Paul Reed, DePaul

CHICAGO - What was a dying ember for DePaul on March 13th, with a loss to St. John's in the first round of the Big East tournament, has since turned into a raging bonfire. And on Wednesday night at McGrath-Phillips Arena, Paul Reed poured a monstrous bucket of petroleum-based product on that fire, a bucket that kept that fire burning at least until next Wednesday.

Reed scored a career-high 24 points and seniors Max Strus and Femi Olujobi added 24 points and 18 points respectively as DePaul beat Coastal Carolina 92-87 at McGrath-Phillips Arena to advance to the Roman CBI tournament best 2 out of 3 championship series.

"Paul is growing by leaps and bounds right in front of our eyes," DePaul coach Dave Leitao said. "He is going to put more strength on, more confidence, his game is going to grow. But I don't know if I have been around a guy that does what he does. I think I called one play for him today, so he does all the things that he does alternatively by just being at the right place at the right time."

That right place included being the recipient of a 17-foot alley-oop pass from Strus that Reed dunked, igniting the DePaul fan base, and giving the Blue Demons a 47-43 lead three minutes into the second half.

That right time included a block on Ebrima Dibba with seven seconds left, with the ball landing in the sideline stands.

DePaul, which had averaged 98 points in this tournament, led 38-36 at the half. The Blue Demons have now scored at least 90 points in six of their last seven games. DePaul's point total moves this season's team into second place all-time at DePaul for points scored in a season, with the 1978 team holding the record with 2,639 points.

This game would end up with DePaul's Lyrik Shreiner, starting in place of point guard Devin Gage, who is out with a concussion he sustained in the quarterfinals against Longwood, all smiles in the final seconds tonight. And for good reason.

Shreiner played 36 minutes and ended up with three points, a collegiate-high and game-high six assists, and four rebounds. His 3-point play with 6:39 to play gave DePaul an 80-69 lead.

"[Shreiner] played 36 minutes today, and for a guy that had trouble getting 36 seconds during the course of the year," Leitao said. "He defends and he played on the ball a lot today. He gave us tremendous minutes. He found guys and he went [to the basket] when he had to. He was solid today."

DePaul (18-15) scored 56 points in the paint, with Olujobi explaining that the DePaul post players took what they wanted instead of waiting it to be given to them. Olujobi was given the game ball from the Longwood game in honor of the 1,000th career point he scored in that game.

Coastal Carolina (17-17) was led by Zac Cuthbertson's 21 points, but he was held to six points in the second half.

Reed's 3-pointer from the right wing at 8:13 of the second half gave DePaul a 75-66 lead before the Chanticleers went on a 7-0 run to pull to within 82-76 before a lay up by DePaul's Jaylen Butz and two free throws by Olujobi ended the threat. The Blue Demons shot 22-23 from the line for the game.

DePaul senior Eli Cain's 12 points moves him into 10th place all-time in scoring at DePaul. Cain spoke about what this win and playing for a championship means for the program.

"A win would be huge [for the program]. For [the seniors] to go out with a championship and to have the young guys have something to cherish and to use to go forward will be huge for the program."

DePaul came into the game ranked No. 22 in the nation in rebounding margin at +6.0, and true to Olujobi's words, the Blue Demons took what they wanted on glass, out-rebounding the Chanticleers 36-24, with Olujobi grabbing a game-high eight boards.

The Blue Demons are ranked No. 40 in the country in field goal percentage at 47.3, and tonight they shot 58.9 percent (33-56). DePaul's 92 points is the most given up by Coastal Carolina this season, surpassing the 91 points the Chanticleers gave up in their quarterfinal win against West Virginia.

DePaul did start the fire, one that hadn't always been burning this season, and it will attempt to continue to fan the flames when it entertains either Loyola Marymount or South Florida in Game 2 of the three game series next Wednesday night at McGrath-Phillips Arena, with the starting time to be determined.

"To play for a championship at any level in any sport at any time is a tremendous, tremendous honor," Leitao said. "And that is why we thought [this tournament] would be a good thing for our program so that we can understand what these moments are like as a reward to our seniors and the growth opportunity for our underclassmen."

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