Box Score
FARMVILLE, Va. – Anthony Raffa scored a game-high 26 points, including a desperation three-point heave from midcourt at the first-half buzzer, to lead visiting Coastal Carolina University to an 80-72 men's basketball victory against Longwood University Saturday afternoon at Willett Hall in Farmville. It was the first-ever Big South Conference game in the sport for the Lancers (3-12, 0-1 Big South), who were led by freshmen
Nik Brown|Ashburn with 19 points and
Michael Kessens|Nyon, Switzerland with his seventh double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Chanticleers (6-6, 1-0 Big South) also got a career-high 21 points from Warren Gillis and 19 points from Kierre Greenwood, including a pair of Greenwood free throws before the opening tip after a technical foul was assessed to Longwood for dunking in pre-game warm-ups. Longwood will play again Wednesday, January 9, hosting Campbell University at 7 p.m.
Coastal Carolina jumped out to an early 10-2 lead at 17:05 as Greenwood scored six quick points, and extended its lead to as many as 10 points, 25-15, with 9:19 left in the opening half behind nine points from Greenwood. Longwood battled back with eight unanswered points to pull to within 25-23 at 7:22 following an old-fashioned three-point play by freshman
Karl Ziegler|Annandale. The Lancers were within 36-35 at 3:04 after an offensive putback basket from senior
Stephen Shockley|Leesburg, but the Chanticleers took a 45-38 lead at the intermission behind a 9-3 half-ending run that included the half court three-pointer by Raffa. Greenwood had 15 points at the break, and Raffa had 12 points.
Coastal Carolina took its largest lead of the second half at 51-42 with 17:30 remaining after two baskets by Raffa and a layup by Gillis. Longwood once-again fought back with a 14-3 run to take its first lead at 56-54 with 13:44 left following a layup from redshirt-sophomore
Jeylani Dublin|Brooklyn, New York; the run on the strength of three-pointers by Brown (five points) and junior captain
David Robinson|Chesterfield along with baskets from Ziegler and freshman
Lucas Woodhouse|Greenlawn, New York. It was a 60-58 Lancers' lead at 7:25 following a Ziegler layup, and it was tied at 62-62 with 6:16 left after a dunk by Kessens, assisted by Brown. The Chanticleers, however, answered with six-straight points, four from Gillis, to lead 68-62 at 3:42. Longwood closed to within two points three times (68-66, 2:27; 71-69, 1:31; 73-71, 1:07), but Greenwood (2-2) and Raffa (2-2) made four free throws over the final 47-seconds to help secure the outcome.
"The first time only happens once," said 10th-year Longwood head coach Mike Gillian. "This was our first Big South game and, while it will be memorable, it's not the exact memory we wanted to have of it. We did a lot of the things this afternoon that it takes to be successful, just not enough of them in the final four minutes of the game that would have brought us out on top."
Brown scored 19 points to lead Longwood, adding five assists. Kessens posted his seventh double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Lancers. Dublin had 10 points and seven rebounds, Robinson finished with nine points, junior captain
Tristan Carey|Colonial Beach had eight points, and Ziegler contributed seven points. Woodhouse added five points and a career-high and game-high eight assists. LU shot 49.2% (29-59) from the field, including 28.6% (6-21) on three-point field goals, and 53.3% (8-15) at the free throw line.
Raffa scored a game-high 26 points for Coastal Carolina. Gillis had his career-high 21 points for the Chanticleers. Greenwood finished with 19 points, adding six assists, and El Hadji Ndieguene contributed five points and a career-high and game-high 12 rebounds. CCU shot 52.7% (29-55) from the field, including 66.7% (4-6) on three-pointers, and 75.0% (18-24) at the line for the difference in the game against a team picked to finish second in the South Division of the conference.
Longwood and Coastal Carolina were playing for just the second time in the sport, and the series is now tied at 1-1.
Coastal Carolina will return home to host Presbyterian on Jan. 9 at 7 p.m.
