NEW ORLEANS – Jaylen Shaw scored a game-high 27 points, but it was not enough as Coastal Carolina fell to Texas State 73-66 in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Championship.

Shaw hit 11 of his 17 field goal attempts on his way to the game-high. He also posted six rebounds and three assists in his final game as a Chanticleer.

Coastal Carolina once trailed in the game by 16 points (52-36) in the second half, but came back behind the play of Shaw to cut the lead to 62-58 with three minutes left in the game.


It was a time which saw the Chanticleer defense hold the Bobcats over seven minutes without a field goal, but CCU could not complete the comeback as a turnover led to a layup and pushed Texas State’s lead back up to six and CCU never got any closer.

Texas State (15-18) won the game at the free throw line, where they hit 22 of 26 for 85 percent. They came into the game only shooting 65 percent as a team at the charity stripe.


CCU (14-18) meanwhile, also hit its free throws, but only attempted 14 connecting on 11 for 79 percent.

Zac Cuthbertson scored 19 points off the bench for the Chants, but he and Shaw were the only two to reach double digits. Tyrell Gumbs-Frater had six points as CCU shot 41 percent from the field.

Texas State had four players reach double digits led by Nijal Pearson’s 20 points. Eric Terry scored 16 and Tyler Blount added 14 and Tre Nottingham 10.

TSU out rebounded CCU 38-34. Both teams had several offensive rebounds which led to 15 second-chance points for each team. CCU outscored Texas State 26-20 in the paint and 31-16 in bench production.

Texas State carried a 32-28 lead into halftime as Pearson with 11 points and Terry 10 points led the Bobcats.

TSU shot 38 percent in the opening half, but the big difference was rebounds where TSU out rebounded CCU 21-17 with 10 of those offensive, leading to six second chance points.

Cuthbertson led CCU with 10 points and Shaw and Gumbs-Frater added six each.

CCU shot 37 percent from the field and hit five of its 12 three point attempts, but missed three of its six free throw attempts.