MEMPHIS-Christian Brothers University sophomore forward Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio, Lakota East HS) scored a career-high 33 points as he outdueled the nation's leading scorer, leading the Bucs to an 86-78 win over Shorter Saturday afternoon at Canale Arena.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
• After the teams traded leads in the first five minutes, Shorter (9-5, 4-5 GSC) used a 10-0 run to take a 17-10 lead on an Amonte Potter layup with 12:35 remaining.
• The Bucs regained the lead late in the first half when Dieball capped a 10-2 run with a layup that gave them a 33-30 edge with 3:13 remaining in the first half.
• The Hawks took their final lead of the game when Phil Taylor, the nation's top scorer at 36.0 ppg, buried a running three-pointer as the first half expired to put the Hawks ahead 43-40.
• CBU opened the second half with a 13-2 run capped by Dieball's fifth three-pointer of the game, giving them a 53-45 lead they would never relinquish.
• Four times in the second half, the Hawks closed within two points, finally when an Eric Ross layup capped a 6-0 burst to cut the CBU lead to 80-78 with 2:44 remaining.
• The Bucs answered when Dieball found Jeff Larkin (Cincinnati, Ohio/La Salle HS) for a layup with 2:12 remaining. Alex Trentman (Alexandria, Ky./Bishop Brossart HS) and Larkin each sank two free throws in the final two minutes to extend the Bucs' final margin to 86-78 as they held the Hawks to 0-for-4 shooting with two turnovers.

KEY STATS:
• Dieball finished with 33 points, eight rebounds and three assists. He shot 13-of-23 from the floor, including 6-of-11 from three-point range.
• After missing Thursday night's game due to injury, Larkin scored 19 with seven assists and three rebounds as he played all 40 minutes.
• Trentman scored 11 points with four rebounds and three assists.
• Brad Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder HS) scored eight points with three assists, two steals and five rebounds, four of which were on the offensive glass. All four of his offensive rebounds were in the second half, including two on the same possession in the second half, which allowed the Bucs to bleed more than a minute off the clock while nursing a four-point lead in the final four minutes.
• Cody Garbuzinski (Memphis, Tenn./Christian Brothers HS) added eight points with eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.
• The Bucs shot 50 percent (30-of-60) from the floor, including 42.9 percent (12-of-28) from three-point range. Shorter shot 51.7 percent (31-of-60) overall, including 40 percent (8-of-20) from beyond the arc.
• Shorter out-rebounded the Bucs 35-30, including a 13-11 edge in offensive boards. The Bucs forced 12 turnovers while committing just seven.
• Taylor scored 27 points in 33 minutes, making 10-of-18 shots including 3-of-5 three-pointers as he finished nine points below his season.

HEAD COACH MIKE NIENABER'S THOUGHTS:
"I'm a lot better coach when Adam's making threes. It's about these kids, it's about the way they play. Having Jeff back in there made all the difference in the world. I thought the smaller lineup was pretty effective. We were functional all night, so that was encouraging. Hopefully we can move on from there."

"How big were Brad's offensive rebounds? They're so good offensively. It's just as much about keeping them on defense for another 20 seconds. I think every offensive rebound we got, we brought back out."

On CBU's defense on Taylor:
"I thought Brad did a great job on him. We went zone in the second half. Maybe we stayed with it a little longer than we should have, but we got that jump, we got that burst where we went up 7 or 8 after being down 3 at halftime."

WHAT'S NEXT:
The Bucs hit the road for their next four games, their longest road trip of the season, beginning Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. when they visit West Alabama. Their next home game is Thursday, Feb. 2, when they host West Georgia at 7 p.m.