Shaw stars in second half to lead Chants to win over Radford

Jaylen Shaw hadn’t scored in double figures in four straight games for Coastal Carolina and had seen his minutes dip to a season low last time out after being much ballyhooed in the preseason.

But he sure was valuable for the Chanticleers on Sunday.

Shaw came off the bench to contribute 12 points and five assists with almost all of that coming in the second half as the Chants held off Radford, 63-58, for a much-needed win before an announced crowd of 1,487 inside The HTC Center.

“I think as his confidence goes, I sure hope [he can build off this],” coach Cliff Ellis said. “He certainly made some big plays for us. It’s a matter of him getting adjusted. He hadn’t played in a year. This is the first time he’s had that good game, so hopefully it will give him some confidence.”

Senior forward Marcus Freeman also had a big game off the bench for Coastal Carolina (4-4, 1-1 Big South), tallying eight points and 12 rebounds in just 13 minutes, while senior forward Badou Diagne added 10 points and eight boards and junior gaurd Colton Ray-St Cyr chipped in 10 points, six rebounds and four steals.

As for Shaw, he had joined the Chants before last season with a good deal of fanfare as both a former standout at Hartsville High School and a transfer from South Carolina. After sitting out last season per the NCAA’s transfer rules, he was touted by Ellis and fellow players as someone who would make an immediate impact this season and be a key for Coastal Carolina on the offensive end.

After starting the first five games, though, he was moved to a reserve role and had just 14 points and eight turnovers in the last two games. And nobody was more frustrated by that than Shaw himself.

“After not really contributing to the team [the last] two games, coming out like that was a great feeling. And coming off the bench, me and Marcus, that’s our responsibility, to give the team a lift,” Shaw said. “All week in practice, I knew my shooting percentage was down so I got a lot of shots. My coaches and teammates told me to stay aggressive and I tried to take that mentality.”

After totaling just two points and one assist in the first half Sunday, he found his rhythm in a big way after halftime.

Coastal Carolina was protecting a 36-34 lead about seven minutes into the second half when Shaw dropped in a baseline jumper and a mid-range jumper on back-to-back possessions. He then grabbed a rebound and fed Diagne for an alley-oop dunk the next time down court, a few possessions later he delivered a perfect bounce pass through the paint to set up a Freeman layup and then followed with another pretty bounce pass under the basket to again set up Freeman for a layup.

With that 12-2 run, the Chants had pushed their lead to 48-36.

And Shaw would keep it going with a driving layup and a fast-break one-handed dunk to later peak that lead at 55-42. He also committed no turnovers as part of his big game.

“Jaylen did a great job of taking the ball to the hole for us and making great plays,” Ellis said. “When we needed a basket, he was really a guy either making a basket or getting a basket for somebody else, and that was huge for us because we really weren’t getting that creation from anybody else at the time and he did a great job.”

Radford (5-4, 1-1), which already has wins over Georgetown and Penn State this season, would make a game of it, though.

Taj Owens’ jumper with 42.2 seconds left cut Coastal Carolina’s lead to 61-58, and junior point guard Shivaughn Wiggins would lose the ball out of bounds on the other end to give Radford a chance to tie. But the Highlanders turned it back over and Wiggins ended up sealing the game at the line with two free throws in the final seconds.

While Shaw was the star of the show, Freeman was similarly resurgent. He didn’t get off the bench against Auburn, but he was remarkably efficient Sunday while shooting 6-of-9 from the field and averaging almost a point a minute.

“My teammates, I’ve got to give a lot of thanks to Tristian [Curtis] and Badou, we talked a lot [about] staying confident and believing in myself,” Freeman said.

Said Ellis: “It’s his style. These guys are big, they’re strong, they take up a lot of space, bangers, knock you around. That’s his game. A lot of teams we play, they’re picking, they’re popping, they’re driving to the hole. Matchups.”

The Chants needed all the contributions they could get with their top offensive player, junior Elijah Wilson, having an off night while shooting just 3-of-12 from the field for seven points.

While the Coastal Carolina offense wasn’t at its best, the Chants did a good job defensively while holding Radford to 35-percent shooting.

It was a big win for the Chants after they had dropped their Big South opener and came into the day with just one win over a Division I opponent.

“After losing two in a row and losing one at home, this was big for us,” Shaw said. “We needed this one for our confidence.”

This story was originally published December 6, 2015 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Shaw stars in second half to lead Chants to win over Radford."