The Coastal Carolina men's basketball team defeated Charleston Southern 81-77 on Saturday in Charleston to close out the regular season schedule for both schools. CCU guard Anthony Raffa scored a team-high 24 points and Kingstree's Chad Gray added 21 to lead the Chanticleers to victory.

CCU's Sam McLaurin added 11 rebounds as Coastal improved to an overall record of 26-4 and 16-2 in Big South Conference play. The 16 conference wins is a Coastal Carolina school record. CCU won the regular season Big South title and will be the #1 seed in the upcoming Big South Conference post season tournament.

SPORTS DIRECTOR RICH CHRAMPANIS, HOST OF THE CLIFF ELLIS SHOW, WAS IN CHARLESTON FOR THE REGULAR SEASON FINALE

The Statement

It came about ten minutes before tipoff.  Tommy Brittain is a prominent Myrtle Beach attorney who has a connection to sports and law.  He represented Lawrence Taylor during his problems with the law in Myrtle Beach.  Because the NCAA investigation is ongoing, Ellis can't do much more than make this statement and keep his mouth shut.   I can tell you this:  Ellis is upset with the allegations in the NY Times article and is ready to put up a fight.   There's no question the season comes first followed by the NCAA's ruling on Holloway and then a possible legal battle after that.

The Other Statement

With the negativity at an all time high surrounding CCU basketball, the team responded by playing a stellar first half starting with a 28-9 run to start the game.  This team has taken an "us against the world mentality" and it is serving them well.  This game had no meaning in the overall scheme of things, but it was important for CCU to prove that it can win with a depleted roster in a tournament type situation.  Believe this: Charleston Southern was playing it like it was a tourney game.  The loss dropped the Bucs from 4th to 6th and they have to hit the road to face UNC-Asheville.

The Nieman Scare

Danny Nieman hit the floor hard just three minutes in and got the wind knocked out of him.  Fortunately, CCU got him back a few minutes later and he went the rest of the way.  Coach Ellis says he's sore, but it is all hands on deck from here on out. 

The NY Times Effect

The Charleston Southern fans had just a small group of students holding a sign "Hey Coach Pay Me to Play" and there were some dollar bills flashed around.  But CCU's red hot start to the game kept the crowd at bay and it was not much of a storyline. 

Big South Tourney

First round sets up like this:

Gardner-Webb at CCU (a reminder that this game is Tuesday night at 7pm on HTC Cable Channel 4)

High Point at Liberty

Charleston Southern at UNC-Asheville

Winthrop at VMI