Coastal Men’s Basketball grinds out win over Louisiana-Monroe

Following a loss on Thursday, the Coastal Carolina men’s basketball team was able to get back to winning ways on Saturday, March 1 as the Chanticleers defeated the University of Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks by a final score of 97-91.

Chanticleer guard Devante Jones continued his magical season as he led the team in scoring with a career-high 30 points. He added five assists and three steals. Joining Jones in double figures were Tyrell Gumbs-Frater (13 points), Tommy Burton (12 points), and Zac Cuthbertson (25 points, seven rebounds, and six assists).

Coastal Carolina took a 45-41 lead into halftime, and then rode a 13-0 run to start the second half to hold off a ULM comeback en route to a 97-91 win.

The Chanticleers dominated on the glass as they put-rebounded the Warhawks 35-18, they were also able to turn nine offensive rebounds into 13 points.

Louisiana-Monroe was led by Daishon Smith and his 29 points. He was joined in double figures by Travis Munnigs (23 points), Tyree White (16 points), and JD Williams (11).

The win puts the Chanticleers at 14-14 on the year and 8-8 in Sun Belt Conference play. The win also secured the Chanticleers a spot in the Sun Belt Tournament. Coastal is now in seventh-place in the Sun Belt Conference standings and are tied with Louisiana-Monroe (15-13) and Louisiana-Lafayette (17-12) for the same conference record (8-8). While Monroe and Lafayette have better overall records, should Coastal win their final two games and either Louisiana team loses at least one, the Chanticleers will not have to play in a first-round game. Rather, they would go straight to the second round.

As it stands, Coastal is in seventh place and if the Sun Belt Tournament started today, the Chanticleers would host 10-seed Appalachian State at the HTC Center on Tuesday, March 12.

In the meantime, Coastal Carolina is back home starting on March 7 as they host South Alabama. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.