ROCK HILL, S.C. – One win over your in-state rival in
a season is worthy of a celebration. A second one just may make you want to
dance.
After a 72-66 Coastal Carolina victory in the HTC Center in Conway
earlier this season, the Chanticleers made the trip to Winthrop Coliseum
Saturday to try to sweep the season series. The game lived up to the billing,
with Coastal leading for just over 12 minutes. The last three seconds of that
lead were all the Chants needed.
Joshua Beadle knocked down all three free throw attempts
after being fouled on a game-winning try, helping guide the Chants to an 88-84
victory Saturday afternoon.
As for that dancing…well…
“Oh, I was tired and there wasn’t much dancing going on,”
Coastal coach Justin Gray said with a laugh after the game. “Just hopping and
huffing.”
It was tough to fault Gray for being tired. Winthrop (5-5)
jumped out to an early 7-0 run to break apart a close segment and take a 13-5
lead. Coastal Carolina (6-4) countered with 18 of the next 28 points over the
ensuing five minutes, drawing the game level at 26 at the 11-minute mark. A
back-and-forth contest ensued, with five of the game’s 15 ties and nearly half
of the 16 lead changes taking place in the final 10 minutes of the period.
Coastal seized a 45-44 advantage at the interval on the
strength of a 52 percent first-half shooting effort. The Chants canned 58.3
percent (7-of-12) from distance, with Reggie Hill, A.J. Dancler, and DeJohn
Craig collecting two apiece. Winthrop got 16 points in the half from Kareem
Rozier, who made 6-of-13 from the floor (4-of-8 from three). No other Eagle
attempted more than five shots in the opening stanza.
Winthrop again started a period with a huge run, scoring 11
of the first 12 in the second half to seize a seven-point lead at 55-48. Gray
requested a stoppage following the second Kody Clouet triple in as many tries
that provided the margin. Coastal responded, using an 8-1 run to again square
it up at 56. Both sides continued throwing haymakers, with the visitors holding
the largest lead of the final 12-plus minutes at five points.
Coastal held a three-point lead at 84-81 going into a
frenetic final minute that would eventually decide the game. Daylen Berry
stepped through the lane for Winthrop with just over a minute to play,
converting a bucket and cashing in the ensuing free throw to again pull level
at 84.
After a Coastal timeout, the Chants played for a potential
2-for-1 opportunity. Dancler tried a corner three off the catch with 35 seconds
left, but the try spun off and left Winthrop to request a stoppage of its own.
The Eagles allowed 20 seconds to elapse before Berry took a pass and dribbled
around the right side of the perimeter. Berry’s fadeaway jumper was short,
leaving Coastal one last gasp. Beadle pulled up for a deep triple, and as two
Eagle defenders tried to contest the shot, Berry was ruled to have contacted
Beadle on the wrist while shooting.
After Beadle made all three free throws, Winthrop still had
one final look to tie it. The Eagles’ full-court pass went out of bounds near
the Winthrop bench, though, and Coastal salted away the game from the free
throw line.
“We have to finish the game better and it comes down to
making plays in those moments,” Winthrop coach Mark Prosser said. “They did,
and we didn’t.”
Gray appreciated the win and what it meant for his team.
“Overall, when you think of the history of the rivalry, I
think 27 points separated the two teams in the 88 or 89 games they played
before,” Gray said. “You could tell that every game was close. Mark’s doing an
unbelievable job and has been since he got here. That team we beat today – I told
our guys that’s a tournament-quality team. We’re at the beginning stages of our
(program), and he’s been here for years and has it going. You can win and
learn. There are some things we can still learn from this game to be able to
continue to get better throughout the year.
“You’ve got to be able to get to the next play, to get to
the next game, to get to the next thing. I’m proud of our guys today for doing
that.”
Coastal shot 48.3 percent (28-for-58) from the floor, with
46.2 percent (12-for-26) of its three-point tries finding the net. The Chants
also capitalized on their foul-line trips, hitting 20-of-26 (76.9 percent) from
the stripe. RaSheed Jones led the Chants with 23 points, hitting 7-of-12 from
the field. Three additional Coastal players finished in doubles, with Dancler
booking 18, Reggie Hill 14, and Beadle notching 12.
“We really like our guard play,” Gray said. “If we can get
them in space on a matchup that we want, we live with the results of those, and
(Jones) got it going, (Dancler) got it going, and Beadle made some plays late.
More importantly, Reggie Hill was big today.
(He had) nine rebounds – three offensive – and was 3-for-4 from three.
Guys trusted those guys to make plays.”
Rozier led four Eagles in double figures with 19 points,
despite missing all five of his second-half tries from the deck. Clouet added
18 and four threes, with forward Logan Duncomb logging a 16-point, 12-board
double-double on the day. Berry totaled 11. The Eagles were just 12-for-36 (33
percent) in the second half and 25-for-65 (38.5 percent) for the game. Winthrop
hit 10-of-31 (30.3 percent) from distance and 24-of-34 (70.6 percent) from the
line.
“In a lot of ways, I think we kind of deserved (the loss),” Prosser
said. “I think they were the more urgent team. We lacked energy throughout the
course of the last four days. They made tough shot after shot after shot in the
middle 20 minutes of that game. We took a couple shots that were atypical for
us.
Coastal Carolina gets a week before its next game, when it
travels to Phoenix to take on Grand Canyon. Game time for that contest is set
for 10:00 (Eastern) next Saturday night, with the Mountain West Network
handling the streaming coverage. Winthrop remains at home for a Tuesday
turnaround, taking on Toccoa Falls. That game will tip at 6:30, with ESPN+
providing the coverage.
COASTAL CAROLINA 88, WINTHROP 84
COASTAL CAROLINA (6-4)
Hill 4-7 3-4 14, Peat 1-1 1-3 3, Dancler 6-14 1-1 16, Jones
7-12 8-8 23, Beadle 4-11 4-6 12, Thompson 2-4 1-2 5, Ngopot 0-1 0-0 0, MacVicar
1-2 1-1 4, Craig 2-5 0-0 6, Green 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 28-58 20-26 88.
WINTHROP (5-5)
Duncomb 5-10 6-7 16, Wilson 2-3 1-1 5, Rozier 6-18 3-4 19,
Berry 3-10 3-3 11, Clouet 6-10 2-4 18, Meo 1-7 3-4 5, Kamarad 1-2 0-1 2,
Nnamoko 0-0 0-0 0, Hendawy 1-4 3-4 5, Boyogueno 0-0 2-4 2, Hamilton 0-1 1-2 1.
Totals 25-65 24-34 84.
Halftime: Coastal
45-44. 3-Point goals: Coastal 12-26 (Hill 3-4, Dancler 5-9, Jones 1-4,
MacVicar 1-2, Craig 2-4), Winthrop 10-31 (Duncomb 0-1, Rozier 4-10, Clouet 4-8,
Meo 0-4, Kamarad 0-1, Hendawy 0-1). Fouled out: Peat (CCU). Rebounds: Winthrop 47 (Duncomb
12), Coastal 35 (Hill 9). Total fouls: Coastal 25, Winthrop 22.
Technicals: NA.
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