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Curtis earns landmark place in Division One basketball

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

A WEEK before “Selection Sunday”, Tristian Curtis became the first Bahamian to earn a berth in the 2015 NCAA Division One men’s basketball tournament.

Curtis and his Coastal Carolina Chanticleers received an automatic bye to the tournament yesterday when they defeated the Winthrop Eagles, 81-70, in the Big South Conference championship game.

Despite not attempting a shot from the field, Curtis grabbed a game high 14 rebounds as the Chanticleers pulled away in the second half.

Tied at half time 38-38, Coastal Carolina opened the second half with a 7-0 run and eventually led by as much as 16 in the rout.

The Chanticleers have earned back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths for the first time in the school’s history.

Curtis, the junior forward, finished the season averaging 4.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game and shot 54 per cent from the field.

Since the Coastal Carolina coaching staff made the move to shift Curtis to the starting lineup, the level of productivity increased for the Bahamian and wins have increased for the Chanticleers.

In an interview with the Sun News, Curtis said he looked to take advantage of this opportunity after his first two seasons where he played sparingly and averaged 2.4 points and three rebounds per game.

“It’s just a blessing from God, that’s what I believe,” Curtis said. “It was a lot of hard work, a lot of patience over my last two years, and finally my hard work comes to fruition so I’m just real thankful to God and thankful to the coaches for believing in me.”

The Chanticleers come into the East Region as the No.16 seed and will face the No.1 ranked Virginia Cavaliers on March 21 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

When they defeated the Eagles in the 2014 Big South title game, it broke a 21-year NCAA tournament drought for them .

They entered the East Region as a no.16 seed and seemed poised to pull off a historic upset before the No.1 Virginia Cavaliers pulled away.

The Cavaliers faced a 10-point deficit in the first half and trailed 35-30 at the half before they pulled ahead for good with about nine minutes left to play.

The regional seeding and match-ups will be decided on Sunday as teams learn their fate for the 64-field team tournament, commonly referred to as “March Madness”.

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