Coastal Carolina holds on for key win over UNC Asheville

CONWAY -- In the last week, the Coastal Carolina men’s basketball team had been toppled twice on its home floor, humbled on the road, knocked out of the Big South Conference race and left mired in its first three-game losing skid since the 2008-09 season.

And that was all leading up to the Chanticleers’ toughest remaining challenge as league-leading UNC Asheville visited Kimbel Arena on Tuesday night with momentum and recent history on its side.

But all of that only served as compelling build-up to what would be a resurgent performance from the Chants.

Coastal scored 15 straight points early in the first half and never trailed again while weathering a late UNC Asheville charge on the way to a 74-69 victory.

A much-needed victory, that is.

“It was just good to get it,” CCU coach Cliff Ellis said. “We’ve been playing five games in 10 days. It’s been a long stretch. I can tell you in 40 years of coaching, I’ve never played five conference games in 10 days. So it’s been a grind. But the way that we fought tonight says a lot about the team.”

And a lot about the Chants’ intentions over the remainder of the season.

After winning the conference’s regular-season championship each of the last two years, Coastal (18-8, 11-5 Big South) has turned its focus toward building for the conference tournament – which will be hosted by UNC Asheville.

The Bulldogs (19-8, 14-2) came into Tuesday night with the league title already locked up and riding a six-game winning streak. More pertinently, they had won three straight over Coastal including the last two meetings inside Kimbel Arena.

“We just told each – we can’t lose at home,” junior guard Anthony Raffa said. “We’ve got to defend our home court, and that’s what we did tonight.”

Raffa scored a game-high 20 points – 17 in the second half – while senior forward Chris Gradnigo added 15 points and 13 rebounds and senior center Jon Pack had 14 points in a game the Chants would assert control over early.

After UNC Asheville scored the first four points, Coastal surged forward with 15 straight – including six from Pack – on the way to a 35-20 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs shot just 25 percent from the field in the first half, but they would fare much better after halftime while drawing to within one point on a layup by junior Jaron Lane with 6:02 remaining.

Coastal answered with a 9-1 run, capped by a wide-open 3-pointer from Raffa, but the visitors would get it close once more and trailed by just three points in the final minute before Raffa delivered again.

Trapped with the ball and nobody to pass to as the final seconds on the shot clock ticked down, Raffa drained a long 3-pointer with 36.5 seconds left to push the Chants’ lead to 70-64.

“They were trapping me, and [junior point guard] Kierre [Greenwood] was getting denied and I saw the shot clock – there was like two seconds left – so I said I’ve got to shoot it; I’m not going to turn the ball over here,” Raffa recounted later. “So I just shot it, and it went in.”

Following a layup by Bulldogs junior Jeremy Atkinson, Raffa went to the foul line and knocked down both ends of a one-and-one, and after senior standout J.P. Primm sank a 3-pointer with 4.4 seconds remaining to draw UNC Asheville back to within 72-69, Raffa came through once more while converting two more free throws to seal the win.

“It shows a lot about our team,” Raffa said. “We lost three in a row and to come out here and beat a quality team like Asheville, it really says a lot about our team.”

Senior guard Matt Dickey finished with a team-high 19 points for the Bulldogs.

As for the Chants, as Ellis mentioned, it was the team’s fifth Big South game since Feb. 4 – a stretch of 11 days to be exact – and the squad benefited from some added depth Tuesday night.

Greenwood (12 points) returned to the starting lineup for the Chants after a one-game suspension and junior guard Danny Nieman also returned to action after missing the team’s last game with a hip pointer injury.

Junior forward Bisi Addey, meanwhile, finished with a season-high nine points for Coastal, which reasserted itself with a win that should catch the attention of the rest of the Big South.

“They’ve already won the league, so yeah, it’s a statement, but we have to win it at their place – we have to do this again,” Gradnigo said of UNC Asheville. “I’m pretty sure they’re going to make adjustments and be ready, so we can’t get too high right now.”

UNC ASHEVILLE (19-8): Atkinson 7-14 1-2 16, Jackson 2-4 2-2 6, Dickey 6-12 4-4 19, Primm 5-15 0-0 12, Stephenson 2-11 0-0 4, Lane 5-9 0-0 12, Hornsby 0-0 0-0 0, Nwannunu 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-65 7-8 69.

COASTAL CAROLINA (18-8): McLaurin 2-3 0-2 4, Gradnigo 5-8 2-2 15, Pack 6-10 2-3 14, Raffa 6-14 4-4 20, Greenwood 4-10 2-2 12, Nieman 0-2 0-0 0, Ashford 0-2 0-0 0, Moore 0-1 0-0 0, Addey 4-7 1-1 9, Griffin 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-58 11-14 74.

Halftime–Coastal Carolina 35-20. 3-Point Goals–UNC Asheville 8-18 (Dickey 3-6, Lane 2-2, Primm 2-7, Atkinson 1-2, Stephenson 0-1), Coastal Carolina 9-18 (Raffa 4-8, Gradnigo 3-4, Greenwood 2-2, Griffin 0-1, Moore 0-1, Nieman 0-2). Fouled Out–Dickey. Rebounds–UNC Asheville 38 (Atkinson, Primm 9), Coastal Carolina 33 (Gradnigo 13). Assists–UNC Asheville 14 (Primm 6), Coastal Carolina 15 (Greenwood 5). Total Fouls–UNC Asheville 14, Coastal Carolina 12. A–1,039.