Presbyterian College men's basketball team played Coastal Carolina tight in the first half, but the Chanticleers proved too much in the second, taking the 70-51 win tonight at the HTC Center in Conway, S.C.
The Blue Hose, who fall to 6-24 overall and 2-13 in the Big South, travel to Winthrop Saturday, March 1, for their final regular season game. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. The Chanticleers improve to 17-12 overall and 10-5 in the league.
Leading the Blue Hose was Markus Terry with 16 points, followed by Jordan Downing with 10. William Truss pulled down 15 rebounds to pace the team defensively. Warren Gillis led Coastal with 14 points, with Badou Diagne pulling down a team-best 18 rebounds.
PC shot 38.5% from the field for the game and was just three-of-15 from long range. CCU shot 40.8%, going 17-of-37 in the second half. The Chanticleers out-rebounded the Blue Hose, 46-34 and had seven less turnovers, 9-13. Coastal dominated the paint, holding a 44-18 advantage.
Coastal Carolina opened the game with a 17-4 lead, the lone baskets coming from Ed Drew as the Blue Hose missed their first seven shots.
PC offense began to click just as the Chanticleers began to struggle with the Blue Hose using a 12-0 run to cut the margin to one, 17-16 with 7:26 to go before intermission, capitalizing on 11 straight missed baskets by the home team.
The Chanticleers responded with six unanswered to extend their lead to seven, 23-17, at the 4:49 mark.
Both teams traded baskets the remainder of the half, with a Reggie Dillard three-pointer at 2:45 to go helping PC cut the CCU lead to five, 28-23, at the half.
The Blue Hose and Chanticleers traded baskets to open the second half, with CCU holding on to the 34-28 lead with 16:32 left.
Behind six points from Uros Ljeskovic, Coastal used an 11-2 run to open up a 15-point, 45-30 lead with10:54 remaining.
PC cut the lead to 12 on a couple of occasions off three-pointers from Downing and Terry, but that is as close as the Blue Hose would get as CCU scored eight straight to open up a 20-point, 57-37 lead with just over five to play.
Downing's three-pointer at 4:21 cut the lead to 17, 57-40, but Coastal continued its offensive success, extending the lead to as much as 22, before settling on the 19-point, 70-51, win.
