CONWAY – On a night when Jaylen Shaw was honored before the game for scoring his 1,000th point in a Coastal Carolina uniform, the senior poured in a career-high 26 points, but it was not enough in an 87-81 loss to Wofford.
Just like a season ago when the Terriers came in and shot over 50 percent from the field in a 75-74 win, Wofford torched the HTC nets for 55 percent shooting from the field. Wofford was even better on its three-point field goals knocking down 14 of 25 for 56 percent and held the Chants at bay hitting 17 of 22 (77%) at the free throw line.
Fletcher Magee, who scored 27 last season, was the Terriers’ main offensive threat again this year. He hit 10-of-14 field goals and was a perfect five-for-five from the three-point line on his way to tying Shaw for game-high honors with 26 points.
Wofford had six players hit threes during the game including three players who had not hit a three all season. That includes Trevor Stumpe who came off the bench to can four of his six three point attempts.
CCU trailed by as many as 13 points (51-38) with 14 minutes left in the game, but came all the way back to cut the lead to one (52-51) with 9:37 left in the game. That would be as close as CCU would get as a Stumpe three with the shot clock winding down ended the Chants run.
Offensively, the Chanticleers finished the game shooting 46 percent from the field, including 50 percent in the second half alone scoring 49 points in the second 20 minutes.
Zac Cuthbertson, who came into the game averaging 19.8 points per game, scored 17 and had a game-high eight rebounds. Demario Beck continues to show his strength coming off the bench this season and finished the game shooting six-of-10 from the field to finish with 16 points, five rebounds and a steal in 23 minutes of action.
CCU also got double-digits from Artur Labinowicz who added 11 points.
CCU won the rebounding battle 34-21 as Ajay Sanders and Beck followed Cuthbertson with five boards each.
Coastal turned the ball over 17 times with the Terriers scoring 21 points off those turnovers. CCU also forced the Terriers into 13 turnovers, scoring 21 points off those.
In the paint the Chants outscored Wofford 30-16 and CCU’s bench also outscored Wofford 30-20. CCU shot a respectable 73 percent (24-33) at the free throw line.
Like CCU, Wofford had four players reach double digits as Stumpe’s 16 points led those players. Matthew Pegram scored 14 and led Wofford with seven rebounds and Cameron Jackson added 11 points.
The opening half was a shooting clinic by the Terriers, shooting 55 percent (16-29) from the field, including six-of-11 (55%) on its three point attempts.
Magee led the way with 15 first half points and Jackson, who hit all four of his attempts, finished the opening 20 minutes with nine points.
Shaw led the Chants with 12 points on five-of-seven shooting. CCU only shot 42 percent from the field, but did manage to hit five of its eight three point field goals.
CCU only connected on five of its nine free throws and committed 11 turnovers which led to 16 Wofford points.
The Chanticleers don’t have much time to recover from this outing as Lamar comes to the HTC Center Saturday, Dec. 2 for a 7 p.m. rematch. The Cardinals defeated CCU 66-60 back on Nov. 14 in Beaumont.
Courtesy: CCU Athletics