Conway, SC (WBTW) — Junior guard Tyrell Gumbs-Frater came off the bench to score a career-high 29 points for Coastal Carolina as the Chanticleers led all the way in stunning Georgia State 95-82 in a Sun Belt Conference game Saturday at the HTC Center.
Gumbs-Frater led four Coastal Carolina players in double figures as the Chanticleers snapped a four-game losing streak and improved their record to 13-13 overall and 7-7 in the league. Coastal built a 32-point lead at 70-38 and then survived a furious comeback attempt by Georgia State in the final 10 minutes. The Panthers outscored Coastal 34-11 to close the gap to just 9 points at 81-72 with 4:30 left, but they didn’t get any closer.
Gumbs-Frater also had a career high nine 3-pointers (19 attempts). Senior forward Zac Cuthbertson added his seventh double-double of the season with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Junior forward Tommy Burton also had 15 points while senior guard Ajay Sanders had 10 points and 10 rebounds, his second double-double of the season.
Georgia State, which came into the game tied for the league lead, slipped to 19-9, 10-5. The Panthers were led by junior guard D’Marcus Simonds’ 31 points and junior guard Damon Wilson’s 18 points.
“We can’t play any better than we did in the first half,” said Coastal head coach Cliff Ellis. “We moved the ball and we hit our shots. Gumbs-Frater was the key to giving us the lead. He had a phenomenal game.
“But we almost let it get away,” continued Ellis. “They put the press on us and we got too conservative in the second half. We played not to lose instead of playing to win. But this is a great win for us.”
Coastal hit on 31-70 shots (44%) while holding Georgia State to 28-66 from the field (42%). The Chanticleers also hit on 14-39 3-pointers, and out-rebounded the Panthers, 53-34.
Sanders hit three 3-pointers as Coastal Carolina went on an early run and jumped out to a 14-2 lead, and from there Gumbs-Frater took over. He came off the bench to hit six of 10 3-point attempts as the Chanticleers built a 22-point advantage at 48-22 late in the half. A 5-point flurry in the final 10 seconds gave Coastal a 58-33 margin at the break. It was the most points and the most 3-pointers Coastal has scored in a half this season.
It was hard to find fault with anything Coastal did early. Coastal cashed in on 10-20 3-point attempts and shot 54 percent (20-37) from the field in the half. Gumbs-Frater already had 20 points in just 13 minutes of action, and Sanders had 10 points. The Chanticleers also out-rebounded Georgia State 24-12 over the first 20 minutes and had 14 assists on 20 baskets.
Simonds single-handedly kept Georgia State’s close early on, with 14 of his team’s first 16 points but then cooled off and didn’t score in the last 10 minutes of the half.