How Coastal Carolina followed up its win over Utah against a ranked Baylor
Coastal Carolina led for much of the game against Baylor on Friday in the second round of Myrtle Beach Invitational at the HTC Center.
But the Chanticleers lost one of their top players in sophomore guard Ebrima Dibba to what is believed to be a season-ending knee injury early in the second half, and they also lost their ability to score thereafter.
The Chants went scoreless for more than six minutes down the stretch and the Bears, ranked 24th in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, pulled away for a 77-65 win.
“I think when we lost [Dibba] it took a lot out of us,” said CCU coach Cliff Ellis, who said CCU’s medical staff believes Dibba will be lost for the season. “. . . Baylor took advantage of it without him in the game. They got after us and we got a little shaky with it and they did what they needed to do. Without [Dibba] we’re an entirely different team.”
Baylor (4-1) advances to play Villanova in Sunday’s 5 p.m. championship game, while the Chants (3-3), who fell to 0-17 all time against ranked teams, will face Mississippi State (5-1) at 1 p.m. in the third-place game.
Coastal led by four points with 11:40 to play following a Keishawn Brewton 3-pointer, but the Chants scored just eight points the rest of the game, including the final three points in the game’s final two minutes.
Brewton scored 17 points to lead the Chants in scoring for the second straight night and has made 11 3-pointers in the two games, but he took just three shots in the second half. Junior guard MaCio Teague, a UNC Asheville transfer, scored a game-high and season-high 21 points to lead Baylor.
“I think [Dibba] being out, he creates it. I think we were thrown for a loop without him and it made it harder,” Ellis said. “You have to give them credit because we did try to get [Brewton] some shots, they just got through those screens and they did a lot of switching, and they’re all long so you can’t really pick on somebody when they switch.”
The Chants committed a season-high 22 turnovers – the previous high was 13 – and Baylor converted those into 19 points.
“We keyed in on shooters pretty well and Davion [Mitchell] did a great job heating up the ball. He’s a one-man show up there, a one-man wrecking crew,” Teague said of Baylor’s second-half defense.
Coming off a 79-57 win over Utah of the Pac-12 Conference in their tournament opener Thursday night, Coastal jumped on Baylor early.
CCU opened up a 21-12 lead 6:30 into the game following a pair of 3-pointers by Brewton, a junior college transfer in the offseason.
Baylor stormed back with a 16-0 run to take a seven-point lead as Coastal went six minutes without a point.
The Baylor run included a 3-pointer by Teague and three-point play by Mitchell, a pair of layins by Teague and Devonte Bandoo on fast breaks created by Mark Vital steals, a Bandoo jumper and Matthew Mayer layin.
A short Tommy Burton jumper ended CCU’s scoreless streak with 7:40 remaining in the first half and a Garrick Green put-back had the Chants within six point at 31-25.
Baylor led by nine when back-to-back 3-pointers by Brewton in 30 seconds, both assisted by Devante Jones, cut the deficit to 34-31 with 4 minutes to play in the first half.
Coastal regained the lead on a pair of Burton free throws with 1:10 left in the half that capped a 6-0 Coastal run, and took a 39-37 lead into halftime on a Green dunk off a baseline drive.
Coastal opened up an eight-point lead in the opening 5 minutes of the second half with a 13-7 run that began and ended with Burton baskets.
“I sure did like the way our team was playing this entire tournament,” Ellis said. “It’s tough when you have these opportunities to have that kind of happen because we don’t have enough armor. You take one of those out and it’s really tough. I’m really proud of our team for the way that we played in this tournament. We were playing well.”
Dibba left the game 4 minutes into the second half when his left leg gave out as he was rising at the basket after an open-court steal.
The Sweden native is fourth on the team with 12.6 points per game this season and is also averaging 4.6 assists and 4.2 rebounds while shooting 94 percent from the free throw line. He shares point guard duties with Jones.
The Chants had 50 points through 24 minutes when he left and scored just 15 points in the final 16 minutes without him.
“It’s tough. That’s their brother. It’s like a fallen shoulder and it’s tough, and I think we saw that,” Ellis said. “It’s one of those things where we’re going to have to just pick up the boot straps and do the best that we can. . . . You have to move on but it’s just a tough time for us to have to absorb this.”
Baylor went on a 16-3 run shortly after Dibba’s departure to take a 63-57 lead with 9 minutes to play.
A Tyrell Gumbs-Frater 3-pointer pulled the Chants within three points with 8:20 left, but Baylor went on a 19-5 run to take an 11-point lead with 4 minutes to play.
Coastal will be playing its fourth game in seven days Sunday. “We just have to come out and do the best we can do Sunday, get our team back together next week and try to put something together,” Ellis said.
Tournament schedule
Thursday
Villanova 98, Middle Tennessee State 69
Mississippi State 80, Tulane 60
Baylor 76, Ohio 53
Coastal Carolina 79, Utah 57
Friday
Tulane 86, Middle Tennessee 74
Villanova 83, Mississippi State 76
Baylor 77, Coastal Carolina 65
Utah 80, Ohio 66
Sunday
Fifth Place - Tulane 65, Utah 61
Third Place - Mississippi State 81, Coastal Carolina 56
Championship - Baylor 87, Villanova 78
Consolation - Middle Tennessee vs. Ohio, late
This story was originally published November 22, 2019 at 7:17 PM.
