Chanticleers dominant again in lopsided win over Campbell

The first time the Coastal Carolina men’s basketball team played Campbell this season, it took a six-point loss on the road in what would be the first of several disappointing defeats that had seemingly pushed the Chanticleers to the far fringe of the Big South race less than a month ago.

But the Chants showed again Saturday just how much everything has changed over the last few weeks.

Coastal Carolina turned its rematch with Campbell into a thoroughly one-sided, offensive highlight reel while shooting 74.1 percent from the field after halftime on the way to 97-68 win before a crowd of 2,123 inside The HTC Center.

That makes five straight wins for the Chants (13-8, 7-4 Big South) – including two by 29 points and one by 15 – as they continue to keep pressure on conference leaders Winthrop, UNC Asheville and High Point while remaining one game back in the standings.

“Well, you can’t play much better than we played in the second half,” Coastal Carolina coach Cliff Ellis said. “From about the 19-minute mark to the 5-minute mark, it was just tremendous basketball.”

What made the final score even more impressive Saturday is that Campbell (8-13, 2-9) had actually tied the game at 30-30 in the opening moments of the second half before the Chants took over and treated the rest of the contest like they were playing one of their November tune-up games against non-NCAA members.

At one point, sophomore guard Jaylen Shaw and junior guard Elijah Wilson went on their own 18-2 run as the Chants’ lead swelled to 30-plus points.

Wilson finished with a game-high 21 points and eight rebounds while sitting down the stretch, Shaw added 17 points, senior forward Badou Diagne chipped in 14 points and eight rebounds, junior guard Colton Ray-St Cyr scored 13 points and junior guard Shivaughn Wiggins finished with 10.

“It was a good game for us,” Wilson said. “We started off a little slow in the first half. We were forcing shots and stuff and the coaching staff did a good job of calming us down in the locker room at halftime and telling us what we needed to do, and we just went out there and did it.”

Wilson now has three 20-point efforts in the last four games and is averaging 18.6 points during this five-game winning streak.

Shaw, meanwhile, has been playing his best basketball of late as well and finished 7-of-10 from the field and 2-of-3 from 3-point range Saturday.

Wiggins and Diagne had given the Chants a spark in the first half while Wilson and Shaw took over after halftime, combining for 25 points during a 34-5 run that sealed the game for the hosts.

Again, they accounted for Coastal Carolina’s last 18 points in that spurt as Shaw followed a fastbreak dunk with a 3-pointer before Wilson hit back-to-back 3s and followed with a fastbreak layup. Shaw then dropped in a layup, and Wilson capped the run by swishing a long 3 from about six feet behind the arc to make it 68-37 at the time.

“I hit a couple shots before that, so when you hit shots like that you get a little bit more confident,” Wilson said.

Said Shaw: “It started on the defensive end, getting good stops and making them take bad shots, rebounding and getting out. Like Eli said, we started taking our time and getting good shots on offense.”

By the final minutes of the game, Ellis was leaned back in his chair with arms folded and a big smile on his face as the Chants’ bench took its turn. Senior guard Aaron Law ended up with a season-high eight points and freshman center Josh Coleman more than doubled his season scoring total with three points in just four minutes of action.

Coastal Carolina made 20-of-27 shots after halftime while scoring 67 second-half points – or one fewer than Campbell scored the whole game.

“I think the difference was our shot selection,” Ellis said. “I thought in the first half when we took it to the hole we were trying to make plays that weren’t there. We became a little more patient, and I think patience was a key. There’s a lesson behind that, that you don’t have to go fast to score points. If you’re patient, you may score more.”

Overall, this one couldn’t have gone much more differently than the Chants’ 79-73 loss to the Fighting Camels in Buies Creek, N.C., back on Nov. 28 in the teams’ Big South opener.

Granted, Campbell has been reeling of late and took it eighth straight loss Saturday, but it hasn’t mattered who the Chants have played these last few weeks.

During the postgame news conference, Wilson had to catch himself mid response in looking to the week ahead and upcoming road games at Presbyterian and Radford

“Road games, Coach Ellis always tells us that’s where championships are won because it’s not going to be easy. And being a ... are we in first place now?” he asked.

Not yet, but nonetheless, they’re certainly giving every reason to believe they might just be the best team in the league at this point.

This story was originally published January 30, 2016 at 7:11 PM with the headline "Chanticleers dominant again in lopsided win over Campbell."