Paelay Pours In 38 as Coastal Carolina Downs VMI Basketball, 79-68

Men's Basketball VMIKeydets.com

Paelay Pours In 38 as Coastal Carolina Downs VMI Basketball, 79-68

LEXINGTON, Va. ? Junior guard Pele Paelay pumped in a career-high 38 points to lead Coastal Carolina over VMI, 79-68, in Big South Conference action Monday night at Cameron Hall.

Coastal won its first road game in nine tries this season and moved to 5-10, 2-1, while the Keydets suffered their fifth straight loss and fell to 5-7, 0-2.

Paelay's scoring output tied for the sixth best in Coastal Carolina history and was two points shy of the Cameron Hall record for most individual points in a game still held by Ramsey Yeatts of Bridgewater who scored 40 points on November 30, 1987.

The Keydets fell despite a late charge keyed by freshman forward Reggie Williams' team leading 23 points, 20 of which came after halftime.

Freshman guard Jack Leasure scored 15 points and senior guard Alvin Green added 11 points for the Chanticleers.

VMI junior guard Levar Joseph moved back into the starting lineup after returning to action Saturday following a month's absence due to knee problems and scored 10 points.

Coastal led 33-30 at the break, but took control of the second half ? shooting 57.1% from the floor (16-28) after hitting 36.1% of its shots in the first half. Paelay led the way with 24 second half points as the Chants led by as many as 20 points, 72-52, with 3:36 left when Adrian Gross converted a layup.

VMI, outshot by opponents for the 10th time in 12 games this year, hit just 10 of 30 attempts from the floor in the second half (33.3% ) and finished the game 35.4%.
The Keydets continued to struggle from the 3-point arc, going 5 of 25 (20%) after hitting just 7 of 29 beyond the arc the two previous games.

The Keydets staged a rally behind Williams, who helped the Keydets slice the deficit to 11 points at the 1:08 mark by scoring 10 points over a span of 2:52 to make it 74-63. Williams added five more points in the games final minute, but Paelay also added five points to close out the win for Coastal.

VMI generated a season-low six assists with 17 turnovers on the night.

The Keydets travel to UNC Asheville Saturday for a 4:00 p.m. tip at the Justice Center. Coastal Carolina plays host to Liberty at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.

VMI Head Basketball Coach Bart Bellairs ? “We had some bad turnovers again. Paelay is a very good player. I think he took it for a challenge because the young man's got a lot of ability and I think he came in here and did a great job. They were 10-23 from the three and we were 5-25. You can't just rely on that. We're copping out too much on that. We were in the bonus and we didn't have guys driving to the basket. You have to adjust your game to the way the officials call the game and we've got to be willing to drive the ball to the hole a little bit. Five for 25, all that is is long rebounds and they get it and go down and have easy baskets. I'm a little bit disappointed in our effort, but our offensive execution is really is settling for shots that aren't necessarily there. I think that guys a re rushing the shot when they shoot the three. When we shoot it well, we go inside, then go outside. When you try to make plays and shoot the three by dribbling, it's not good offense. We're going to look really hard at that the rest of the week.”
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