CCU

Men's Basketball Downs UNC Wilmington 90-86

       

Men's Basketball Downs UNC Wilmington 90-86

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CONWAY, S.C. -- Senior guard Everage Richardson scored a career-high 27 points to lead the Coastal Carolina's men's basketball team to a 90-86 victory over UNC Wilmington, Dec. 19. Freshman forward Anthony Breeze chipped in with a 24 points, one off his career best. With their 19th straight non-conference win at Kimbel Arena, the Chanticleers improved to 5-5, while the Seahawks fall to 7-4 with the two teams splitting the season series.

The two squads exchanged six leads and had six ties in the first half, with the Chanticleers leading a majority of the half with their largest lead of eight at 24-16 with 8:31 to go in the half on a layup by Richardson. However, the visiting Seahawks chipped away at the lead and got it back to even at the intermission on T.J. Carter's jumper with 27 seconds to play to make it 39-39 at the halftime break. Both teams shot the ball well in the first half, hitting over 50 percent of their shots from the floor, with CCU knocking down 18-of-33 (54.5 percent) and UNCW downing 50.0 percent (14-of-28).

The second half remained close as Coastal's six-point 78-72 advantage was the largest of the second half. Breeze made his lay-up, drew the foul on UNC Wilmington's Montez Downey and then sank his foul shot in order to give the Chants a six-point lead with 4:41 to go. However, the Seahawks drilled back-to-back three-pointers from Downey and Daniel Fountain to tie the game at 84-84 with 1:06 remaining in the game. Senior guard Jack Leasure broke the tie with a lay-up and two made free throws by redshirt sophomore Logan Johnson allowed the Chants to take a crucial 88-84 lead with 14 seconds left. Coastal sealed the victory with a pair of free throws by Richardson

All nine Coastal players that saw action scored as the Chants hit 56.5 percent of their shots (35-for-62) and outscored UNC Wilmington 56-26 in the paint. The Seahawks were 31-of-60 (51.7 percent), including 10-of-26 from the three-point arc. CCU forced 17 turnovers and scored 20 points off of those miscues, while only committing 10

Richardson went 12-for-16 from the floor, including 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. Breeze was 8-for-12 on the night and went 8-for-11 from the foul line. Breeze and Richardson also recorded eight and seven rebounds, respectively, both being career-bests. Meanwhile, sophomore guard Mario Sisinni and Johnson each dished out career best of five assists with Johnson adding 11 points to tie his career high.

Fountain paced UNCW with 22 points behind 7-of-13 shooting as four Seahawks reached double figures. Dominique Lacy grabbed a game-best nine rebounds to go with his nine points.

CCU will play one more game before the Holiday break, traveling down to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center to play host to Georgia State, Sat., Dec. 22. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.