MEMPHIS–Christian Brothers University junior guard Jeff Larkin (Cincinnati, Ohio, La Salle HS) and sophomore guard Joe Laravie (Kettering, Ohio, Alter HS) combined for 55 points, six assists and five steals to lead the Bucs to an 86-74 win over West Florida Saturday afternoon to remain unbeaten in Gulf South Conference play and give head coach Mike Nienaber his 300th career win at CBU.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
• The Argos (5-3, 0-3 GSC) used a 17-5 run early in the first half to open a 20-11 lead on a Rashaan Benson jumper with 12:01 remaining in the half.
• The Bucs stormed back in front with a 14-1 run featuring a pair of Laravie three-pointers and capped by a Jordan Miller (Fulton, Ky./Fulton City HS) jumper that gave them a 29-24 lead with 6:27 remaining in the half.
• After a 10-2 UWF run put the Argos back on top at 34-31 on a Moter Deng jumper, a Larkin three-pointer sparked a 9-2 CBU run to close the half, giving the Bucs a 40-36 lead at halftime.
• CBU never allowed the Argos closer than three points in the second half. An 8-2 burst sparked by an Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) triple and capped by a pair of Laravie free throws gave them a 59-48 lead with 14:24 remaining.
• After the Argos steadily whittled the lead back to four, the Bucs used a 9-3 burst capped by a Dieball free throw to take a 77-67 lead with 3:20 remaining, and the Argos never came closer than seven points again in the final minutes.

KEY STATS:
• Larkin scored a season-high 29 points with three assists and three steals. He was 9-of-15 from the floor, including 5-of-11 from three-point range, and he sank six of seven free throws.
• Laravie, two days after scoring a career-high 27 against Valdosta State, scored 26 on 6-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc and 9-of-11 free throw shooting. He also tacked on three assists and two steals.
• Alex Trentman (Alexandria, Ky./Bishop Brossart HS) scored eight points with nine rebounds and three assists.
• Cody Garbuzinski (Memphis, Tenn./Christian Brothers HS) scored all of his seven points at the free throw line, adding six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
• The Bucs shot 45.5 percent (25-of-55) overall, including 36.7 percent (11-of-30) from three-point range. UWF finished 42.6 percent (26-of-61) overall, including 33.3 percent (5-of-15) from beyond the arc.
• The Argos out-rebounded CBU 38-32, including a 20-14 edge in offensive boards, but they committed 15 turnovers to the Bucs' 11.

HEAD COACH MIKE NIENABER'S THOUGHTS:
On his 300th career win:
"I had no idea. I was just trying to get number 4 in the conference, that was the goal."

On the combination of Jeff Larkin and Joe Laravie:
"That's obviously a very good pairing. If Joe isn't freshman of the week, I want to see who is. I wouldn't make a comparison here, but I don't know if a freshman has put up the kind of numbers he's put up this week since Devin Schmidt at Delta. What a week Joe had for us. I was a little concerned towards the end because I felt both of them were running out of gas. I think they probably each missed their last couple."

"The last three or four games, Jeff has really come up big for us. He can be an All-Conference point guard in any system. You can take the fastest playing team in the league or the slowest playing team in the league, and Jeff can go out there and take that spot. But for us, we need him to pick his spots. I think he's really recognizing that. I think he made a lot less bad shot decisions tonight, and he only had two turnovers."

"I bet there were at least six or seven times where they got two offensive rebounds in one possession. It's gonna get you. It's gonna get you sooner or later. We're lucky we dodged that bullet tonight. There's just no easy games in the Gulf South Conference. There's just no easy games."

On Jordan Miller:
"Jordan has been playing really big for us. He didn't have as big a number game for us, but he has really stepped up the last two or three games. The way Jordan's playing, we've got to get him more than the 10 or 11 minutes he played the other night."

On Alex Trentman:
"A lot of times I get frustrated with him in other areas. I think he's not shooting it as well as I think he can. But he came up with some big, big rebounds and he got some big baskets going at the rim for us. And definitely those nine rebounds were major."

On Cody Garbuzinski:
"So many times, the things Cody does just don't show up on the stats. He does those kind of things all the time. That's why he's out there. It's hard to take him off the floor, because he brings so much heart and energy to the game."

"That's the kind of record where you hold your head up high. We are 4-0, we're in first place in the conference."

WHAT'S NEXT:
After taking time off for Christmas, the Bucs return to the court Saturday, Dec. 31, when they visit Mississippi College at 4 p.m. Their next home game is Monday, Jan. 2, at 7 p.m. against Delta State.