Coastal Carolina men come up one point short against Wofford

Coastal Carolina freshman Artur Labinowicz drilled a half-court 3-pointer as time expired Monday.

Despite the shot falling, the Chanticleers walked away disappointed.

Wofford led by 6 – just one point shy of its biggest advantage – with under two minutes left as Fletcher Magee hit a 3-pointer to give him a game-high 27 points and the Terriers their 13th trey of the night, but Coastal Carolina fought back before ultimately falling by one point, 75-74, inside the HTC Center.

“It was a classic basketball game; it was hard-fought. It was a great game played by both teams and we came up short and you have to give [Wofford] credit. The difference was the three-point line. They hit 13 3s and we hit seven,” said Chants coach Cliff Ellis, whose team held a 37-25 advantage on the boards. “We outrebounded them by a big margin, we had the possession game, both teams had 28 field goals. But you have to give them credit; they knocked the 3s down and that was the big difference in the game.”

Ellis said despite seeing good things from his team, Wofford outplayed the Chants down the stretch.

“[At the end], you just have to dig deep and make some shots,” he said. “We had a couple of runs at the hole, and the ball didn’t go in the hole. Theirs did, and that’s what did it.”

Labinowicz and Joseph Williams-Powell sparked a huge performance for the Coastal Carolina bench, which outscored Wofford’s reserves 33-10. Williams-Powell had a career-high 15 points and added eight rebounds, while Labinowicz and Jaylan Robertson had nine points apiece.

“If we’re in a game like that, I’m very confident until the time runs out. Anything can happen; just tonight we came up a little short because of some mistakes at the end. But I’m very confident all the way ‘til that buzzer sounds, especially when the game is on the line like that,” said Williams-Powell, who was 6-of-6 from the field at halftime. “I think I performed OK, but it could’ve been better. I’m not satisfied; I had some turnovers and that’s what matters – not how much I scored.”

Said Ellis: “[Williams-Powell] played a great game; I thought our bench as a whole did a great job. Those guys did a tremendous job.”

Magee stepped up big time for Wofford as he grabbed six rebounds and four assists and was 7-of-13 from behind the arc as he hit as many 3-pointers as Coastal Carolina had as a team Monday. Also coming through for the Terriers was Eric Garcia, who finished with 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field and was 3-of-6 from the 3-point line.

“That’s a real good team. They can shoot and I learned if you’re not there on a shot – they’re going to make you pay for it. That’s a real good ball team and gave everything they had and got us, but I think we learned from this one tonight,” Ellis said.

Jaylen Shaw had a team-high 19 points and also grabbed four rebounds, Elijah Wilson added eight points and Demario Beck finished with five points and nine rebounds for Coastal Carolina.

Monday also marked the end of the non-conference schedule as the Chants enter their first Sun Belt slate since joining the conference this season. Coastal Carolina will have 11 days off before hitting the road for a meeting with Texas-Arlington.

Williams-Powell said he thinks Ellis will give the team every chance to succeed in the Sun Belt.

“We’re coming along,” Williams-Powell said. “We’re still getting our chemistry going, but we all love each other, we play together, we joke together, we do everything together. So come conference time, we’re going to come together and perform like the good team we are. We have a real good coach and we believe in him.”

This story was originally published December 19, 2016 at 11:35 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina men come up one point short against Wofford."