MEMPHIS-Christian Brothers University junior guard Jeff Larkin (Cincinnati, Ohio, La Salle HS) scored all of his game-high 22 points in the second half as the Bucs pulled away to an 83-62 win over Central State, avenging a nine-point road loss to the Marauders just 48 hours earlier.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
• Just as in Friday's season opener, the Bucs (1-1) started cold and the Marauders (1-1) led for most of the first half, using a 7-0 burst capped by a Markese McGuire triple to take a 19-12 edge with 10:43 remaining in the first half.
• The Bucs' rally began with a Joe Laravie (Kettering, Ohio/Alter HS) layup, sparking a 10-2 run that he capped with a three-pointer to give CBU a 30-28 lead with 3:16 remaining. A Jordan Miller (Fulton, Ky./Fulton City HS) putback layup in the final seconds of the first half gave the Bucs the lead for good at 34-32.
• Larkin, after going 0-for-6 in the first half, opened the second half with three straight baskets to put the Bucs ahead 40-34 with 16:53 remaining. When he knocked down his first three-pointer of the season, the Bucs took a 53-39 lead with 13:26 remaining, and he capped what became a 24-7 run over the first 7:37 of the half with yet another three, giving the Bucs a commanding 58-39 cushion. The Marauders never came closer than 12 again, and CBU led by as many as 24 points in the final minutes.

KEY STATS:
• Larkin scored 22 points with five rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a game-best four steals. He was 7-of-14 from the field, making three of his six triples, and he went 5-of-6 at the free throw line.
• Mitch Mays (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) scored 15 with five rebounds, four assists and three steals in 35 minutes. He went 5-of-7 from the field, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, and he made both of his free throws.
• Laravie scored 14 points with a game-high eight assists and three steals against just one turnover in 35 minutes.
• Alex Trentman (Alexandria, Ky./Bishop Brossart HS) scored seven points with seven rebounds and three blocks.
• Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) also swatted three shots but scored just six points as he was limited to 21 minutes after early foul trouble.
• The Bucs shot 51.8 percent (29-of-56) from the floor overall, including 65.2 percent (15-of-23) in the second half. CBU shot 44 percent (11-of-25) from three-point range. CSU shot 33.3 percent (20-of-60), including 23.5 percent (4-of-17) from beyond the arc.
• The Marauders out-rebounded CBU 38-34, including a 19-9 edge in offensive boards, but they committed 21 turnovers to the Bucs' 17.
• CBU's 12 blocked shots were a school record, breaking a mark set twice previously, against LeMoyne-Owen Nov. 29, 2000 and matched against Williams Baptist Nov. 12, 2011.

HEAD COACH MIKE NIENABER'S THOUGHTS:
On Jeff Larkin's strong second half:
"We said we've got to get Jeff going. He got those first couple to go. So many times it happens like that. He got to the basket and got a couple of two pointers, and all of a sudden the threes started falling for the first time this year. You just look at the numbers of the two games before this, and the first half, when he was 0-for-6."

On freshman Joe Laravie's strong start:
"I'm just tickled to death at Joe, as a freshman playing his second game. A true freshman. He's got a feel for the game you just can't teach. The first game he was six assists one turnover. Some of the assists he's making, he's got such a feel for the game as a point guard, reading and feeding. Jeff is more of a creator and scorer, in some ways more of a 2, and I think that's where they really complement each other well. Talking to the team last night in the walkthrough, I said guys, you've got to start understanding, when we get a rebound, Jeff's not the only guy you're looking for. You can get it to Joe, and it's going to make Jeff better, because Jeff isn't going to be constantly handling the ball. It's going to get him going more offensively, let him be more of a combo. That is something that I think will get better as we go."

On freshman Mitch Mays' strong start:
"Of course, Mitch, in both games, has been doing the things I thought he'd do for us when we got him as a recruit. He and Adam played high school ball together, and Adam's been such a great player for us, freshman of the year last year and all those things. But Mitch, coming out of high school, was more highly recruited. But Mitch had been struggling a little bit, just trying to find himself in our system. It's really exciting to see him playing the way I felt like he could be for us."

On the depth of the team:
"It's just good to have all those buttons to push. It makes my job a little harder sometimes. I'm seeing guys on the bench and thinking I want to get them in, but then I look out and I think who am I going to take out. But that's a great problem to have."

On the win as a whole:
"I told the guys after the game, this is the first time in a long time, the second half, we looked like a Christian Brothers basketball team in Canale Arena. We struggled at home so much last year, and the year before we struggled, even with a senior team. So it was just good to see us come out and execute. This was a good basketball team. This team is going to win a lot of games in the SIAC. I was very concerned going in, so I feel good getting this one."

WHAT'S NEXT: