CCU

Coastal Drops First Conference Game to Campbell, 70-65 in OT

Coastal drops first Big South road game since Feb. 11, 2010

       

Anthony Raffa had a team-high 18 points and three steals

Anthony Raffa had a team-high 18 points and three steals

Jan. 2, 2012

Box Score

BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Coastal Carolina committed a season-high 20 turnovers, dropping its first league game of the year to Campbell in overtime, 70-65 Monday night.

The loss was the first time since Feb. 11, 2010, at High Point that the Chanticleers have been defeated on the road in Big South Conference play. Coastal was tied for the Big South record with 11 consecutive road wins.

Coastal (10-4, 3-1) trailed by five points with 2:04 left in the game but a jumper by Chris Gradnigo pulled the Chants within three. After a Trey Freeman free throw pushed the Campbell lead to four, Gradnigo was sent to the line where he cut the deficit to two with 1:34 remaining. After each team turned it over, Anthony Raffa stole the ball at half court and made a layup to knot the game at 62 apiece with 26 seconds left. Campbell chose not to call a timeout and with four seconds left in regulation Darren White had a jumper blocked by Kierre Greenwood who grabbed the rebound as time expired.

After taking a one-point lead in overtime, the Chanticleers went 0-of-7 from the field as Campbell (9-6, 3-0) outscored Coastal 8-3 to break a five-game losing streak, remaining undefeated in the Big South.

CCU jumped out to an early 10-2 lead at the 15:00 mark of the first period. Coastal led 17-16 at the 10:25 mark but were held without a field goal for 6:45 as Campbell went on a 10-2 run including two of its four 3-pointers, to build a seven-point lead.

After leading by 10 at the half, Campbell built its largest lead of the game, 41-29 at the 17:31 mark of the second half. Coastal went on a 16-2 run, including eight straight points from Raffa to take its first lead since the 10:25 mark of the first half, 45-43. Coastal would lead 54-51 after Greenwood made a pair of free throws at the 7:18 mark.

Both teams struggled from long range with Campbell going 4-of-18 (22.2%) and Coastal finishing 4-of-17 (23.5%) from beyond the arc. After shooting 9-of-24 from the field in the first half, Coastal opened the half 11-of-15 (73.3%), finishing the half 14-of-22 (63.6%)

Each team had four players in double-figures led by Trey Freeman who scored a game-high 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Raffa led the Chanticleers with 18 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Danny Nieman led all players with a career-high nine rebounds while dishing out six assists without a turnover in 39 minutes.

The Chants blocked a season-high nine shots, including a career-high four from Jon Pack.

Coastal completes its three game road swing when they travel to Charleston Southern on Saturday, Jan. 7. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.