Conway, S.C. – Jordan Battle and Joshua Meo each scored 13 points as Coastal Carolina pulled away in the second half for a 73-51 win over USC Upstate a non-conference contest Saturday afternoon at the HTC Center.
 
Battle and Meo were joined in double-figure scoring by Noah Amenhauser, the Chants' 7'2" sophomore center, who had 12 points to go along with eight rebounds. But it was Rasheed Jones and Andre Mulibea who keyed a 23-4 run midway through the second half that allowed CCU to coast to the win, which lifted the Chants to 3-4 this season.
 
Jones had seven of the points in the run while Mulibea hit a pair of three-pointers that helped push Coastal's lead to a comfortable 65-44 with 5:30 remaining. Jones finished with seven points and Mulibea had nine. As a team, Coastal shot a season's best 68 percent (17-of-25) in the second half, while holding USC Upstate without a single made three-point field goal in the game (0-16). In fact, USC Upstate made only field goals in the last 16 minutes of action. Coastal outscored the visiting Spartans 44-25 in the second half.
 
"We talk about guarding the three-point line, and we want to really guard the guys who can shoot them well," said Coastal head coach Justin Gray after the game. "This was a good game for us because we preach defense."
 
USC Upstate, which lost its fourth game in a row, was led by Brit Harris, who had 12 points. The Spartans are now 2-8 on the season.
 
After a bit of a slow start, Coastal went on a 7-0 run to take an 11-8 lead when Naz Brown hit a foul line jumper midway through the first half. Another 7-0 run, finished with a dunk by Amenhauser, put Coastal in front by eight, at 26-18. The Chants' lead was still at eight before USC Upstate closed the first half by scoring the last five points, making the score 29-26 at the break.
 
Battle was the Chants' leading scorer through the first 20 minutes with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting. The rest of the team was just 8-of-24 from the field. Jones, the team's leading scorer at 13.5 points per game, went scoreless in the first half and was 0-of-4 from the field. But found the hot hand in the second half.
 
Coastal had 11 different players score points, and it was reserve forward Connor Martin who hit a three-pointer in the final minute to give the Chants' their largest lead of the game, at 73-51, with :40 remaining. But Martin wasn't the only one to score his first points of the season; Charles Dunlap also made his first bucket of the year with a jumper in the lane with a minute to go.
 
Coastal won the rebounding battle, 43-29, with Amenhauser and Mulibea each grabbing eight boards.
 
Coastal will now travel to play at Campbell (Dec. 4) and at Winthrop (Dec. 7) before returning to the HTC Center to host Southern Virginia at 7 p.m. on Dec. 11. The Chants only other home in December will be against Warner University at 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 29.
 
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