JONESBORO, Ark. (2/1/20) – The Arkansas State men’s basketball team had four players score in double figures, including freshman guard Caleb Field with a team-high 21 points, and overcame a 10-point deficit in the second half to briefly take the lead, but couldn’t hold off Coastal Carolina in an 83-77 setback Saturday at First National Bank Arena.

A-State finished with a .409 field goal percentage as its overall record moved to 15-9 and Sun Belt mark to 7-6, while the Chanticleers made 52 percent of their shots to help them improve to 12-11 overall and 5-7 in league action.

The bulk of A-State’s scoring came from its starting lineup with J.J. Matthews posting 19 points, Marquis Eaton finishing with 15 and Malik Brevard tallying 14 to join Fields in double figures.  The Red Wolves’ bench entered the game averaging 26.1 points per game, but accounted for just eight against the Chanticleers.

“Coastal (Carolina) obviously played an excellent basketball game,” said A-State head coach Mike Balado.  “Defensively, we (weren’t good).  We’ll get back to work – get back to practice – and fix some things because we still have a bunch of games to play and a lot to play for in this league.  Everybody beats everybody every weekend, so we’ve got to get back to the way we were playing two weeks ago.”

The Chanticleers, which led the entire first half, scored the game’s first seven points and extended their lead to as much as 11 points on three different occasions within the contest’s first 11 minutes.  A-State trailed 21-10 with 9:22 remaining in the opening half and found itself down 41-33 at the break.

A pair of free throws early in the second half extended Coastal Carolina’s lead to 43-33, but the Red Wolves put together a 13-2 run to take their first advantage of the day at 46-45 with 14:15 left on the clock.  A-State was unable to extend its lead to more than three points and held its last lead, 50-48, at the 12:31 mark.

Coastal Carolina responded with a quick 6-0 run to go up 54-50 and would retain the lead the rest of the way.  Arkansas State pulled back within one point at two different times over the last 10 minutes, but couldn’t get any closer.

Leading 64-63, the Chanticleers posted a 7-2 run to push its advantage to 71-65 with under four minutes left in the game.  The Red Wolves were unable to make it a single-possession contest the rest of the way.

A-State took a season-high 54 free throw attempts, just six shy of the school record, and connected on 39 of them for a .722 percentage.  The Red Wolves didn’t make their first three-point field goal until under six minutes left in the second half and finished just 2-of-16 from beyond the arc.

The Chanticleers were 18-of-23 from the charity stripe and made 9-of-24 three-point attempts.  They also held a 32-27 advantage on the boards.  The visitors were led by three players scoring in double digits, including Tyrell Gumbs-Frater with a game-high 24 points.

Arkansas State returns to action Saturday, Feb. 8, with a 2:00 p.m. game at Little Rock.

Original article source: https://astateredwolves.com/news/2020/2/1/mens-basketball-red-wolves-drop-home-contest-to-coastal-carolina.aspx | Article may or may not reflect the views of KLEK 102.5 FM or The Voice of Arkansas Minority Advocacy Council