CONWAY, S.C. – Coastal Carolina scored on its first three drives of the second half to break open a tight game at halftime and pull away from Charleston Southern on Saturday afternoon at Brooks Stadium, 43-22.

Coastal quarterback Alex Ross threw three touchdown passes – two to John Israel – to break open what was a two-point game late in the second quarter. 

CSU falls to 5-3 overall and 0-2 in Big South play, while Coastal improves to 8-0 and 2-0 in conference play. 

CSU head coach Jamey Chadwell knows he has to regroup his team after its third consecutive loss.

"We've got a group of kids that are resilient and we'll try to regroup and refocus," Chadwell said. "Our main thing is we just have to try to play better. Today, we couldn't make an extra point in the first half and we had some penalties. It was just a crazy game from the start and they're really good and we're not."

CSU trailed 21-15 at halftime after kicking a field goal just before the end of the half. Coastal would put together long scoring drives on its first three possessions of the second half to pull away from the Bucs. 

Ross was 12-of-17 for 276 yards and three touchdowns. Running back De'Angelo Henderson added 12 carries for 110 yards and three touchdowns. Israel caught touchdown passes of 74 and 52 yards to give Coastal a pair of long touchdowns.

"As good as they are skill wise, if you make a mistake they can hurt you for a long one," Chadwell said of Coastal. "The (touchdown) right before halftime, we had our eyes in the backfield and he tried to jump it and they got a big play. Then to start the second half, we had them in third and long and they hit a little screen. You miss a tackle and they can just make you pay with how explosive they are."

The Buccaneers controlled the clock with over 35 minutes of possession and had 409 yards of total offense, but CSU struggled to answer Coastal offense in the middle quarters, when the Cants scored on four straight dive. 

Buc quarterback Austin Brown was 13-of-25 for 160 yards and a touchdown, while Danny Croghan went 6-of-8 for 87 yards and a TD. Running back Mike Holloway added 80 yards rushing. CSU had a chance to grab an early lead on Chants, but tight end Briar Van Brunt couldn't haul in a reaching grab from Brown on a would-be touchdown.

"I think and hope there's some things to take forward offensively," Chadwell added. "We've never lost faith in what we can do. We've had some guys with injuries that's hurting us. We scored some points and had other chances. We had a chance on the first drive to score a touchdown – right there on a bang-bang play and didn't' make it."

Coastal started fast after the Bucs missed an opportunity on their opening possession. 

Coastal jumped quickly to a 7-0 lead. De'Angelo Henderson plunged in from three yards out to give CCU a 7-0 lead. Quarterback Alex Ross was 2-for-3 on the opening drive for 66 yards, including a 49-yard completion on third down from deep in his own end zone. 

Running back Mike Holloway and CSU roared right back. Holloway had three carried for 60 yards on the Bucs' second drive, including a 41-yard touchdown, as CSU matched the Chants' score. David Kennedy's PAT was no good and Coastal led 7-6. 

Coastal came right back with a 7-play, 60 yard drive to push the lead to 14-6. Ross found Bruce Mapp for 23 yards on third-and-14 to keep the drive alive deep in Chants' territory. Henderson followed with his second score, an 18-yard run to extend the lead to eight. 

The Bucs kept the back-and-forth rhythm up on the ensuing drive. Running back Ben Robinson rumbled for 20 yards to move the ball into Coastal territory to get the drive rolling. On third-and-7 from the Chants' 19, Danny Croghan found Colton Korn open in the end zone for the Bucs' second touchdown. CSU again missed the PAT to trail 14-12 early in the second quarter.

After the defenses settled in and the teams traded punts, Coastal Carolina struck big. Ross found Israel on a double move for 74 yards and a touchdown just before the half. The touchdown was the only play of the drive and gave CCU a 21-12 lead. 

CSU got a field goal just before the half. Zach Silberberg muffed a Truett Burns' punt with less than 30 seconds to play in the half and Larenzo Mathis recovered at the Coastal 34. Brown found Holloway for 26 yards on the next play to set up Kennedy for a 25-yard field goal to make it 21-15 at the half. 

Coastal struck fast again to open the second half. Ross found Israel for his third touchdown, this one a 49-yard screen to quickly give the Chants a 29-15 lead early in the third. Coastal converted a trick play on the conversion to push the lead to two TDs.

Coastal would add two more touchdowns to open the second half. Wideout Tyrell Banks scored on an 18-yard pass from Ross, his fourth touchdown pass of the day.  Henderson added another TD run to open the fourth quarter. 

The Bucs added a late score as Brown found Chris Theodore in the final minute for a 13-yard touchdown catch. Theodore had two catches for 26 yards on the drive and Nathan Prater added an 18-yard grab.

Korn had five catches for 51 yards and a touchdown, while Theodore added four grabs for CSU.

Linebackers Zack Johnson and Zac Johnston both led the Bucs' defense with five tackles. 

Charleston Southern returns to action next Saturday in West Long Branch, N.J against Monmouth.

Kickoff is at 1 p.m. The game will be carried on ESPN3.