Published: November 23, 2009 11:25 pm         

Chanticleers impose will on Sycamores, ISU men lose 77-62

Coastal Carolina plays tough, pulls away in second half

BOWLING GREEN, KY. — With wins over College of Charleston, Elon, non-Division I Voorhees and an off-the-radar pedigree in the world of college basketball, it would be easy to wonder what kind of puncher’s chance Coastal Carolina would have against Indiana State in the Dick’s NIT Season Tipoff.

One bloody mouth later, the Sycamores know the answer.

Coastal Carolina imposed its will upon the Sycamores in the second half. Its surprising 77-62 victory was a well-deserved reward for aggressiveness the Chanticleers had in surplus that the Sycamores could never muster.

“They played harder than us, they hustled, and they got the ball where they needed it, pretty much at will,” ISU coach Kevin McKenna said. “When we went to the basket we didn’t make a shot, didn’t make a play for somebody or got it blocked. When they went to the basket, they got fouled and they finished.”

CCU (4-1) outscored ISU 43-29 in the second half as the athletic Chants went to the basket seemingly at will and kept ISU’s offense off-balance on its defensive end. Forward Joseph Harris had 13 of his game-high 22 points in the second half and he also had 11 rebounds. Three other Chants reached double-figure scoring, including Kierre Greenwood, who averaged 5.5 points going into the game, but poured in 17 points against ISU.

“It’s a huge win for us. It’s the first time we’ve beaten a Missouri Valley [Conference] team. They were getting the 50-50 balls before halftime, so coach challenged us to get aggressive and meet them on the boards. We wanted to get aggressive and do our thing,” Harris said.

Dwayne Lathan led ISU (3-2) with 14 points, but was slowed by foul trouble, along with several other Sycamores. Harry Marshall was the only other Sycamore in double-figures with 11 points.

With ISU’s confidence up after its 3-1 start, did the Sycamores look past the Chanticleers? Especially with a showdown against Western Kentucky looming today?

“I don’t think we disrespect anybody because we haven’t earned any respect, so we’d hate to disrespect anybody because we feel disrespect in so many ways,” Marshall said.

“I think the effort wasn’t there tonight and maybe we were looking too forward to tomorrow night [tonight’s game against Western Kentucky]. We were feeling good about ourselves at 3-1, but maybe this loss and this embarrassment will knock us down to reality,” Marshall added.

ISU was hurt by the absence of forward Carl Richard, who didn’t make the trip with an injured left shoulder. Richard’s absence took away a defender that could have helped defend Coastal Carolina’s athletic front line.

ISU trailed 34-33 at halftime and the cracks that became fatal in the second half were evident before the break. The Chanticleers’ press gave ISU’s offense fits as the Sycamores had 10 turnovers at the break.

“I thought our press was key. I thought it took the tempo away from them,” Coastal Carolina coach Cliff Ellis said. “They love the three and we knew if [Jordan] Printy, [Aaron] Carter and [Rashad] Reed stuck those 3s, they could get on a roll. We took away their 3s.”

To that point, ISU’s defense had kept the Sycamores in it as Coastal Carolina shot 34.6 percent in the first half, but the Sycamores couldn’t maintain its defensive prowess or do much else right in a second-half meltdown.

Before the Sycamores knew what hit them, Coastal Carolina had put an 8-0 run on ISU to start the second half to build a 42-33 lead. ISU quickly responded with a 5-0 run to make it 42-38 and the second half figured to take a direction much as the first half did.

But it didn’t. Coastal Carolina constantly found cutters for easy inside buckets and it blasted ISU with a 10-1 run to take a 52-39 lead. During the run, Coastal Carolina scored on five of six possessions. Only twice would ISU get its deficit to single-digits again. At one point, the Chanticleers led by 19.

The second half statistical tally was telling for the Sycamores. Coastal Carolina outrebounded ISU 20-14, shot 11 more free throws, made 53.8 percent from the field (ISU shot 36.7 percent) and scored 11 points off turnovers.

“They were the aggressive team from start to finish. We have to be ready to play. We had some guys step up and compete, but not for the full 40 minutes and not all of the time and not everybody. Coastal deserves the credit, they were the more aggressive team and that’s the team that usually prevails,” McKenna said.

Regardless, ISU has 24 hours to get over its unexpected loss to face Western Kentucky.

“There’s a lot of things we did wrong and not many we did right. After we watch the film, we have to swallow it and take it and get ready for the next game,” Marshall said.