MEMPHIS-The Christian Brothers University Bucs made two large second-half comebacks, but visiting West Georgia claimed an 84-81 win Saturday afternoon at Canale Arena to spoil CBU's Homecoming.
HOW IT HAPPENED:• The Wolves (14-8, 11-6 GSC) jumped on the Bucs early, using a 28-10 run to claim a 34-17 lead on a Steph Branch layup with 5:04 remaining in the first half, and a Christian Houston triple as the first half expired restored the Wolves' edge to 17 points at 45-28.
• The Bucs (11-12, 9-8) opened the second half with a 16-0 run capped by an
Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) jumper that brought them within one point at 45-44 with 15:27 remaining in the game.
• From there, West Georgia steadily rebuilt its lead, eventually pulling away to a 67-54 lead on a Marcus Dortch triple with 7:29 remaining.
• CBU again rallied, using a 9-2 burst to close within 69-63 on a
Drew Hildreth (Memphis, Tenn./Bolton HS) three-pointer with 5:16 remaining. A 6-0 burst later brought CBU within 77-74 with 1:49 to play, and the Bucs came as close as two points on a
Jordan Miller (Fulton, Ky./Fulton City HS) three with 11 seconds remaining, but the Wolves salted away the victory.
KEY STATS:•
Jeff Larkin (Cincinnati, Ohio/La Salle HS) led the Bucs with 24 points.
• Miller scored a career-high 21 points, seven rebounds and two steals in 20 minutes off the bench.
• Hildreth scored 19 points, all during the second half including 10 during the Bucs' 16-0 run to start the second half.
COACH MIKE NIENABER'S THOUGHTS:"At halftime I said we're not going to come out and go 17-0, it's going to take one play at a time. But we did come out 16-0. We made that great run. But the thing I think is just as impressive as that big run, they came back and went up 9 or 10 on us and we fought back and got it back again where we were within striking distance. I was proud of that, because I felt like what happened last week when we got down to Delta State we just unraveled. I challenged them to have the pride to not let that happen again."
"Obviously you're never happy with a loss, but with a young team you've got to continue to say every game is an opportunity to get better. We can't create their press in practice, to work against it. We don't have the personnel anywhere on our team to create that kind of press to work against. Overall obviously I'm not happy about a loss, but I'm proud of how we battled."
"It's so key for us for Jeff and Drew to play well, and they both did in the second half."
WHAT'S NEXT:The Bucs hit the road next weekend, visiting West Florida Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. and Valdosta State Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. Their final home game is set for Thursday, Feb. 18, as they host Alabama Huntsville at 7 p.m.
