MEMPHIS-The Christian Brothers University Bucs built a 20-point lead over the first 30 minutes and held on for dear life in an 80-75 win over Shorter Saturday afternoon at Canale Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED:• The Bucs (3-4, 2-0 GSC) took command early with a 29-11 run capped by a
Jordan Miller (Fulton, Ky./Fulton City HS) jumper that gave the Bucs a 29-15 lead with 5:43 remaining in the first half. Miller scored 12 of his career-high 17 points during the run.
• Early in the second half, the Bucs' lead swelled to 20 points at 53-33 on back-to-back
Jeff Larkin (Cincinnati, Ohio/La Salle HS) threes with 12:39 remaining. CBU extended its lead back to 20 again on a
Charlie Oswald (Memphis, Tenn./Christian Brothers HS) free throw with 9:41 remaining, giving CBU a 59-39 cushion.
• From there, the Hawks switched to an aggressive pressure defense to fight back into the game. First, an 11-2 burst capped by a Trevor McDade three-point play cut the Bucs' lead to 61-50, then a 14-4 run capped by an Amonte Potter triple brought the Hawks within two points at 70-68 with 2:27 remaining.
• Larkin found
Drew Hildreth (Memphis, Tenn./Bolton HS) for a layup late in the shot clock to put the Bucs back ahead by four, and
Cody Garbuzinski (Memphis, Tenn./Christian Brothers HS) sank a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 74-68 with 1:19 remaining.
• McDade and Phil Taylor made threes to pull the Hawks back within two points, but the Bucs sank two free throws to regain a 78-74 edge with 23 seconds remaining. Cole Birchfield drew a foul for the Hawks and made one of two free throws, but Oswald sank a pair of free throws and picked up a steal as time expired to salt away the 80-75 victory.
KEY STATS:• Hildreth scored a career-high 25 points and matched his career-best with 13 rebounds, adding two blocks and two assists. He was 9-of-15 from the floor, including 6-of-8 from three-point range.
• Larkin scored 18 points with seven assists and four rebounds.
• Miller was 7-of-14 from the floor, including 1-of-1 from three-point range. He added six rebounds, three assists and two steals to his career-best 17 points.
•
Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) scored 12 points with three rebounds as he was limited to 15 minutes due to foul trouble.
• The Bucs shot 49.2 percent (29-of-59) from the floor, including a season-best 45.5 percent (10-of-22) from three-point range. CBU shot 75 percent (12-of-16) at the charity stripe.
• Shorter shot 40 percent (24-of-60) overall, including 35 percent (7-of-20) from beyond the arc. They shot 74.1 percent (20-of-27) from the free throw line.
• The Bucs out-rebounded Shorter 42-30, including a 12-10 edge in offensive rebounds, but the Bucs committed 20 turnovers while forcing 11 from the Hawks.
HEAD COACH NIENABER'S THOUGHTS:"We played so well to build the lead that we had and put ourselves in the position we were in, and then we just went deer in headlights and we looked like a young team out there. There were times we had layups if we'd just read the situation. When we handled it and didn't panic, we were getting easy things, but we didn't handle it well."
"We showed our youth there, but we also showed a lot where we built the lead. We're playing really good man to man defense. We did a great job on them early when we were building the lead."
"Drew was so big tonight. The world is a better place when Drew is making threes."
WHAT'S NEXT:The Bucs hit the road for their next four games, beginning Thursday night at 7:30 as they visit Delta State. Their next home game is set for Thursday afternoon, Dec. 31, as they host Trevecca Nazarene at 4 p.m.
