MEMPHIS-The No. 8/6 Christian Brothers University Bucs finished their non-conference schedule unbeaten with an 86-79 win over Trevecca Nazarene Saturday afternoon at Canale Arena despite matching their lowest three-point percentage of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
• After the teams traded leads for the first 14 minutes, the Bucs (10-0) used a 10-0 run capped by a
Brad Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder HS) free throw with 3:25 remaining in the first half, giving the Bucs a 33-26 lead they would not relinquish.
• CBU appeared to pull away for good early in the second half when
Joe Laravie (Kettering, Ohio/Alter HS) and
Jeff Larkin (Cincinnati, Ohio/La Salle HS) combined for a 9-0 run bookended by Larkin layups, with a triple and a layup from Laravie in between. Larkin's final layup gave CBU its largest lead of the day at 56-38 with 15:17 remaining.
• The Trojans (1-11) used a 17-4 run to fight back into the game, coming within 60-55 on a Michael Thompson jumper with 9:57 remaining.
• The Bucs never allowed Trevecca closer than five, bu they were unable to build a lead of more than 12 again.
• After the Trojans pulled within 76-70 on a Pierce Weatherspoon layup with 2:04 remaining,
Luke Rudy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS) drew a foul on a three-point shot in the corner. After he sank all three to give CBU a 79-70 lead, Larkin rebounded a missed three-pointer by Trevecca, and Miller found
Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) for a layup that gave the Bucs an 81-70 lead with 1:17 remaining.
KEY STATS:
• Larkin scored a game-high 25 with seven rebounds. He finished 10-of-13 from the field, making 2-of-4 three-pointers and all three free throw attempts.
• Laravie scored 21 with five rebounds and three assists. He shot 5-of-11 from the field, including 2-of-8 from beyond the arc, and he made 9-of-10 free throws.
• Miller added 14 with three rebounds, three assists and two steals in 29 minutes off the bench.
• Dieball scored 12 with a game-high eight assists and seven rebounds. He made all six free throws.
• The Bucs shot 49.1 percent (27-of-55) overall but just 27.6 percent (8-of-29) from three-point range, matching their season-low set in a win at Lane last week. The Bucs shot 88.9 percent (24-of-27) at the free throw line. Trevecca finished 43.3 percent (29-of-67) overall, including 37.9 percent (11-of-29) from beyond the arc.
• CBU out-rebounded the Trojans 35-32. Trevecca held an 11-8 edge in offensive rebounds and forced 11 CBU turnovers while committing nine.
HEAD COACH MIKE NIENABER'S THOUGHTS:
On the game:
"We have historically not played well around exams. We had our moments but it does take its toll. We've done a lot this year that's frustrating when we build leads, get control, get the game up to 17/18 points and then we take our foot off the gas after that. Our defense broke down and gave up a lot of 2nd or 3rd chances. Eleven offensive rebounds for them is definitely too much. 16 second chance points and it seemed more than that for them. It wasn't pretty."
On Monday's game at Union:
"We have to play better than this on Monday night, otherwise we're going home 10-1. Union's going to be ready for us, we've had two really amazing games against them the last few years, even when we had the losing season. They know that though and are going to be more than ready. It's an opportunity and I told our guys we're getting into a position now and even if these other teams aren't having a good year it's an opportunity for them to get a big win for their program and for their mental makeup."
On Adam Dieball's cold shooting:
"Adam's had a rough week and a half now. He's got to get in here and get shots up. They haven't been falling, I believe he had one three in the last three games and I think today he took good ones though. I felt the Harding game and today his selection was good. Teams are playing really physical with him and I think that's starting to get into his head some. I think he was tired in a couple practices from tests and stuff. Tonight though we did something that we haven't been doing and that's making free-throws. Adam made 6, Joe made 9, we went 24-27 and that definitely made life easier. Earlier this season and in the past that would have put us behind the 8 ball, so that was big for us to step up and make free-throws. We do have a lot of guys on any given night, so even on nights like we had against Harding, when Adam and Jeff both had the nights they did, we van have someone like brad step up. With Brad it's not just shooting though he's just a hardnosed player. Luke was a bit off tonight but stepped in and made free throws when we needed to make them. He made all three on the three shot and those were big."
On tonight's shooting:
"For the most part they were good shots tonight. Joe had a lot and I can't think of any I thought no that's a bad shot. I thought we moved the ball around and got good looks. I think Alex hit a couple. You go down the line and usually 1 or 2 of our guys are going to be hot on any given night you just have to figure out who it's going to be."
On all the close games:
"It's been disappointing because we should have gotten more separation in some of these games. That would give us a chance to get a couple more guys in. We desperately want to get Mitch more minutes. He's been good in practice. Jake needs every minute we can get him. We just didn't get comfortable. Jake gave us great minutes in the first half and played well defensively. He needs to just play more. It looked like we were going to separate tonight in the second half and then it's tied again. I couldn't get guys in like I wanted to. We need to find more minutes for Jake, he's Adams sub."
"It's a work in progress. You think we'd be more of a finished product with all our veterans, but we're not. We've got a long way to go and I don't think we're playing nearly as well as we can. We have a lot of good pieces though, just need to do an overall better job."
On being 10-0 going into Monday:
"It would be really nice to get that one and be 3-0 in conference road games. We finally get to play a home game today and don't shoot well in our own gym that was frustrating. We survived though."
On the upcoming schedule:
"It's a tight schedule, but hopefully it gives us a chance to really show our depth of players. Dare I say, Jordan Miller's going through a series of shots right now and we're hoping possibly that we might be able to see him getting back into the mix. That would be a major addition getting him anywhere near the level he was playing at when he got hurt last year. We'll see where he is though, maybe we end up redshirting him this year to get a full season from him next year. There are a lot of decisions ahead of us. It's nice being 10-0, but has not been easy. These teams we've been playing, their records don't show how good they are. They're going to get some wins. Games like today when you're playing a top 20 team, they had a chance."
"We come back with 17 games and 10 at home after this next road trip. The schedule becomes really friendly after this next road trip. If we can take care of things and get to the holidays we'll be in a good place going forward."
WHAT'S NEXT:
The Bucs return to GSC play Monday night at 8 p.m. as they visit Union. Their next home game is Tuesday, Jan. 2, when they host Auburn-Montgomery at 7 p.m.
