Laney grad headed back to NCAA’s

CONWAY, SC (BigSouthSports.com) – For the second time in as many seasons, the Coastal Carolina University men’s basketball team is heading to the NCAA Tournament after posting an 81-70 victory over Winthrop University Sunday in the title game of the VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Basketball Championship.

The No. 3 seeded Chanticleers and No. 5 Eagles played to a 38-38 halftime tie, but Coastal Carolina (24-9) posted the first seven points of the second half and never looked back en route to the fourth Big South Tournament title in program history.

CCU outscored Winthrop 43-32 in the deciding second half and shot 52.0 percent (13-25) in the period compared to the Eagles’ 35.5 percent (11-31).

The Chanticleers crashed the glass and held a +11 (43-32) edge on the boards in the game. CCU also enjoyed a 27-8 advantage in bench scoring.

Senior guard Warren Gillis led the Chanticleers with a game-high 22 points and six assists in 36 minutes on the floor. Gillis was one of four CCU student-athletes in double figures.

Sophomore guard Elijah Wilson poured in 19 points and was named the Big South Tournament Most Valuable Player after averaging 20.3 points during the Chanticleers’ three-game run to the title.

Senior guard Josh Cameron added 19 points and junior forward Badou Diagne dropped in 11 for CCU. Junior forward Tristian Curtis grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds, which marked the fourth-highest rebounding total ever in a Big South Tournament final.

Sophomore guard Keon Johnson led Winthrop (19-13) with 18 points in the game while freshman forward Xavier Cooks chipped in the second double-double of his career with 14 points and a team-high 12 rebounds.

Winthrop and Coastal played to a 4-4 tie over the game’s first five minutes, but from that point, the Chanticleers used a 9-0 run over the next 2:03 to move in front, 13-4. Winthrop answered back with a 9-2 run of its own to cut the lead to two (15-13), but CCU extended the edge back to seven (26-19) with 7:05 to play in the half.

With Coastal Carolina leading 30-21, back-to-back 3-point players from Cooks and Johnson moved Winthrop back within three (30-27). From there, the Eagles used a 6-0 run to tie the score at 35 with 1:09 to go in the stanza. Cameron hit a triple to put Coastal up three with seven seconds to play in the half, but Andre Smith’s 3-pointer at the buzzer for Winthrop banked in to send the teams into the break knotted at 38-38.

CCU shot 43.3 percent (13-30) in the half while Winthrop made 11-of-27 attempts (.407). Gillis led the Chants with 14 first-half points while Moore and Johnson each tallied eight for the Eagles.

The Chanticleers scored the first seven points of the second half and led 50-40 with 13:36 to play in the contest. A lay-in from Shivaughn Wiggins pushed the CCU lead to 13 (62-49) and a 3-point play from Wilson extended it to 16 (70-54) with 4:59 to go. The Eagles would not move closer than nine (74-65) for the remainder of the game.

With the victory, CCU improves to 4-3 all-time in Big South Tournament title games while Winthrop falls to 10-3.

Wilson was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Gillis, Winthrop’s Keon Moore, Gardner-Webb’s Jerome Hill and Longwood’s Shaquille Johnson.

Coastal Carolina Coach Cliff Ellis:
“First thing is I want to do is give credit to Winthrop. Those guys are very good. Their perimeter guys are very good and played hard and are well coached.

“Our defense was superb in the second half. Warren Gillis certainly had a tremendous game. Badou Diagne hit some big threes and (tournament MVP) Elijah Wilson had a great tournament. We’re glad to have been able to survive the tournament. Tournament basketball is totally different.

“I’m proud of our team for the way that they showed some resilience and kept the adrenaline going having played three games so quickly.

“I’m happy for the team, the university and the Grand Strand. This has a strong impact on the region.

“We had a great year for our league. I want to say how good the league is. Six teams from this conference deserve a postseason tournament bid. We’re going to get an NCAA bid and this team and our league doesn’t deserve a 16 seed. However, we’ll take whatever comes.

“We’ve been a marked team all year long because of winning the championship a year ago. It shows maturity within our team.

“They had momentum going into halftime, but as we have all season, we stayed in the moment. We looked at it as winning the tip in the second half and playing 20 new minutes.”

Winthrop Coach Pat Kelsey:
“First thing I want to do is congratulate Coastal Carolina. They were better than us today and that happens sometimes. We live to see another day and hope to see them down the road. Tip of the cap to the Coastal Carolina crowd as well for creating a hostile environment.

“I love these two seniors. They have forged and formed the identity we want in our basketball program. I have never coached two young men that work harder and set the tone with their work ethic. Both are young men who you would want to marry your daughter. I can’t think of a higher compliment about a young man.

“We felt like we had momentum going into halftime, but that spurt out of the half was a big shift in momentum. They’re a veteran team with a lead in a big game, that’s tough to come back from.

“I think this is another step in the right direction. We start our work in August and talk about getting to this game and this moment. We’ve played a tough team in a hostile environment two straight year and I hope to get back here next year. I hope I’m sitting here in 365 days for the third straight year in a little better mood.”