NEW ORLEANS – Coastal Carolina used a late first-half run and shot over 68 percent from 3-point land in defeating the University of South Alabama men's basketball team 80-67 Wednesday afternoon in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at Lakefront Arena.

The Chanticleers improve to 16-16 overall and move on to face top-seeded Texas-Arlington on Friday. The Jaguars finish the 2016-17 campaign with a 14-18 record.

"I'd like to congratulate (CCU head coach) Cliff Ellis and his team," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "I thought they were outstanding today. They shot at an extremely-high level from the 3-point line, and I'm not sure I've ever seen a stat like 25 assists on 29 field goals. That's absolutely remarkable. I wish them the best of luck moving forward.

"As for my team, I thought we came out in the first 12 minutes and did some good things. We started to press a little bit and we missed some shots inside and we allowed our inability to score to affect our transition defense. Coastal kept coming and made some 3s and we really dug ourselves a hole we never recovered from. It's a disappointing way to end your season, but I'm really proud of the seniors. They've had a good run and we'll certainly miss them."

Midway through the first half, USA freshman Trhae Mitchell (Austell, Ga.) scored the last of six unanswered points to the put the Jags up 27-21 with 8:51 to play.

Coastal scored 13 of the next 14 points to kickstart a 23-5 run to end the half and take over the contest. Amidou Bamba completed an old-fashioned three-point play to take the lead for good, Elijah Wilson hit a 3-pointer, and Josh Coleman nailed a jumper for an 8-0 spurt and a 34-26 lead.

A triple from USA freshman Josh Ajayi (El Monte, Calif.) briefly stemmed the tide with a 3, but the Chanticleers ended the period on a 10-1 rally to take a 44-32 lead into halftime.

South Alabama made just one field goal in the final 8:50 of the half and went 1 for 12 from the floor over that span.

"The last eight minutes when they went on that run, that really was the deciding factor in the game," Graves commented. "It's frustrating because we talk all the time about not allowing your offense to influence your defense, and that's what happened there. We didn't do a good job of getting back in transition and they got in a very good rhythm and it continued throughout the game."

USA opened the scoring in the second half with a 3-pointer, but Coastal Carolina answered with a bucket on its next possession and the lead never fell below 10 points the rest of the way.

Coastal Carolina went 7 for 10 from 3-point land in the first half and 11 for 16 for the game, setting a new Sun Belt Tournament record for 3-point percentage (68.8%).

"They made timely 3s and they had seven different guys make one, so they really stretched our defense and spread the floor out," Graves said.

USA senior Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) led all scorers with 18 points and added a team-best four assists. Senior Nick Stover (Los Angeles, Calif.) had 11 points and junior Shaq Calhoun (Rome, Ga.) added 10.

Senior Georgi Boyanov (Lovech, Bulgaria) grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, moving him past former teammate Mychal Ammons for eighth on the school's career rebounding list with 598.

Wilson paced the Chanticleers with 16 points. Jaylen Shaw tallied 14, and Bamba and Coleman had 10 apiece.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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—USA—