Jordan Downing scored 28 points and hit six three-pointers for a Blue Hose team that led at halftime, before Coastal Carolina pulled away in the second to take the 84-72 win in Big South action tonight at Templeton Center in Clinton, S.C.
The Blue Hose fall to 4-16 overall and 0-5 in the Big South, while the Chanticleers improve to 10-9, 3-2. PC takes to the road Saturday, Jan. 25, with a 7 p.m. contest at Liberty.
Downing's six three-pointers was just one shy of a PC Division I record as he led the team with 28 total points. Markus Terry and Danny Herrera followed with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Austin Anderson posted a career-high 11 points, tying his career-best with three three-pointers. Herrera paced the team on the boards with four rebounds.
Leading Coastal was Josh Cameron with 24 points, followed by Warren Gillis and Elijah Wilson with 17 apiece. Badou Diagne, who recorded 15 points for the Chanticleers, paced the squad with nine rebounds.
PC shot 43.4% from the field and was a season-high 14-of-29 from the perimeter, as well as 12-of-15 from the charity stripe. CCU shot 67.5%, including 71.4% in the second half. The Chanticleers hit 10 three-pointers and were 20-of-29 from the free throw line.
The Chanticleers controlled the boards, 33-16, and the paint, 32-16. The Blue Hose had seven less turnovers, 7-14, on the night.
15 of Downing's 28 points came in the first half, 10 of which came during a seven-minute stretch that saw the Blue Hose take a one-point lead to eight, off a 16-8 run to hold the 27-18 margin with 9:32 remaining before the break.
The Chanticleers out-scored the Blue Hose, 15-7, over the next seven minutes to cut it to a one-point game, 34-33, at the 3:12 mark. After PC went up by thee off two Anderson free throws, Coastal's Diagne cut the margin back to one off a lay-up with 12 ticks to head into the locker room at intermission trailing 38-37.
Coastal Carolina stormed out of the gates in the second half with back to back three-pointers in a 9-0 run to take an eight-point, 46-38 lead with 17:32 left.
Trailing by seven, 44-51, off five straight from Cameron, PC fought back with three-pointers from Downing and Terry to make it a one-point game again, 50-51, with 15:01 on the clock.
A 12-1 run by the Chanticleers over the next five minutes quelled the Blue Hose Rally as CCU took a 62-52 lead at the nine-minute mark.
CCU extended its lead to 14, 75-64, with 4:12 to go, before a Downing three-pointer at 3:58 made it an 11-point game again. The Blue Hose cut the margin to 10 at 3:22 but wouldn't get any closer as CCU made its shots when it counted to hold on to the 12-point, 84-72 win.
