Coastal Carolina extends streak with dominant win at Charleston Southern

It’s games like this when the Coastal Carolina men’s basketball team reminds everybody – fans, opponents, perhaps even itself – that it can be every bit as good as the Chanticleer squads that made back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances the last two years.

And even more encouraging for the Chants, these kind of games have been coming rather frequently of late.

Coastal Carolina built a 21-point halftime lead Saturday evening and cruised from there on the way to a 78-63 victory at Charleston Southern to pick up its third straight win, furthering its midseason resurgence.

Junior point guard Shivaughn Wiggins had a game-high 23 points and five assists, sophomore guard Jaylen Shaw scored a career-best 22 points and junior guard Elijah Wilson added 13 in the lopsided win as the Chants improved to 11-8 overall and 5-4 in the Big South.

“They’ve got a great fan base, it’s a small gym so it’s packed in here and they’ve got great atmosphere. And to be able to come out here and get the win just shows how tough of a team we can be,” Wiggins said.

That’s a message the Chants have been reiterating during a winning streak that now includes a 29-point win over Presbyterian, a big road victory at preseason conference favorite High Point and now this thoroughly dominant performance.

Coastal Carolina knocked down 8-of-19 3-pointers in the first half to build a comfortable margin while holding Charleston Southern’s potent perimeter offense to just 6-of-24 shooting from 3-point range for the game, snapping the Buccaneers’ own three-game winning streak.

That’s what had coach Cliff Ellis most pleased.

“Well I think the key was defensively, they’re sixth in the nation in 3-point shooting and we guarded it early. To keep a team like that to 20-something points in the first half says a lot about our defense,” he said. “It was a night when the ball was falling, but when you mix that where your defense is good and the shots are falling you get off to that [kind of start].

“The good thing is we kept the crowd out. White out, whatever you want to call it, they were in here primed and ready, but we took the crowd out of the game, and I have to credit our defense.”

Charleston Southern (8-12, 4-5), which had won the last three meetings between the teams here, mounted a surge early in the second half while forcing some turnovers with its pressure defense to cut the Chants’ lead to 54-42.

But Coastal Carolina answered back with the next nine points, including two baskets from senior forward Marcus Freeman, a layup and free throw from Wiggins and a jumper from junior guard Colton Ray-St Cyr. The lead would swell as large as 25 points later in the second half.

“We should be feeling confident,” Ellis said. “We’re starting to get the pieces of the puzzle back. It was good to get Colton back in there. I think our bench is playing better. We changed chemistry and lineups so many times through the course of the year, it’s just been an ebb and flow.”

Ray-St Cyr, who hadn’t played since breaking his wrist Dec. 14, logged eight minutes off the bench Saturday and made his only shot while also collecting four rebounds. A starter the first part of the season, his return provides the team a much-needed boost in regards to depth.

“It felt good. I’ve been gone for like a month, so I had a little rust to shake off there [as] you probably saw. But I’m just excited to be back and help the team out,” he said.

He might have a hard time getting his spot in the starting lineup back, though. Shaw, in his first season with the Chants after transferring from South Carolina and sitting out last year, moved into that spot the last five weeks and has been in a groove offensively while averaging 17 points in the last three games.

“It feels real good. I’m just doing what it takes for us to win,” he said. “I’m learning the system more. It’s still my first year, I’m still getting used to the system, but it’s coming together.”

And so too is everything else for the Chants, it seems.

They were at a crossroads in their season after dropping back-to-back games to Liberty and Longwood earlier this month, but they’ve firmly reestablished themselves as contenders in the Big South with this three-game winning streak – and the manner in which it’s unfolded.

The Chants are still fifth in the standings and trail conference leader UNC Asheville by two games, but they will host the Bulldogs on Wednesday inside The HTC Center for the first of two meetings between the teams down the stretch.

And if they keep playing the way they have of late, all of their season goals should still be within reach.

“It just shows that we have a lot of fight,” Shaw said. “We don’t let a couple losses get to us. We just keep playing and trying to get better every day. It’s an every day thing. It’s a process.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina extends streak with dominant win at Charleston Southern."