Coastal Carolina gets first- ever Postseason win
Jaylen Shaw and Elijah Wilson lead the Chanticleers to the historic win
CONWAY - Two 3-pointers by Jaylen Shaw and another by Elijah Wilson in the middle stages of the
second half sparked Coastal Carolina to a 65-57 win over Mercer in the first round of the 2016
CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
Coastal will host the second round of the CIT against a to-be-determined on Sat., March 19, at 2 p.m.
The win, which was the first for the Chanticleer program in a postseason tournament, improved Coastal
to 19-11 on the season, while Mercer's season ends at 19-15.
Wilson led all scorers with 18 points, which included a trio of 3-pointers. Shaw finished with 16 points on
six makes, including three triples. Badou Diagne, who returned to the court after missing the previous
three games with injury, nearly double-doubled with nine points and eight rebounds.
Demetre Rivers paced the Mercer offense with 16 points. Joining Rivers in double-figures was Lawrence
Brown and Stephon Jelks with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Coastal closed the game shooting 35.5 percent from the floor (22-62) and 77.8 percent from the line
(14-18). Mercer made 36.1 percent of its attempts (22-61) and all nine of its free throws. Coastal
became just the third team to outrebound the Bears this season, controlling the boards 43-39.
Shaw provided the game's eighth tie at 36-36 with a bucket inside at the 12:04 mark of the second half.
A few possessions later Shaw gave Coastal its first lead of the second half with a triple at the top of the
arc. Mercer's Jelks answered with a basket in the paint on the Bears' ensuing possession. Shaw then
responded CCU's next time down the floor with a step-back three from the top of the arc. After a
Mercer score, Wilson hit his second three of the game from the right corner, giving the Chants a 45-40
lead and forcing a Mercer timeout with 8:04 to go.
Wilson scored on jumper on Coastal's next possession after the timeout, creating a seven-point lead at
47-40. Coastal stretched the lead to as many as nine over the next six minutes with Wilson scoring after
stealing a Mercer inbound pass to make the score 60-51 with 2:20 to play.
Shivaughn Wiggins and Wilson combined to make five of six free throws down the stretch to secure the
65-57 Chanticleer win.
The first half played as an offensive struggle as the teams combined to make only 20-of-59 attempts.
Mercer led 5-0 before Coastal scored seven straight to take its first advantage of the contest. The sides
exchanged the lead five more times in the half with Mercer taking a 26-25 lead into the intermission.