Men's Basketball Associated Press

Coastal Carolina Crushes Utah in Men's Basketball Action at Myrtle Beach Invitational

CONWAY, S.C. – Keishawn Brewton scored 22 points and hit six 3-pointers, and Coastal Carolina beat Utah 79-57 on Thursday night in a Myrtle Beach Invitational quarterfinal.

Ebrima Dibba added 19 points, DeVante' Jones had 16 points and Garrick Green finished with 12 for the Chanticleers (3-2). Playing on their home court, they shot 45%, hit 11 3-pointers and pulled away midway through the second half with a Brewton-led 26-9 run.

The win was Coastal Carolina's first over a Pac-12 Conference program and the Sun Belt Conference's first over an Autonomy Five conference school this season.

Timmy Allen had 15 points for the Utes (3-1), who never led outside of the opening 6 minutes but pulled to 44-38 on Jaxon Brenchley's layup with 16:30 minutes remaining.

Brewton hit four 3s during that game-breaking run, which Dibba capped with a free throw that made it 70-47 with 5:53 to play.

Utah -- which entered shooting 40 percent from three-point range – shot just 18% from long distance and matched a season low with five of them. The Utes shot just 25 percent in the second half.

Big Picture
Coastal Carolina: The Chanticleers looked right at home playing on their home floor -- especially Brewton, a junior college transfer who's making an immediate impact with his new team after scoring 24 in the opening loss to Campbell. Coastal Carolina shot 50% in the second half and made the most of their takeaways, turning 15 Utah turnovers into 19 points.

Utah: It's hard to sugarcoat this loss for a young Utes team that started 3-0 with solid wins at Nevada and against Minnesota and set the school's single-game scoring record with 143 points against Mississippi Valley State. Both Gach, who averages 17.7 points, finished with five on 2-of-11 shooting.

Up Next
Coastal Carolina: Faces No. 24 Baylor on Friday in a semifinal on ESPNU.
Utah: Will play Ohio on Friday in a consolation game.