MEMPHIS-Delta State forward Cedric Harper scored the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the visiting Statesmen to a 65-64 win over the Christian Brothers University Bucs Monday night at Canale Arena.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
• After a back-and-forth first 10 minutes, a Jeff Larkin (Cincinnati, Ohio/La Salle HS) three-point play sparked an 8-0 run that gave the Bucs (8-4, 5-1 GSC) a 23-19 lead on a Mitch Mays (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) triple with 5:49 remaining in the half.
• In the second half, CBU extended its lead to seven points three different times, finally on an Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) three-point play with 10:29 remaining to go ahead 47-40.
• The Statesmen (8-3, 3-2) answered with a 15-6 run to take a 55-53 lead on a pair of Dietrich Taylor free throws with 5:25 remaining.
• Jeff Larkin scored all seven points of a 7-2 burst to restore the Bucs' lead at 60-57 on his three-pointer with 2:44 remaining.
• A Mays driving layup with 41.8 seconds remaining gave the Bucs a 64-61 edge. After Harper answered on a layup with 22 seconds remaining, the Statesmen fouled. CBU missed the front end of a one-and-one and after DSU grabbed the rebound, Harper beat the CBU defense down the court to score the game-winning basket. Larkin's three-pointer at the buzzer missed.

KEY STATS:
• Larkin led the Bucs with 21 points, finishing 9-of-17 from the floor including 2-of-6 from three-point range. He also added three rebounds and three assists with no turnovers.
• Alex Trentman (Alexandria, Ky./Bishop Brossart HS) scored 14 with four rebounds, shooting 6-of-8 from the floor including 2-of-4 from three-point range.
• Mays added 13 points with seven rebounds.
• Dieball scored seven points but dished out a team-best five assists.
• The Bucs shot 43.5 percent (27-of-62) overall, including just 25 percent (8-of-32) from three-point range. DSU finished 47.9 percent (23-of-48) overall including 41.2 percent (12-of-14) from beyond the arc.
• DSU out-rebounded the Bucs 31-27, but CBU held a 7-6 lead in offensive boards and forced 12 turnovers while committing seven.

HEAD COACH MIKE NIENABER'S THOUGHTS:
On the last possession:
"The thing I really wanted the most. One, I wanted Jeff to keep the ball, because they had to foul. And then I was yelling for a timeout when Cody caught the ball."

"It's unfortunate. We missed a lot of wide open shots tonight. You go down the line, Adam was 0-for-5 from three, how many times is he going to do that? Brad was 1-for-8. Mitch 1-for-4, Joe 1-for-4. You're not going to have four guys like that go below 25 percent too many nights. Most of them were good looks. You've got to shoot better than that."

"Jeff really came through down the stretch and made some huge baskets for us on several possessions. I told them the odds were pretty good we weren't going 22-0 in the league. It's going to be a battle, there's a lot of good teams in this league. Defensively I thought we did a pretty good job."

"It's just a tough loss for all of us. We've just got to pick up the pieces. North Alabama Saturday is a game where we should have won there last year and we're a better team right now than we were last year. So hopefully we can go in there and find a way to get it done Saturday. It's not going to get any easier."

On what he told his team after the game:
"I told the guys, we have a team here that every night we go out, if we play well, we've got a great chance to win. We've proven that throughout the early course of this season, and we proved it tonight. We did a lot of things well, but at the end of the day, this game is about making shots. But still, with all that, we still had a chance. That's the thing to focus on. We can beat anybody. We know we can play with anybody on any given night. We just have to keep bringing it. Enjoy the fact that when you walk out there that you have a chance."

WHAT'S NEXT:
The Bucs play their next two games on the road. They visit North Alabama Saturday afternoon and Alabama Huntsville Monday afternoon, with both games set for 3 p.m. starts. Their next home game is Thursday night, Jan. 12, when they host Lee at 7 p.m.