CONWAY, SC – Artur Labinowicz scored a career, team and game-high 32 points, but it was not enough in Coastal Carolina’s 72-58 loss to Georgia State.
Labinowicz scored his points on 10-of 17 shooting, six-of-12 of his threes and six-of-seven at the free throw line. Other than Labinowicz, Shaw was the only other double-digit scorer, finishing with 10 points, but like the rest of the team, Shaw had an off-night shooting. He did finish with a game-high eight assists.
The 32 points scored by Labinowicz is a team-high for the season for CCU. The previous high was Zac Cuthbertson’s 31 points he scored against Iona at the Island of the Bahamas Showcase.
The Chants only shot 34 percent from the field and hit seven of its 22 three point field goals for 32 percent and was 13-of-18 at the free throw line (72.2%).
Demario Beck, for the second consecutive game played with foul trouble. The senior only scored four points, but did pace the Chants in rebounds with 12, as CCU out rebounded Georgia State 38-36.
CCU (7-12, 1-5 SBC) only trailed by three at halftime, but the Panthers came out in the second half and pushed the lead up to 18 (54-36), outscoring CCU 18-3 over the first six minutes of the second half.
Once again, it seemed as if the visiting team shot better from the free throw line and on its three point field goals on the Chants home court.
Georgia State (13-6, 4-2 SBC) hit 14 three point field goals and only had nine two point field goals. GSUM finished the game shooting 42 percent from the field, but hit 47 percent of its three point field goals. The Panthers also came into the game only shooting 65 percent from the free throw line, but hit 12-of-16 for 75 percent.
Five Panthers reached double digits led by Devin Mitchell’s 15. Malik Benlevi had a double-double for Georgia State with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
The Sun Belt’s leading scorer, D’Marcus Simonds, finished with 13 points, which was over eight points lower than his season average. Jordan Session and Jeff Thomas had 11 points each.
CCU once again struggled with turnovers. The 15 turnovers CCU made led to 23 points off turnovers for Georgia State. Even with an off game from Beck and Cuthbertson (4 points) the Chants outscored GSUM in the paint 20-16.
Georgia State hit nine three point field goals in the first half en route to a 36-33 halftime lead. The visitors only hit three two-point field goals and shot 43 percent from the field.
Six different players hit three point field goals led by Benlevi’s three. Simonds joined Benlevi with nine first-half points.
Labinowicz came out on fire in scoring 18 first half points. The sophomore hit five-of-seven and was two-of-three on his three point field goals and was six-of-seven at the free throw line.
CCU shot 33 percent from the field, but was able to stay close by hitting 13 of its 15 free throws.
The Chants will take to the road and head south for its next two games. CCU will start the road trip with a Thursday, Jan. 18 game at South Alabama beginning at 8:05 p.m. The Chants will then face Troy Saturday Jan. 20 at 5:15 p.m.
Press Release CCU Athletic Department