Cliff Ellis picked up his 700th career victory in Coastal Carolina's 80-58 win over the Citadel on Tuesday night in Charleston. Ellis began his coaching career with 78 wins at NAIA Cumberland College. He now has 622 Division I wins, 8th most among active coaches in college basketball. Anthony Raffa had 28 points to lead the Chants to their third consecutive win.
Coastal went on a 21-3 run in the first half to open a 21 point lead. Chris Gradnigo had 12 points and Kierre Greenwood added 10 as CCU shot 56.7 percent from the floor and outrebounding the Bulldogs 37-28. The Chanticleers get a ten day break for final exams before returning to action on December 16th against Lynchburg. The remainder of the month features two more key out of conference games at East Carolina (December 19th) and home against College of Charleston December 22nd.
CCU/Citadel Box Score
GoCCUSports.com Recap:
CHARLESTON - Coastal Carolina's leading scorer, Anthony Raffa scored 16 of his career-high 28 points in the second half as Coastal routed The Citadel, 80-58 Tuesday, Dec. 1 at McAlister Field House.
After trailing by six points in the early going, The Citadel pulled the game within three, 14-11 at the 13:36 mark of the first half. Coastal answered with a 21-3 run over the next 6:43 to build a 21-point advantage.
Coastal entered the week ranked fourth in the nation in field goal percentage (52.5%) and continued its hot shooting going 20-of-32 from the field (62.5%) in the first half to build a 20-point lead at the break.
Coastal finished the game 34-of-60 (56.7%) from the field while holding The Citadel to 37.7 percent shooting (20-of-53).
The Bulldogs cut the Chanticleer lead to 14 at the 8:08 mark but the Coastal offense would not surrender pulling another run to extend its lead to 20 at the 4:10 mark of the second half.
Jon Pack added eight points and a game-high eight rebounds as the Chanticleers out rebounded the Bulldogs 37-27.
Coastal will be off for 10 days due to exams before returning home Dec. 16 when they will face Lynchburg College Friday, Dec. 16 at 7:00 p.m. in Kimbel Arena.
