Box Score MAGNOLIA, Ark.—With leading scorer Zack Warner (St. Louis, Mo., Clayton HS) out due to an illness, the Christian Brothers University Bucs used their best rebounding night of the season to claim a 56-41 win at Southern Arkansas Thursday night in a battle for fourth place in the Gulf South Conference West Division standings.

With Warner's 19.2 ppg missing from an offense that only averages 67.7 ppg, the Bucs (14-5, 4-2 GSC West) struggled to score early, committing four turnovers on their first six possessions and seven turnovers in the first eight minutes as the Muleriders (8-11, 3-3) built an 11-2 lead early.

Sophomore forward Daniel Wulker (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller HS) helped the Bucs snap out of their early funk, making a free throw and collecting a steal to set up an Alex Rogers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS) basket to help spark the comeback.  Rogers added two more baskets and an assist during a 10-4 spurt that brought the Bucs back into the game at 15-12 on his jumper with 7:06 remaining.

In the second half, the Bucs completely dominated the boards to finish the comeback, out-rebounding SAU 20-6 and converting 11 offensive rebounds into a 13-0 edge in second chance points.

The Bucs out-scored SAU 26-10 over the game's final 15 minutes.  The first basket of the run was a sign of things to come as the Bucs grabbed three offensive rebounds before Wulker made a layup to give CBU  the lead for good at 32-31 with 14:47 remaining.  The Bucs pushed their lead to seven points three times, but SAU guard Channin Harden answered with three straight baskets to cut the lead back to five, last at 42-37 with 8:56 remaining. 

The Bucs' stellar rebounding kept paying off to let them put the game away, with Connor Wetzel (Cincinnati, Ohio/Wyoming HS) scoring after two offensive rebounds to start the Bucs' game-ending 14-4 run.  A Scott Dennis (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore HS) jumper and a Kyle Couvion (Dayton, Ohio/Centerville HS) three-pointer extended the lead to 49-37 with 6:39 remaining.  SAU scored back-to-back baskets to cut the lead back to 49-41 with 4:48 remaining, but offensive rebounding let the Bucs play keep-away for much of the final four minutes.  Couvion put the lead back to 10 points on a layup with 3:38 remaining.  After a quick stop, the Bucs used a foul and an offensive rebound to bleed 1:10 off the clock before Michael Drake (Little Rock, Ark./Catholic HS) buried a three-pointer to push the lead to 54-41.  CBU forced a quick turnover at the 2-minute mark, and three offensive boards let them milk another 1:21 off the clock before two Dennis free throws set the final margin.

Drake and Couvion scored 15 points each to lead the Bucs.  Couvion added six assists and three steals to his season-high in scoring, while Rogers scored a career-high 10 points.  Dennis scored six points to go with 11 rebounds.

Harden scored 17 for the Muleriders.

The Bucs out-rebounded Southern Arkansas 35-13, their biggest rebound margin of the season, including a 16-3 edge in offensive rebounds which gave CBU a 16-2 advantage in second-chance points.  The Bucs shot 50 percent (22-of-44) for the game, including 46.2 percent (6-of-13) from three-point range.  SAU shot 50 percent (18-of-36) for the game and 44.4 percent (4-of-9) from three-point range.

The Bucs come home Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. to take on top-ranked Arkansas Tech for Homecoming.