HUNTSVILLE, Ala.-No. 3 seed Delta State started the game with a 7-0 run and never trailed as they claimed an 80-67 win to eliminate the Christian Brothers University Bucs from the NCAA Division II South Regional Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
• The Statesmen (23-8) opened the game making their first three shots, and the Bucs (18-13) started 0-for-3 as DSU took a 7-0 lead on a Brett Warner triple with 17:55 remaining in the half.
• CBU scored the next five points to close within 7-5 on a
Jeff Larkin (Cincinnati, Ohio/La Salle HS) triple with 16:47 remaining, but the Bucs never came closer.
• The Statesmen used a 10-3 burst to take a 26-16 lead on a James Kilpatrick layup. A later 5-0 burst extended their lead to 33-21 on a Ravion Henry triple with 5:19 remaining in the half.
• The Bucs used back-to-back three-pointers in the final seconds of the first half to pull within 41-34 on an
Alex Trentman (Alexandria, Ky./Bishop Brossart HS) triple with 11 seconds remaining in the half.
• After DSU rebuilt a 12-point lead, the Bucs drew within seven points twice in the second half, last on a
Cody Garbuzinski (Memphis, Tenn./Christian Brothers HS) three-pointer with 8:00 remaining to cut the deficit to 63-56.
• The Statesmen answered with a 12-1 run to take a 75-57 lead on a pair of PJ Davis free throws with 3:25 remaining, and the Bucs never came closer than 13 points in the final minutes.
KEY STATS:
• Larkin led the Bucs with 22 points and three steals to go with three assists.
•
Brad Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder HS) scored 12 with five rebounds. He was 4-of-8 from the field, including 2-of-5 from three-point range.
• Playing on an injured ankle,
Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) scored 10 points with six assists and five rebounds.
• Trentman scored nine with four assists and a team-high six rebounds.
• The Bucs shot 42.6 percent (23-of-54) for the game, including 37.9 percent (11-of-29) from three-point range. DSU finished 54.1 percent (33-of-61) overall, including 42.9 percent (6-of-14) from beyond the arc.
• DSU out-rebounded the Bucs 43-24, including a 13-4 edge in offensive rebounds.
• The Statesmen committed 11 turnovers to the Bucs' nine.
CBU HEAD COACH NIENABER'S THOUGHTS:
"Obviously we're really disappointed. A lot of things were working against us today. Not having Adam at 100 percent was the first big thing, obviously. But I'm really proud of this team, the way we battled winning the games we had to win to get into this tournament. We wanted one more, but it just wasn't meant to be."
"It's hard to overcome the rebounding situation, which I think was part of the deal with Adam. Getting outrebounded 43-24, it's probably amazing that the game was as close as it turned out. So that's something for our younger guys, they've gotta remember and do what they need to do in the offseason to get a little stronger and make sure that some of those rebounds aren't getting away from us. But again, we had chances. In the second half, we had two or three times where we were down 7. Had a layup that rolled off, had a wide open three. I think if we could have got the thing cut to 4 or 5 who knows, but it got away from us after that."
"Again, I'm happy for the seniors that they got the experience of playing in an NCAA Tournament. They would have been the first class not to make it in about 12 years, so it was good to get that for those guys. Of course, for our younger guys, the experience of playing in this tournament, winning the games we've had to leading up to the tournament was major for us. Hopefully it'll pay big dividends for us in the future."
