CCU

Men's Basketball Falls at Radford, 93-82

       

Men's Basketball Falls at Radford, 93-82

Chanticleers drop Big South road opener to Highlanders

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CONWAY, S.C. - Coastal Carolina University’s men’s basketball team played its first Big South Conference road game of the season and dropped it at Radford, 93-82, Jan. 8. With the loss, CCU falls to 4-10 and 1-1 in the Big South, while Radford snaps a four-game losing streak and goes to 6-7 and 1-1 in league play.

Coastal trailed just once in the first half at 5-4, and was tied at seven all with the host Highlanders at the first media timeout. From there, the Chants went on a 14-6 run to take a 21-13 lead with 11:16 to go. Radford fought back with a 9-2 run of its own in the next 4:09 to cut the margin to one at 23-22. Radford got it within one tow other times, while Coastal pushed the margin back to six each time, eventually coming out with a 44-38 halftime advantage.

Coastal knocked down 56.7 percent of its shots from the floor in the first half, including 4-for-8 from the three-point arc. CCU committed just three turnovers and converted six Radford miscues into nine points. The 44 points by the Chanticleers were the second-most they have tallied in the first half this season. CCU was led by sophomore Moses Sonko (E. Greenwich, R.I./ Classical) with 12 points, including 6-for-8 from the field. RU was led by Chris Oliver with 10, while Reggie McIntyre had nine.

The Chanticleers went cold from the floor to start the second half, while Radford heated up , going on a 15-6 run to open the second half and take a 53-50 lead with less than five minutes gone. After several surges, Coastal did eventually take the lead at 62-59 with 10:01 to play in the game. However, that would be CCU’s last lead, as the Chants went scoreless for the next 4:13 and Radford took control with a 10-0 run to go up 69-62 and never trail again.

Coastal finished the game at 50.0 percent from the field, but were outshot by the Highlanders, who hit on 52.6 percent from the floor. Free throws were decisive in this game, as RU canned went 31-for-41 from the charity stripe, while Coastal was just 14-for-21. The 55 points given by CCU in the second half were the most this season. It was also Radford’s 15th consecutive regular season win over the Chanticleers and 14th consecutive win over CCU at the Dedmon Center, dating back to the 1990-91 season.

Sonko led CCU with 18 points, while junior Pele Paelay (Derwood, Md/Magruder) added 14 and freshman Jack Leasure (Rochester, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit) chipped in 13. Oliver led the Highlanders with 28 points, while Whit Holcomb-Faye scored 23 points on the night, 18 of them in the second half.

The Chants wrap up the two-game road trip, heading to Lexington, VA to take on VMI, Mon., Jan. 10 at 7 p.m.