CONWAY, S.C. (AP) — Essam Mostafa had 23 points and 13 rebounds and Coastal Carolina pulled away in the second half to upset South Carolina 80-56 on Wednesday night.
It was Coastal Carolina’s first win against a Power Five opponent since beating Utah early in the 2019-20 season.
The Chanticleers had a one-point halftime lead and opened the second on a 24-4 run and cruised from there. Mostafa scored 12 points during the stretch.
Mostafa, a sophomore center from Cairo, Egypt, was 6 of 13 from the field and 11-of-16 shooting at the free-throw line. He entered averaging 18.5 points and 10.5 rebounds while shooting 50% from the field. It was his third double-double of the season.
South Carolina pulled to 64-52 with 8:21 remaining. Mustafa’s layup and consecutive dunks from Vince Cole and Wilfried Likayi pushed the Chanticleer’s lead to 18 with 4:42 to play.
Rudi Williams added 19 points and six assists for the Chanticleers (3-2). Cole finished with 16 points.
Erik Stevenson scored 12 points and Jacobi Wright had 12 for the Gamecocks (5-2), which ended a four-game win streak while playing in Conway for the first time. The Gamecocks shot 19% (6 of 32) from the floor and had nine turnovers in the second half.
South Carolina forward Josh Gray was ejected with 1.6 seconds remaining in the game for shoving a CCU player.
Coast Carolina beat the Gamecocks for the second time — an 88-74 victory in Columbia in 1993.
___
For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
