field goals. GS entered the game averaging just 5.7 three-point field goals per game.
McCadden had nine points and Savrasov added seven as the Eagles took a 34-24 lead into the locker room at halftime. GS shot 45.2 percent from the field and added four three-point field goals in building the 10-point lead.
CCU came out cold and shot only 31.4 percent from the field led by Mostafa's six points. Williams and Dibba added five each. CCU had 23 rebounds compared to 22 for the Eagles in the first 20 minutes, but missed all three of their free throw attempts.
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 goccusports.com.
