Men’s Basketball blown out in Sun Belt Tournament, accepts bid to CBI

The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers were embarrassed by the University of Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks in the second round of the Sun Belt Tournament as they were defeated by a final score of 80-50.

Coastal was led by Tommy Burton and his 15 points, while Tyrell Gumbs-Frater was the only other Chanticleer to cross the 10 point threshold, as he finished the game with 12. Zac Cuthbertson had nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while Devante Jones had a mere eight points on the night.

Michael Ertel was the leading scorer for ULM as he dropped 20. He was joined in double figures by Travis Munnings (17), and Daishon Smith (13).

Coastal Carolina was annihilated in nearly every statistical category. They were outshot 50 percent to 29.5 percent for the game, they shot an embarrassing 20 percent from three while the Warhawks shot 42.5 percent. From the free-throw line it was no better, as the Chanticleers shot 64.3 percent from the charity stripe, well behind Louisiana-Monroe’s 90.9 percent.

While shooting was abysmal, rebounding was not as bad as both CCU and ULM grabbed 37 boards. Ball security was atrocious, with Coastal turning the ball over 14 times, leading to 21 points for Louisiana-Monroe, which proved to be the difference in the game.

ULM took a 41-31 lead into the second half and never looked back, cruising to the 30 point victory.

Despite the tough end in the Sun Belt tournament, the Chanticleers have a chance at redemption after accepting a bid to play in the 2019 College Basketball Invitational (CBI).

This is the Chanticleers fifth appearance in postseason tournaments in the last six years. CCU made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2014 and 2015 as number 16 seeds. In 2016, the Chanticleers made it all the way to the CIT Final Four before falling to eventual CIT Champion (and number 13 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament) UC-Irvine. Coastal extended their postseason streak in 2017, going all the way to the CBI Championship series, eventually falling to Wyoming in a best-of-three final.

Coastal Carolina will play host to Howard University on Wednesday, March 20. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.