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Men's Hoops Wraps Up Regular Season Hosting Rival Winthrop

       

Men's Hoops Wraps Up Regular Season Hosting Rival Winthrop

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COASTAL CAROLINA UNIVERSITY MEN'S BASKETBALL

CHANTICLEERS vs. EAGLES

Coastal Carolina's Kimbel Arena (1,039) ~ Conway, South Carolina
Saturday, February 24, 2007 ~ 2 p.m.
www.GoCCUSports.com

WRAPPING UP THE REGULAR SEASON AT HOME: Coastal Carolina plays the finale of a three-game homestand to conclude the regular season, taking on two-time defending champion Winthrop in Kimbel Arena. CCU opened these three games at home with an 83-66 win over Canisius, Feb. 17, in O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters but lost a key Big South Conference game to UNC Asheville, 82-77, Feb. 22.

HONORING THE SENIORS: The Chanticleer men’s basketball program will honor senior forwards Moses Sonko and Adrian Gross, along with senior manager DeKotie Kimble, in a pre-game ceremony prior to their final regular-season game at Kimbel Arena.

THE COACHES: Coastal Carolina Head Coach Buzz Peterson (North Carolina, '86) is in his second season at the helm of the Chanticleers with a 35-23 record and holds a 201-131 overall coaching record in 10-plus seasons. Last season, Coastal posted a 20-10 mark, including 12-4 in Big South Conference play, falling in the Big South Tournament Championship game.

Gregg Marshall (Randolph-Macon, ’85) is in his ninth season at Winthrop with a 189-82 record at WU and as a head coach overall. Last season, Winthrop was 23-8 overall and 13-3 in the Big South, winning the regular season and tournament titles. The Eagles return four starters and eight letterwinners from last year's squad.

SERIES HISTORY: This is the 63rd meeting all-time between Coastal and Winthrop, with the Chanticleers holding a 33-29 advantage.That mark includes the Chanticleers ending Winthrop's 23-game home winning streak last season with a 64-57 victory in the Winthrop Coliseum, Jan. 24, 2006. However, WU took the final meeting last year, getting a last-second 51-50 win in the Advance Auto Parts Big South Conference Championship game in the Winthrop Coliseum, Mar. 4.

This is a series dominated by homecourt advantage, with Coastal holding an 21-9 lead at Kimbel Arena, including CCU winning three of the last four at home. WU won this season's previous thriller, 65-63, Jan. 27 on SportSouth and this game will also be televised on SportSouth. The last time these two teams met on television at Kimbel Arena, ESPN2 had the broadcast with the Chanticleers coming out on the winning side, 72-66, Feb. 8, 2003. (Recaps and box scores of this year's previous game and all three of last year's meetings are available on pages 9 and 10.)

PETERSON AGAINST THE EAGLES: This will be the seventh time that CCU head coach Buzz Peterson has faced the Winthrop Eagles as a head coach. While at Appalachian State, Peterson's team defeated Winthrop in Rock Hill in 1997-98 by a score of 77-63, and 74-53 in Boone in 1998-99 (WU head coach Gregg Marshall's first season at Winthrop). Peterson is now 2-2 at Coastal against the Eagles and 4-2 as a head coach overall.

CLOSING IN ON TOURNAMENT TIME: With the win at Liberty Feb. 12 and UNC Asheville's loss to High Point Feb. 14, the Chanticleers have secured a home game for the opening round of 2007 Advance Auto Parts Big South Championship, Tue., Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. If CCU wins today or Liberty loses, the Chanticleers will also lock up the No. 3 seed in the tournament. The two possible opponents for the first round games are UNC Asheville and VMI, depending on the outcome of their games, as well as Coastal and Liberty.

LAST TIME OUT - A DIFFICULT BIG SOUTH LOSS TO UNC ASHEVILLE: Coastal Carolina's men's basketball squad squandered an eight-point halftime lead and lost the Big South Conference game to visiting UNC Asheville, 82-77, Feb. 22. With the loss, the Chanticleers fell to 15-13 and 7-6 in the Big South, while the Bulldogs advanced to 10-18 and 5-8 in the league.

The teams exchanged early baskets with the game tied at six early in the game. Coastal scored the next five points on a three by senior forward Moses Sonko and a jumper from sophomore forward Joseph Harris to take an 11-6 lead. with 15:34 to go in the first. UNCA came back to tie the game at 21 all but a 12-1 run over the next 3:21 gave CCU a 33-22 lead with just over two minutes to fo in the first. The Bulldogs did manage to trim the lead to just eight at 35-27 at the halftime break.

CCU held an eight-point lead two-and-a-half minutes into the second half at 41-33, but UNCA got hot from the floor, going on a 13-2 run to take a 46-43 lead with 13:20 to go. Coastal came back to take a brief lead at 52-51 with 11 minutes remaining, but a 9-0 run gave the visiting Bulldogs the lead for good at 60-52. Coastal did get to within two twice in the late minutes, but UNC Asheville, who hit 76.9 percent from the field in the second half, hit the shots in the late going for the win.

Coastal shot 46.8 percent (29-for-62) for the game, but UNCA was hot, knocking down 60.4 percent (32-for-53) of its shots from the floor, including 6-for-9 from the three-point arc. The Bulldogs won the battle of the boards 33-28, including outscoring CCU 14-6 in second chance points. Coastal committed only eight turnovers but they were costly, turning into 14 UNCA points.

Sonko led all scorers with a career-high 27 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the floor and 8-for-9 from the free throw line. Freshman guard Joshua Mack and junior guard Jack Leasure each added 16 points. UNCA had five in double figures, paced by 18 from junior guard K.J. Garland. Junior forward Vincent James had 15, while sophomore center Kenny George added 12 points off the bench on 6-of-7 shooting from the field.

KIMBEL HAS ITS ADVANTAGES: Coastal Carolina's Kimbel Arena may seat just over 1,000 fans, but it had been large for the Chanticleers the previous two seasons. Coastal is now 25-3 since the start of the 2002-03 season in non-conference games at Kimbel. CCU had a stellar 14-1 record at home last year, the most home victories since the program went Division I for the 1985-86 season. CCU is also 51-17 (75.0 percent) overall at the Conway campus venue in the last four-plus years, including a staggering 26-3 under current coach Buzz Peterson.

SCHEDULE CHANGE FOR SPORTSOUTH: The Coastal Carolina-Winthrop clash at Kimbel Arena, Sat., Feb. 24, has been moved from 4:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. to allow SportSouth to televise the game. As part of that schedule change, the Coastal Carolina-High Point women's basketball game has been moved back to 5 p.m.

BIG SOUTH ACTION AT KIMBEL: In nine conference games against league foes at CCU’s Kimbel Arena last year, the Chanticleers posted eight victories, including wins over two-time defending champion Winthrop. In fact, Coastal had won 15 straight games on the Conway floor, including eight straight against conference opponents, prior to the defeat by High Point, Jan. 22. Under current head coach Buzz Peterson, CCU is 13-3 against league foes at "The Coop".

SEVERAL KEYS IN COASTAL WINS: There are several important factors for Coastal to be victorious. The Chants are 13-2 when leading at the intermission and 14-1 when ahead with five minutes to play in the game. CCU is 13-3 when holding opponents to less than 70 points in a game and 12-6 when shooting better than 45 percent from the floor. Additionally, Coastal is 12-3 when shooting more free throws than their opponents and 9-3 when outrebounding their foes.

RANKING NATIONALLY: Coastal ranks in the top 75 in several national categories as a team, as of Feb. 18. CCU is 19th in steals at 9.4 per game and 20th nationally in assists at 16.9 per game. Coastal also ranks 62nd in scoring offense (74.9 ppg).

Individually, junior guard Jack Leasure ranks 20th in three-pointers per game (3.2) and 64th in three-point field goal percentage (39.0 percent). Senior forward Moses Sonko is 37th in field goal percentage at 55.7 percent, while sophomore forward Joseph Harris is 79th with 7.8 rebounds a contest. Freshman guard Joshua Mack ranks 82nd in three-point field goal percentage at 37.8 percent.

WINNING THE BATTLE OF THE BOARDS: During Coastal's 15 wins, one of the keys for the Chanticleers was the rebounding battle. Coastal has dominated on the glass, outrebounding opponents by a combined margin of 517-428, an average of 5.9 more boards per game than its opponents. However in the 13 losses, the Chanticleers have not won the board battle, losing nine and tying one with an average margin against of 5.6 rebounds a game.

LEASURE THE NEW KING OF DOWNTOWN: The three-point arc has been the domain of junior guard Jack Leasure since his arrival at Coastal for the 2004-05 season and that legend grew to new heights this season. In the win over VMI, Feb. 3, Leasure hit seven threes (the second highest total in his career and fifth best in school history) and became the Coastal career three-pointer leader. Leasure surpassed KeKe Hicks (1993-95) with 275 triples and now has 299 three-pointers in his three years, moving up to third and recently passing Mark Mocnik of Campbell (1988-93) with 295 in fourth and UNC Asheville's Josh Kohn (1992-96) with 296. He now only trails Doug Day (1989-93) of Radford with 401 and Scott Hartzell (1992-96) of UNC Greensboro with 309.

LEASURE GETTING BACK IN HIS ZONE: After ending the 2005-06 season ranked second in the nation in three-pointers at 4.2 per game, junior Jack Leasure opened the season with no treys in the loss against Xavier. However, Leasure made up for that with flying colors in the 83-63 loss to Campbell. He led all scorers by hitting five from behind the arc and finishing the game with 19 points. He now has 89 three pointers in 28 games, an average of 3.1 per contest. For his career, Leasure has knocked down 299 three pointers in his career and became Coastal's all-time leader in the category. Leasure took the record when he hit seven against VMI Feb. 3 and passed KeKe Hicks (1993-96) with 275.

Leasure had his best game of the season in the win over VMI, Feb. 3, as the guard scored a season-high 28 points, including going 7-for-13 from the three-point arc, and adding six rebounds and six assists. He leads the team and ranks seventh in the league in scoring at 15.8 points per game. He is also third in three-point field goal percentage (.387), third in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.89), second in three pointers made (3.18/g) and ninth in assists (3.57/g).

"JACKING" IT UP IN THE LAST NINE: And we aren't talking about poor shot selections by junior guard Jack Leasure in his last nine games. After going through a minor slump, Leasure has come out shooting the ball effectively for Coastal recently, scoring 19.6 points per game, hitting 48.8 percent (60-for-123) of his shots from the field, including 45.6 percent (31-for-68) beyond the three-point arc. He has also shot 25-for-32 (78.1 percent) at the charity stripe and added 26 rebounds, 34 assists and 12 steals in those nine games.

SONKO MAKES HISTORY IN THREE WAYS: Senior forward Moses Sonko has made his mark on both the Coastal Carolina and Big South Conference career record books this season. In the win against Liberty, Jan. 20, Sonko reached the 500 career rebound plateau, just the 39th player in league history to ever reach that. Then at Winthrop, Jan. 27, Sonko tallied 12 points to become the 15th member of CCU's 1,000-Point Club and the 31st ever member (and fourth from CCU) of the elite Big South group that have 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in their career. He currently has 1,139 career points (currently 13th on the Coastal career scoring chart) and 571 career rebounds (seventh at CCU).

MOVING UP THE SCORING RANKS: With his two free throws in the closing seconds of the win over Wright State, Nov. 19, junior Jack Leasure became the 14th member of CCU’s 1000-Point Club, accomplishing the feat in just two years and three games. He currently ranks seventh on Coastal's all-time scoring chart and 31st on the Big South list with 1,398 points, recently surpassing Howard White (1975-76) at 1,321. Next up on CCU's career list in sixth is William Calvin (1985-88) with 1,465 career points.

SONKO PARTING THE DEFENSE: And that is exactly what senior forward Moses Sonko has been doing on the offensive end of the floor for Coastal. After averaging 11.7 points a game last year, Sonko has stepped up and increased his scoring to 15.5 points per game, ranking second on the squad and ninth in the conference, while currently in sixth in the league with 7.1 rebounds per contest. Sonko has also tallied a career-best eight double-doubles this season, including his most recent of 25 points and 12 rebounds in the home win over Radford, Feb. 5, his second consecutive double-double.

HARRIS DOUBLES UP AGAIN: Sophomore Joseph Harris earned his seventh double-double of the season and ninth of his career after scoring 12 points and grabbing 15 rebounds against High Point, Jan. 22.

Harris posted a pair of double-doubles in the win over Liberty, Jan. 20 with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and at VMI, Jan. 15, as he had a career-best and team season-best 31 points to go with 11 boards at VMI, Jan. 15. The two-game effort earned him Big South Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career. He had a streak of three straight games with double-doubles earlier in the season -- Campbell (14 pts., 13 reb.), Wright State (12 pts., 13 reb.) and Asbury (17 pts., 11 reb.)

He currently leads the team and is fifth in the Big South at 7.6 boards per contest and ranks fourth the squad at 8.3 points per game. He has improved those averages by going higher in league play with 9.8 points and 8.2 rebounds in 13 conference games. He has at least shared for team-high honors in rebounding in 18 of the 28 Coastal games this year.

J-MONEY: Junior Jack Leasure has been clutch from the three-point line in the past, but his most notable performance comes from the free-throw line. Leasure is an impressive 50-for-59 (84.7 percent) thus far on the season. Leasure has been good at the three-point arc as well, as he has hit 89 three-pointers in the 28 games.

LEADING THE WAY: Leaders often do the little things that don't show up in the stats. However with junior Jack Leasure, senior Moses Sonko and sophomore Joseph Harris, when they show up as leaders in the stats, in normally means good things for the Chanticleers. Over the last 58 games, Leasure has led Coastal in scoring on 26 occasions, posting a 21-5 mark, while when Sonko is the leading board grabber, CCU is 13-5. Harris has led the Chants on the glass in 29 of those contests, with CCU having an 18-11 mark in those games as well.

SONKO SHOOTING IT WELL: Senior forward Moses Sonko has been more assertive on the offensive end of the floor this season. Through Feb. 18, Sonko leads the team and Big South Conference in field goal percentage, now hitting 56.2 percent (176-for-313) of his shots from the floor. On the year, he is also second on the team in scoring, tallying 15.5 points per contest, good for ninth in the league. Most recently, he set a new career best with 27 points against UNC Asheville, Feb. 22.

JACK BELIEVES IN MAKING CHARITY COUNT: Junior guard Jack Leasure has made his opportunities at the free throw line worth something in his career. He has hit 143 of his 172 attempts at the line, a clip of 83.1 percent that is currently the second-best career free throw percentage in Coastal history.

SETTLING THE STARTING LINEUP: After using five different starting lineups in the first 12 games, head coach Buzz Peterson has started the same group in 15 of the last 16 games and looks to continue that trend tonight. Getting the nod for Coastal's in those games has been guards Jack Leasure, Joshua Mack and Everage Richardson and forwards Moses Sonko and Joseph Harris, with the group currently 10-6 as starters. The only constants in the lineup this season have been Leasure and Sonko, who have started all 28 games to date.

MACK ON THE ATTACK: Freshman guard Joshua Mack has shown some offensive skills during the early part of the season for the Chanticleers. Mack currently is third for Coastal and 19th in the league in scoring at 12.1 points per game. He also ranks 12th in the Big South in assists at 3.19 per game and fifth in three-pointers made with 2.48 a contest.

Mack had his best overall outing of the year, tying a career high with 19 points, grabbing four rebounds and dishing out five assists with no turnovers in the home win over Savannah State, Jan. 10. He tied his career high with 19 points to go with a career-best six rebounds, five assists and three steals, including a key theft in the closing seconds, in the win at VMI, Jan. 15. Most recently, he posted another 19-point game in helping CCU to the O'Reilly BracketBuster win over Canisius, Feb. 17, hitting 6-of-14 from the floor, including four three-pointers.

SONKO GRABS THE REBOUNDING RECORD: Senior forward Moses Sonko made more history in the home win over VMI, Feb. 3. Sonko grabbed a new school-record 22 rebounds in the victory, 10 of them on the offensive glass, snapping a 19-year-old record. The previous mark was 21 rebounds by William Calvin against Limestone during the 1987-88 season.

OTHERS RISE TO NEW LEVELS VERSUS VMI: In the most recent win over VMI, Feb. 3, Coastal had a pair of players step up and set new personal records. Sophomore guard Steven Sexton scored a career-best 16 points, including a career-high four three-pointers, while freshman forward Randon Cavette had career highs of 11 points and six rebounds in just eight minutes of action.

HARRIS POSTS 30: Sophomore forward Joseph Harris scored a career-best and team season-high 31 points in the win at VMI, Jan. 15. That is the most points scored by a Chanticleer since current junior Jack Leasure dropped 33 against South Carolina State, Dec. 14, 2005. It was the most points scored by a CCU player in a Big South Conference contest since Pele Paelay had 30 in a loss at Winthop, Jan. 22, 2005.

MACK NAMED FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK, AGAIN: Coastal Carolina guard Joshua Mack received New Balance Freshman of the Week honors for games played Jan. 8-14, it was announced Jan. 15 by the League office. This marks the fourth time this season that Mack has earned the conference's weekly honor, the second most ever by a CCU player as current junior Jack Leasure tied a Big South record by earning the award six times in 2004-05 en route to Freshman of the Year accolades.

Mack averaged 15.0 points and 53.6 percent from the field (15-of-28) in three games last week, helping the Chanticleers to two wins. He scored in double figures in each game, including 16 points in Coastal’s first road win of the season at UNC Asheville, Jan. 8. Mack tied his career-high with 19 points vs. Savannah State, Jan. 10, and added 10 points, five assists and three steals in a four-point loss at Radford. On the week, Mack was 10-of-19 from three-point range (52.6 percent), 5-of-6 from the line (83.3 percent) and averaged 4.3 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals.

LEASURE NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Coastal Carolina guard Jack Leasure was selected as the Big South Conference Choice Hotels Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for games played Jan. 2-7, it was announced by the League office.

Leasure broke through last week with his best back-to-back games of the season, averaging 22.0 points in leading the Chanticleers to two wins. He scored a season-high 24 points, going 7-of-11 from the field, 6-of-8 from three-point range and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe, along with three assists and two steals in Coastal’s win over McNeese State. He followed that with 20 points, hitting 6-of-11 treys, as well as three assists and two steals in Saturday’s win over Charleston Southern. Leasure tallied 11 of his 20 points -- including three triples -- in the closing seven-and-a-half minutes to seal the win. On the week, Leasure was 14-of-26 from the field (53.8 percent), 12-of-19 from long range (63.2 percent), 4-of-4 from the line (1.000 percent) and tallied 3.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.5 rebounds.

IF YOU BELIEVE IN FATE: And if you are a Chanticleer supporter, you had to feel good heading into Big South action. Last year, Coastal was over .500 in non-conference action entering the league and went 12-4 to finish second in the regular season and eventually advance to the Big South Championship game. This year, Coastal also started conference play at .500 for the second straight year, the first time that has occurred since the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons and both those squads finished above .500 overall. The 1992-93 squad won the Big South Tournament title and earned the league's NCAA Tournament berth.

MACK GETTING FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK HONORS FOR HOLIDAY PLAY: Coastal Carolina guard Joshua Mack received New Balance Freshman of the Week honors for games played Dec. 18-Jan. 1, it was announced by the League office.

Mack averaged 12.0 points in three games for the Chanticleers, scoring in double figures each contest. He had 10 points, four rebounds and three steals vs. College of Charleston, Dec. 18, tallied 14 points, three assists and four three-pointers at Florida State, Dec. 21, and notched 12 points, four assists and hit 57.1 percent from long range (4-of-7) vs. St. Andrews, Dec. 29. Mack was 13-of-35 (37.1 percent) from the field and 10-of-24 (41.7 percent) from three-point range, in addition to 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game.

SWEEPING THE BIG SOUTH AWARDS: Coastal Carolina forward Moses Sonko has been selected as the Big South Conference Choice Hotels Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for games played Dec. 11-17, while Chanticleers’ guard Joshua Mack received New Balance Freshman of the Week honors, it was announced Dec. 18 by the League office.

Sonko averaged 22.0 points on 67.9 percent (19-of-28) shooting from the floor in just 20.0 minutes per game in two contests. In an overtime loss at South Carolina State, Sonko was 9-of-16 (56.2 percent) from the floor and 4-of-5 from the line for a team-high 22 points. He also added three offensive rebounds. Then Dec. 16 vs. Brevard, Sonko again dropped in 22 points on 10-of-12 from the floor (83.3 percent), and was 2-of-2 from long range. Sonko, who entered the week averaging 13.8 points, also had 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game, and now leads Coastal in scoring for the first time in his career.

Mack averaged 13.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.0 steals in two games. At South Carolina State, Dec. 13, he posted a career-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting (63.6 percent) and hit 5-of-8 from three-point range, including the one that sent the game into overtime. Mack also added three rebounds and five assists at SCSU. He then had seven points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals in limited action against Brevard, Dec. 16.

LIVE ON THE RADIO AND THE WEB: Coastal Carolina men's basketball will be broadcast live on "The Team", 93.9 FM, 93.7 FM and 1050 AM in the Conway/Myrtle Beach area, as well as on the Internet at www.GoCCUSports.com. Matt Hogue returns for his ninth year as "Voice of the Chanticleers". In addition, there will be Live Game Stats of all CCU home basketball games on the Internet.