PENSACOLA, Fla. – Jacob Meyer tallied a career-high 32 points as Coastal Carolina registered an 75-71 win over ULM at the Pensacola Bay Center on Tuesday night in Pensacola, Fla., in the opening game of the 2024 Hercules Tire Sun Belt Men's Championship.
Meyer scored his points on nine-of-15 shooting, including going four-of-five on his three-point attempts, while connecting on all 10 of his free throw attempts. He scored 16 of his points in the first half as the Chants built a 38-29 lead at the break.
ULM came out in the second half and put a lot of defensive pressure on the Chants and causing several turnovers that led to the Warhawks taking a 48-47 lead on two free throws from Makai Willis. ULM grabbed a 52-50 lead just a few minutes later, but the Chants went on a 13-5 run over the next six minutes and were able to hit enough free throws down the stretch to keep ULM from regaining the lead.
Meyer was the lone Chant to reach double-digits, but received plenty of help from Ian Granja who scored nine points on three three-point field goals and Kevin Easley added eight points. John Ojiako scored seven points and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds as the Chants moved to 9-21.
CCU finished the game shooting 52.8 percent (25-48) from the field and an impressive 62.5 percent (10-16) on its three-point attempts. Though Coastal slipped a bit at the free throw line only shooting 65.2 percent (15-23). CCU did hit seven of its final eight free throws to retain the lead down the stretch.
The Warhawks had a trio of double-digit scorers led by Tyreese Watson's 22 points. Tyreke Locure scored 12 and Nika Metskhvarishvili added 10 as ULM's season comes to an end with an 11-19 record.
With the win, the Chants move into the second round of the 2024 Hercules Tire Sun Belt Conference Championship to face Louisiana at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 7. The Chants faced the Ragin' Cajuns in the regular season back on Jan. 6 in Lafayette. A close game, in which the Cajuns were able to pull out an 85-77 win.
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.
