Coastal Carolina men open home slate with dominant win

Balance is key for the Coastal Carolina men’s basketball team.

And the Chanticleers were working in nearly perfect harmony Wednesday.

Senior forward Badou Diagne led the way with 23 points and 10 rebounds as all five of Coastal’s starters scored in double figures en route to a 104-67 win over NCCAA Division II foe Grace Bible College (Wy.) in the Chanticleers’ home opener at The HTC Center.

“I think that’s a good sign. When you have balance, it’s hard to zero in on just one or two guys,” Coastal Carolina coach Cliff Ellis said. “We did a good job of spreading it out tonight and we certainly do have good balance.”

The Chanticleers (1-2) were coming off two straight losses to Hawaii and Nevada, respectively, in the Rainbow Classic tournament in Honolulu to start the season.

Now back in Conway, Coastal was looking for some confidence right away.

And they got it.

The Chanticleers opened the contest on a 12-0 run, and never trailed the rest of the way. Junior guard Colton Ray-St. Cyr sparked Coastal’s big first half as he scored all 16 of his points before halftime, and the Chanticleers went into the break leading 54-30.

“We didn’t do as well as we would’ve liked in Hawaii, so we wanted to make it a point to start the game strong. We got the gameplan and just executed,” Ray-St. Cyr said. “It was one of those nights where you just have it going. Everything was falling and once the first two shots fell, I got real confident. Good defense was really why I was getting all those points.”

Senior forward Tristian Curtis finished with 14 points and five rebounds, junior guard Elijah Wilson added 13 points and four rebounds and sophomore guard Jaylen Shaw contributed 11 of his 13 points in the second half to round out the scoring for Coastal’s starters.

“When we play together like that, it’s fun,” Ray-St. Cyr said.

While held scoreless in the second half and only playing 11 minutes in the frame, Ray-St. Cyr said it offered opportunities for Coastal’s bench players to log solid minutes. Junior guard Ron Trapps played 21 minutes and had a career-high 13 points off the bench, Aaron Law contributed five points and four assists and Marcus Freeman had two points and four rebounds.

“In the second half, we got some other guys in and got everyone involved,” Ray-St. Cyr said. “This is a team we can get everyone a chance to get on the scoreboard. There’s not going to be too many games like that this year, so it was good that everyone got to play.”

Meanwhile, the Chanticleers took care of the ball and had just six turnovers, opposed to 18 by the Tigers. Coastal outscored Grace Bible 32-2 in points off turnovers.

“That was a big part,” said Ellis, whose team outrebounded the Tigers 44-39. “We were plus-17 in the possession game and that’s always a huge factor.”

Next up for Coastal is another NCCAA Division II opponent, Piedmont International (N.C.). The Chanticleers will host the Bruins on Saturday at 2 p.m. It’ll be another opportunity to help Coastal’s morale as it prepares for a tough matchup at College of Charleston next Tuesday.

Then, the Chanticleers open up Big South conference play as Campbell hosts Coastal next Saturday at 2 p.m.

“These are confidence boosters,” Ray-St. Cyr said. “We’ve got a conference game next week [against Campbell] and we got College of Charleston next week. So we got a win here, we just need another win Saturday to get us some confidence going into those big games.”

Meanwhile, Coastal — the 2014 Big South champions — got some hardware on Wednesday. Athletic Director Matt Hogue handed out Big South championship rings to the Chanticleers before the contest.

It’s still early, but the Chanticleers have lofty expectations as they prepare for a big move to the Sun Belt Conference in 2016.

“We’re just going to continue to focus on the gameplan,” Ray-St. Cyr said. “We want to three-peat as Big South champions, leave the conference with a bang and head to the Sun Belt [Conference] as champions of the Big South. That’s the ultimate goal.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 11:15 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina men open home slate with dominant win."