MEMPHIS-The Christian Brothers University Bucs opened a 12-point first-half lead and never allowed visiting Mississippi College closer than nine points again as they rolled to a 71-57 win Thursday night at Canale Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED:• After spotting the Choctaws (6-10, 5-9 GSC) an early four-point lead, the Bucs (10-10, 8-6) used a 15-5 run to open a 19-13 lead on an
Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) triple with 9:49 remaining in the first half, and they would never trail again.
• After MC closed within 23-22 on a David Fisher triple with 5:26 remaining, the Bucs used a 12-1 run to open a 35-23 lead on another Dieball triple with 1:38 remaining in the first half.
• The Bucs led by as many as 21 points in the second half.
KEY STATS:• Dieball scored a game-high 20 points with five rebounds and three assists.
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Drew Hildreth (Memphis, Tenn./Bolton HS) scored 17 points with 11 rebounds and two steals as he became CBU's 42nd 1,000-point scorer. He was 7-of-11 from the floor, making all three three-pointers.
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Alex Trentman (Alexandria, Ky./Bishop Brossart HS) tacked on 13 points with four assists and two blocks.
• The Bucs shot 51.8 percent (29-of-56) overall, including 38.1 percent (8-of-21) from three-point range.
• The Choctaws were 42.1 percent (24-of-57) from the floor, but just 19.2 percent (5-of-26) from beyond the arc.
• The Bucs out-rebounded MC 35-33. Each team grabbed 10 offensive boards, while the Choctaws committed 11 turnovers to the Bucs' eight.
COACH MIKE NIENABER'S THOUGHTS:"I think offensively we were getting pretty good looks. And like I've said a couple of times this year, when Drew Hildreth is hitting shots, the world is a better place."
"The thing that I really like about Drew is what he did inside. He was 3-for-3 from three, which again makes life a lot easier, but the baskets he got inside in the post, I don't think we've done that enough. He's so athletic he's capable of getting that shot off against most 3's and 4's guarding him."
"It was a good overall game. I thought defensively we did a good job especially packing it in on their big guy, because that big guy is a load, he's a good player."
"Drew started out, at least from three, he really wasn't shooting the ball well. I give Eddie some credit on this, my son, our assistant coach. He felt like Drew was shooting from a different release point every time because he's jumping so high. He said you know, when you're shooting threes, less jump. Shoot more of a set shot when you're shooting threes, because that's inconsistent about him."
[On Alex Trentman]
"It's been amazing. I did feel like he was capable of that from the time I signed him. He's gotten that chance finally. The other thing he's been doing is rebounding."
"I looked up there at one point and Adam's got 16 and Alex has 13. Early in the second half, we had 29 from two freshmen."
"The other thing we've been talking about all year is that we're hopeful that we can keep slowly getting better as these kids get more and more experienced and more comfortable playing college basketball, we're going to improve more than teams that are more experienced."
"I told the guys, if we take care of business, something good is going to happen. Because at least three of these teams we're bunched up with have got to lose because they're all playing each other. If we can take care of business in this homestand, there's no telling how good those standings might look in a week and a half."
WHAT'S NEXT:The Bucs return to action Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. as they host Delta State.
