Coastal drops heartbreaker at Savannah State

By Matt Lincoln
News13 Sports Director
Published: November 18, 2008

Coastal’s 21 point loss in their home opener was embarrassing enough, but in many ways, Tuesday night’s defeat was worse. A Chris Linton free throw with three seconds remaining gave Savannah State a 66-65 victory, dropping the Chants to 0-2.

Coastal Carolina, who led by as much as seven points in the second half, were up 63-58 after a free throw by senior Mario Sisinni at 1:41, but Jovonni Shuler hit a three pointer at 1:25, cutting the Chant lead to two.  Coastal Carolina would milk the 35 second shot clock, but Coastal Carolina turned the ball over to the Tigers.  Sisinni would foul Raye Bailey and he would hit both free throws to tie the game at 63.  The Chants came down on their next possession and sophomore Anthony Breeze would muscle in a layup for a 65-63 lead.  Bailey would miss a jumper on SSU’s next trip down the floor, but Linton would grab the rebound and stick back the layup to tie the game for the eighth time, this time at 65.

Coastal Carolina would have trouble on the inbound and Linton would made the steal and get fouled by redshirt junior Logan Johnson.  Linton missed the first attempt, but made the second for a one-point Tiger lead.  Junior Mario Edwards three-point attempt at the buzzer rattled out, giving the Tigers its third consecutive win to start the season.

Sisinni wouild start the game by hitting three free throws, but Bailey came back to tie the game at 3-3 with 18:!4 left in the first half.  Savannah State led 14-11 at 12:38 on a layup from Anthony Jones, but a jumper by Johnson and five points from freshman Dexter Moore gave the Chants an 18-14 lead with 10:36 left.  Savannah State would make a 13-4 run over the next 3:36 gave the Tigers a 27-21 lead.  Senior Steven Sexton hit a three to cut the lead to 29-26 at 4:34 and freshman Darius Steger’s (Guntersville, Ala./Guntersville)  triple at 3:56 tied the game at 29.  Redshirt junior Joseph Harris scored the Chants’ last six points of the half, including a layup as time expired to give Coastal Carolina a 38-37 halftime lead.

Harris had eight points and six rebounds in the first half, while Moore added seven points.  Coastal Carolina shot 45.2 percent in the first 20 minutes, including going 4-of-9 from three-point range.  Savannah State was led by Rashad Hassan’s nine points.

The Chanticleers would come out of the lockerroom on a 7-1 run, capped off by a thunderous dunk from Breeze at 16:26.  After a jumper by Patrick Hardy cut the Chant lead to 46-45 at 13:04, Coastal Carolina would score the next six points, garnering its largest lead of the game at 11:01 on a three-point play from Harris.  Shuler’s three at 8:47 cut the lead to 52-50, but two free throws from redshirt freshman Jon Pack (Dallas, Ga./East Paulding) and another three-point play from Harris extended the lead to five with 8:11 left.  Savannah State would again cut the lead to one on a Bailey three, but a Harris layup and another Breeze dunk gave the Chants the 61-56 lead with 3:05 left.  Breeze made 1-of-2 free throws at 2:14 for a six-point lead, but Linton would start his run with a layup at 1:58.  Linton scored five of the last eight points for the Tigers.

Harris earned his 12th career double-double after scoring 16 points and adding 14 rebounds, two off his career high.  He also added four blocked shots, which tied a career high.  Moore was the other Chant in double figures, scoring 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting and two three-pointers.  Sisinni led the Chanticleers with five assists and two steals.

Linton had a double-double for Savannah State with 11 points and 10 rebounds.  Bailey was the Tigers’ leading scorer with 14 points, while Shuler added 12.

Coastal Carolina ended the game shooting 49 percent from the field, but just 54.5 percent from the free-throw line.  Coastal Carolina also had 22 turnovers and were outrebounded 35-33.  Savannah State shot 37 percent from the field and were 20-of-27 from the charity stripe.

Coastal Carolina starts the Global Sports Classic Saturday, Nov. 22 at Florida State.  Tipoff is at 7 p.m.