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Coastal Carolina pulls away, posts road win at VMI

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The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers opened the second half with a 14-1 run, breaking open a close game and defeating the VMI Keydets 109-87 in Big South basketball action Thursday night at Cameron Hall in Lexington, Va.

With Coastal (13-2, 4-0 Big South) leading by nine, Keith Gabriel hit a three-pointer in the opening minute of the second half to make the score 52-46, CCU, but the visitors scored 14 of the next 15 points and claimed a 66-47 lead with 15:48 to play. VMI (9-6, 2-3 BSC) was unable to get closer than 14 points the rest of the way.

In the loss, VMI was led by Gabriel, who had 23 points on the night, but none over the final 19:27. Coastal placed six players in double figures, paced by Desmond Holloway’s 25 points on 8 of 11 shooting. The visitors hit 55.6% (40 of 72) from the floor, the second-highest percentage allowed by VMI this season, and outrebounded the Keydets 52-33 en route to their 11th straight win.

The game got off to a back-and-forth start, as there were six ties in the first eight minutes. Coastal briefly took a 12-7 lead, but VMI responded with a 7-0 run, beginning at the 15:17 mark, and took a 14-12 advantage at 14:10 on a Gabriel layup. The Chanticleers tied it moments later, and neither team held more than a four-point edge for the next six-plus minutes.

Coastal took that five-point cushion with eight minutes left in the period, but again, the Keydets answered. Three straight three-pointers comprised a 9-0 run and gave VMI the lead once again, 36-33, with 6:20 left in the half.

After missing their first five three-pointers, the Keydets made six of their next 10 tries from behind the arc. That performance kept them close in a first half that saw several players, including Austin Kenon and Stan Okoye, be called for two fouls apiece early on. D.J. Covington had two first half fouls as well, as did Coastal Carolina’s Mike Holmes and Chad Gray.

The back-and-forth play continued until the final minutes of the first half, but the Chanticleers closed the half on a 15-5 run to take a 52-43 lead into the locker room. There were nine ties and six lead changes in the opening period, while Gabriel was the leading scorer with 20 points, including 14 of the Keydets’ first 33 markers.

Coastal Carolina came out of the locker room with the game-deciding run, and although the Keydets got back within 14, the Chanticleers stretched the lead from there. The margin grew to 22 with 10:44 remaining before VMI made its final run, a 10-3 effort to get the deficit back to 15, but the visiting squad put the game out of reach with a 12-0 spurt and went to 4-0 in the conference this season.

In addition to Gabriel, Stan Okoye had a 20-point game for the Keydets, and Ron Burks returned from injury to post 11 points and seven rebounds. Coastal’s Mike Holmes had a double-double, 12 points and 10 rebounds, in just 17 minutes, while sophomore Kierre Greenwood notched 18 points, had six rebounds and dished out five assists.

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