MADISON, Miss. – The Coastal Carolina University's men's golf team finished fifth after shooting a two-under 286 in Wednesday's final round at the Sun Belt Conference Championship at the Annandale Golf Club in Madison, Miss.
 
The Chants started the day tied for seventh and moved up two spots to finish just two strokes out of match play with a final score of 15-over 879 (303-290-286). The Chants third-round score was the third-best round of the day, and CCU used the par 5 holes to its advantage shooting nine-under on the long holes.
 
Freshman Jack Lee led the Chants with a sixth-place finish at even-par 216 (73-74-69). He ended the final round with consecutive birdies on holes 16, 17, and 18 to go three under for the round.
 
Lee finished the championship tied for second in par 3 scoring with a 3.00 scoring average, and tied for third in birdies with 13.
 
Seth Taylor finished his collegiate career with an even-par 72 in the third round and finished tied for 18th with a four-over 220 (75-73-72). Taylor finished the championship with 10 total birdies which was tied for the 10th most.
 
Trey Crenshaw also had a sub-par third round, shooting a two-under 70 in Wednesday's action to finish tied for 27th overall with a six-over 222 (76-76-70).
 
Owen Kim stepped into championship action on the final two days of the event and shot a three-over 147 during his two rounds of play, while Trace McDonald finished 49th with a 12-over 228 (79-71-78).
 
"Although we came up just short, I'm proud of the guys fighting back after a slow start the first round," head coach Jacob Wilner said. "Also want to thank our fifth-year seniors Garrett (Cooper) and Seth (Taylor) for all their contributions they made to Coastal Carolina men's golf. They are great players, but even better men."
 
The field remained crowded throughout the third round as only seven strokes separated teams three through 20.
 
Arkansas State did not relinquish the lead in Wednesday's third round and finished stroke play with a five-under 859 (288-281-290) and will be the No. 1 seed in Thursday's match play. ULM finished second with a six-over 870 (299-287-284), while Marshall (299-290-288) and Texas State (303-289-285) tied for third with a 13-over 877. Marshall and Texas State will join Arkansas State and Texas State in Thursday's match play round.
 
Following the Chants in sixth place was James Madison (+17, 881) and Georgia Southern finished seventh (+18, 882). Louisiana (+19, 883), Troy (+20, 884), and South Alabama (+23, 887) rounded out the top 10.
 
The rest of the field included Southern Miss (+29, 893), Appalachian State (+40, 904) and Old Dominion (+40, 904) tied for 12th, with Georgia State (+51, 915) completing the field.
 
For complete coverage of CCU men's golf, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalMGolf (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.