CCU

Green Perfect in CCU's 74-67 Victory

           

Green Perfect in CCU's 74-67 Victory

CONWAY, S.C. — Coastal Carolina University's Alvin Green connected on all eight of his shots from the field and each of his four free throws to lead the Chanticleers to a 74-67 victory over Birmingham-Southern College Saturday night at Kimbel Arena. Coastal improves to 3-13 overall, while the Panthers fall to 8-9.

After four lead changes and five ties in the opening six minutes of play, Coastal Carolina took control of the game and appeared ready to walk out of Kimbel Arena with an easy victory. Trailing 11-10 with 15:25 to play, the Chanticleers went on a 17-6 run to open an 11-point advantage on Green's 3-pointer with 6:07 on the clock. Coastal went on to build its biggest lead of the contest of 15 points on Kelvin Coggins' trey with 3:47 to play. Birmingham-Southern's Michael Anspach scored on a put-back just before the buzzer to close the gap to 41-29 heading into the locker room.

Birmingham-Southern, which will begin play as a full member of the Big South Conference in 2003, scored a quick 8-2 spurt in the first 3:44 of the second half to pull to within six points. Behind Brandon Newby's seven points and Antonio Darden's dunk with 11:56 remaining, Coastal quickly responded with a 14-5 run of its own to take a 57-42 lead.

It was then the Birmingham-Southern's turn for a run as the Panthers quickly closed the gap to just two points with a 14-1 run. T.R. Reed tallied seven of his 21 points during this stretch and capped it with a layup to make the score 58-56 with 7:15 remaining.
Coastal Carolina maintained the lead as the squad traded buckets. With Coastal leading 62-60, a power outage in Kimbel Arena caused almost a 12-minute delay. The game resumed with the squad's trading baskets, but Birmingham-Southern could never get over the top. Coastal connected on all six of its free throws in the final 36 seconds to hold on for the victory.

Green led all scorers with 22 points, while Darden and Newby added 13 points each. Coastal connected on 49 percent from the floor for the game and turned the ball over a season-low eight times.

Anspach posted a double-double for Birmingham-Southern with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Rashard Willie, who hit 8-of-10 from the free throw line, tallied 14 points. Coastal Carolina forced the Panthers into 18 turnovers.

The Chanticleers will host Big South Conference foe UNC Asheville on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. in Kimbel Arena to cap their four-game homestand. Birmingham-Southern will travel down the South Carolina coast to play Charleston Southern at 4:00 p.m. on Monday.