Coastal Carolina wins 2015 Big South basketball tournament

Coastal Carolina blew away Winthrop 81-70 with a huge second-half surge to seize the Big South Tournament title, earning their second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.

It’s the first time the Chanticleers have gone to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments. It’s also the second straight year their celebration has come at the expense of the Eagles -- they beat Winthrop 76-61 in last year’s final. aWrren Gillis led the way with 22 points, and Coastal Carolina held Winthrop to just 37 percent shooting.

The two teams were even for 20 minutes, with a wild banked 30-foot three by Winthrop’s Andre Smith knotting the score at 38. But Coastal Carolina pulled away in the second half, scoring the first seven points to start a lead that ballooned as big as 16.

Coastal Carolina was in their run to the tourney by a bloodbath of a tournament: the 1, 2, and 4 seeds were knocked out in the quarterfinals, leaving the No. 3-seeded Chanticleers as the top-seeded team still alive in the semifinals. To be fair, the league was very tight -- at one time, the top seven teams were in a tie for first.

Further helping the Chants was home court advantage: For the third straight year, Coastal Carolina hosted the tournament in their home arena, the HTC Center in Conway, SC. So for most teams, the games were held at a neutral site, but the Chanticleers got to play in front of a roaring fanbase. They even stormed the court after the final buzzer. It’s not like they were gifted the tournament, but in a one-bid league with so much parity, it was a huge help.