Chants basketball tops The Citadel

From Coastal Carolina University

CONWAY, S.C. –  Chad Gray scored a season-high 27 points to go along with seven rebounds and Coastal Carolina won its fourth game in a row with a 72-64 win over The Citadel Saturday night from Kimbel Arena.

Gray shot 13-for-15 from the field and hit his first 10 shots to lead a trio of Chanticleers in double figures.  Junior guard Desmond Holloway scored 18 points and pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds to register his first career double-double at Coastal.

Sophomore guard Anthony Raffa tallied 12 points and four rebounds and has scored in double figures in three straight games.

Cameron Wells led The Citadel with 22 points and had six rebounds and five assists.  Austin Dahn finished with 18 points and hit four three-pointers, while Bryan Streeter collected 10 points and six rebounds.

The Citadel (1-4) took its largest lead of the night one minute into the second half on a layup from Streeter to put the Bulldogs ahead 37-28.  Coastal scored the next six points on a layup from Holloway and a pair of baskets from Gray to pull within three points at 37-34.

The Bulldogs pushed their lead back to seven points on a three-pointer by Dahn at the 14:42 mark.  But the Chanticleers used a 6-0 run over the next minute to climb within one point following a deep three-pointer from Dexter Moore.

After Wells scored on consecutive possessions for the Bulldogs to up the lead to five points, Moore converted an old fashioned three-point play to pull the Chants back to within two points.  Wells struck again and scored the next four points for the Bulldogs to give his team a 51-45 lead at the midway point.

Holloway answered and scored the next six points for Coastal to even the score at 51-51 with just under eight minutes to play.   Both teams traded baskets on the following four possessions before Holloway gave the Chants their first lead since the 5:02 mark of the first half with a pair of free throws.

Zach Urbanus gave The Citadel the lead on the ensuing possession with a three-pointer, but Coastal used a pair of free throws from Holloway and a putback by Gray on its next two possessions to take the lead for good with 4:34 left to play.

Streeter pulled the Bulldogs to within one points with 4:06 left to play, but Gray answered with a dunk while drawing a foul on the other end of the floor off a nifty pass from Brandon Crawford.

Raffa scored the last three field goals for the Chants on uncontested layups to help Coastal pull away over the final seconds.

Coastal Carolina returns to action Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. from Kimbel Arena when the Chanticleers open Big South play against Charleston Southern.