Justin Roberts
Mitchell Layton Photography
72
Georgia St. GSU 10-5,3-1 Sun Belt
74
Winner Coastal Carolina CCU 9-6,2-2 Sun Belt
Georgia St. GSU
10-5,3-1 Sun Belt
72
Final
74
Coastal Carolina CCU
9-6,2-2 Sun Belt
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Georgia St. GSU 35 37 72
Coastal Carolina CCU 35 39 74

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Late Comeback Falls Short as Coastal Carolina Tops Panthers 74-72

CONWAY, S.C.-Despite trailing by 10 points with two minutes to play, Georgia State nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback before falling to Coastal Carolina 74-72 on Saturday afternoon at the HTC Center.

Coastal Carolina (9-6, 2-2 Sun Belt) used a pair of late second-half runs to go ahead 68-58 with two minutes to play before Georgia State (10-5, 3-1 Sun Belt) mounted a furious comeback that came up just short.

Freshman Joe Jones III just missed a double-double for the Panthers with nine points and 10 rebounds. Redshirt-sophomore Justin Roberts led Georgia State with 16 points and added seven rebounds while junior Kane Williams also just missed a double-double with 11 points and seven assists. Sophomore Nelson Phillips scored nine points and swiped a career-high six steals.

The Chanticleers were led by DeVante Jones who scored 23 points and swiped five steals, while Tommy Burton finished with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
In a sloppy game for both sides, Georgia State turned the ball over 23 times while forcing Coastal Carolina into 21 turnovers. Neither team shot better than 42.0 percent from the floor or 31.0 percent from 3-point range.

Coastal Carolina led 60-58 with 3:46 to play before using an 8-0 run to take a 68-58 lead on the Panthers with two minutes to play.

Georgia State still trailed 70-61 with 1:21 remaining before back-to-back field goals by Roberts and senior Damon Wilson cut the lead to five. Following a jumper by Hosana Kitenge with 50 seconds to play and a Jones free throw, Coastal led 73-65 with just 35 seconds on the clock.

Roberts hit another jumper for the Panthers and a possession later Williams made a lay-up and free throw to cut Coastal's lead to just three with 19 seconds to play. After Josh Peterson knocked down 1-of-2 free throws, Roberts made another jumper with 1.5 seconds to play as Coastal led by just two.

After being fouled Garrick Green missed both free throws for the Chanticleers, but a full-court 3-pointer by Kavonte Ivery was just off the mark.

The two teams traded leads for the first part of the half before Georgia State used an 6-0 run to turn a three point deficit into a three point lead, 22-19, with 8:27 to play.

Tied at 27, the Panthers used a 5-0 run to lead 32-27 with 3:54 to play, before Coastal finished the half on a 6-0 run to send the two teams in to the locker room tied at 35.

Trailing by one early in the second half, Georgia State responded with a 6-0 run to take a 43-38 lead with 16:02 to play.

Coastal responded later in the half with a 7-0 run to take a 45-44 lead with 14:15 remaining as the two teams traded leads 16 times throughout the game to go along with seven ties.

While holding Georgia State scoreless for a six-minute stretch, Coastal Carolina used a 7-0 run to take a 58-54 lead with under five minutes to play.

Wilson finished with nine points while Ivery came off the bench to score five and pull down a pair of rebounds.

Garrick Green added 10 points and five rebounds for Coastal while Keishawn Brewton scored 14.

Notes:
  • Coastal Carolina improved to 5-2 all-time against Georgia State.
  • Georgia State, the back-to-back defending Sun Belt Conference tournament champions have compiled an 81-35 league record since rejoining the league in 2013-14.
  • With a 3-pointer today, Georgia State has made at least one 3-pointer in 763 games dating back to Feb. 18, 1995.
  • Since the start of the 2013-14 season, the Panthers have won 144 games, the most of any NCAA Division 1 program in the state of Georgia.
Georgia State will conclude its three-game road trip at Arkansas State on Monday night at 8 p.m. ET. The game will air on ESPN+ and WRAS-FM 88.5.
 
Print Friendly Version