CONWAY, S.C. -- Pele Paelay and Jack Leasure each netted 19 points to lead the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers past the Keydets 76-63 Monday night at Kimbel Arena. The win was the eighth straight for the Chanticleers and their 13th win this season at home. Matt Murrer and Travis Holmes led the Keydets with 13 points apiece.
Coastal's senior guard Paelay helped spark the Chanticleers on Senior Night in the first half as 11 of his 19 points came in the opening session. And sharp-shooting Leasure took over for his teammate by connecting for 16 second half points, including four from behind the arc, to pace the Chanticleers in the win.
Murrer continued his steady play for the Keydets, scoring 13 points on 5-9 shooting and grabbing eight rebounds. Freshman Travis Holmes continues to be a top scoring threat for VMI, adding 13 points and five rebounds on the night as Reggie Williams was held under double-digits for the second straight game.
Coastal Carolina improves to 16-9, and 10-4 in the Big South. The Keydets fall to 7-19, and 2-13 in the Big South.
The Keydets were victim of 13 Chanticleer steals and committed 16 turnovers on the night, both of which led to 26 Coastal points. Coastal shot 43.8% (28-64) for the game while the Keydets managed just 35.6% on 21-59 shooting.
After a Justin Jarman free throw opened the scoring on the night, the Chanticleers rattled off the next six and held the Keydets without a field goal until the 14:55 mark. And after the two teams traded free throws, the Keydets came back to tie the score up at 10-10 on a three-pointer by Holmes.
Chavis Holmes gave the Keydets their first lead of the night after knocking down a three with a little over eleven minutes remaining in the half, but Coastal would go on a 22-10 run in the next several minutes to take a nine point lead with 2:08 remaining. The Keydets, however, responded with a run of its own, scoring six straight to cut the lead to three heading into intermission at 34-31.
The Chanticleers came out hot in the opening minutes of the second half, and hit a trio of threes to storm out to a 13 point lead. The Keydets managed to get things going though, as Holmes and Murrer led VMI back and tied the score up with 9:30 remaining. Brother Chavis then got the Keydets back out in front as his three pointer sailed in from the corner, giving the Keydets their second lead of the ball game. The Keydets now led 58-57 with just under nine minutes remaining.
The lead was short lived; however, as the Chanticleers got things clicking and their pressure defense paid dividends. They quickly grabbed the lead back on a Paelay lay-up, one in which they would not surrender for the remainder of the game.
Coastal Carolina closed the game on a 17-3 run, and hit five of six free throws to seal a 76-63 victory, their eighth straight win.
Along with the hot shooting from outside by Paelay and Leasure, the Chanticleers also dominated the points in the paint, scoring 36 versus the Keydets' 20. The frontcourt was led by Moses Sonko, who scored 14 points, and Joseph Harris pulled down nine rebounds.
Behind Murrer and Holmes, Chavis Holmes and Reggie Williams added eight points, and Fred Robinson finished with seven.
The two teams split the season series, but the Chanticleers now hold a 5-1 overall lead over the Keydets. Additionally, Coastal head coach Buzz Peterson is now 8-3 against VMI.
The Keydets also received rather unsettling news as they discovered the Liberty Flames had knocked off Winthrop, improving the Flames' conference record to 3-11, and giving them a 1.5 game lead over VMI for the final playoff spot.
The Keydets will next host the Radford Highlanders in what has become a must-win situation on Thursday, February 23 at Cameron Hall. This will be the final home game of the season for VMI, and the Keydets two seniors (Tadas Mankevicius and Preston Beverly) will be honored prior to the game as part of Senior Night. Tip off is at 7:00 p.m.
