MEMPHIS-The No. 5/5 Christian Brothers University Bucs eclipsed the 100-point mark for the first time in more than four years Thursday night as they rolled to a 104-85 win over West Georgia to move back within a half-game of first place in the Gulf South Conference standings.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
• The Bucs (12-1, 4-1 GSC) never trailed Thursday. They appeared to take control early, when a 7-0 burst capped by an Alex Trentman (Alexandria, Ky./Bishop Brossart HS) triple gave them a 15-7 lead with 14:36 remaining in the half, but UWG (5-7, 1-5) used a 7-0 run and a later 5-0 spurt to tie the game back up at 25 on a Greg James jumper with 8:27 remaining in the half.
• Joe Laravie (Kettering, Ohio/Alter HS) started what became an 18-6 run when he knocked down a three, then he scored a fast break layup off an outlet pass from Jeff Larkin. Larkin followed with a triple. By the time the run ended on another Larkin three-pointer, CBU led 43-31 with 3:06 remaining.
• After the Bucs' lead grew to 55-42 on yet another Larkin triple, the Wolves stormed back into the game with a 12-2 run capped by a Karlos Odum three-point play with 15:43 remaining, cutting the Bucs' advantage to 57-54.
• The Bucs put it away for good with a 14-0 run over just 2:31. Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) started the run with a layup, and his former high school teammate Mitchell Mays (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) capped it with a layup to give the Bucs a 71-54 edge with 12:26 remaining. The Wolves never came closer than 15 again as the Bucs led by as many as 24 in the final minutes.

KEY STATS:
• Laravie scored a game-high 26 points with two assists and no turnovers in 33 minutes. He shot 10-of-19 overall, including 6-of-10 from three-point range, and he made his only free throw attempt.
• Larkin added 23 with six assists, five rebounds and four steals. He hsot 9-of-14 overall, including 5-of-8 from beyond the arc.
• Alex Trentman (Alexandria, Ky./Bishop Brossart HS) scored 17 with four assists and a career-high 14 rebounds. He finished 7-of-10 from the field, including 1-of-2 from three-point range, and he made both of his free throws.
• Dieball scored 12 with game-highs of eight assists and three blocks. He also grabbed six rebounds and matched his career-high with three steals.
• Mays scored a season-high 12 points with four rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes off the bench.
• Brad Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder HS) added 10 points with five assists and four rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench.
• The Bucs shot 54.8 percent (40-of-73) from the floor, including 45.2 percent (14-of-31) from three-point range. UWG finished 47.0 percent (31-of-66) overall, including 43.5 percent (10-of-23) from beyond the arc.
• The Bucs out-rebounded UWG 37-30, including a 13-30 edge in offensive rebounds. They forced 11 UWG turnovers while committing six.

NOTABLE:
The Bucs' 104 points were their highest total since a 108-65 win over Central Baptist Dec. 5, 2013, which was also the last time CBU scored 100 in a game.

HEAD COACH MIKE NIENABER'S THOUGHTS:
"We recommitted on playing the zones that we're playing. We're not a good man-to-man defensive team and we have to come to face that reality. I talked to the guys about it the other day, I said if any of you think you're not part of the problem when they're driving on us, you're a really big part of the problem for not noticing that. Our guys are buying into that now, as a matter of fact I brought that up tonight. I mentioned maybe going to a matchup zone when they went on one of their runs and it's like I had a chorus of no's. You know what, that's what I want to hear. I want to hear the guys react like that and say we believe in what we're playing and want to stay with it. It means that they're buying in and taking ownership of the situation."

On Adam Dieball's night:
"I think the threes that he took tonight were the ones we wanted him to take. They were later in the shot-clock and were completely inside out. We always talk about how if our threes are from inside we want to take that shot. In fact I tell them if they don't take that shot, I'm taking them out because that's our offense and if you don't have that confidence in yourself to take that shot we can't have you on the floor. Adam tonight had two of those inside out kickouts. Another thing we did well tonight is we did a good job posting other people."

On Alex Trentman's performance:
"Trentman had one of his best games of this year. I pulled him out of the starting lineup Tuesday, so you know Alex is actually undefeated when starting this year. We went back with that lineup and think it works better with our rotation."

On Mitchell Mays' breakout:
"We got Mitch more minutes tonight, which was big. He had 12 in 19 minutes and he can do that, and I know he can do that. I should have given him the opportunity the other night to do it and we talked about that with the coaches after the game. So between him and Alex we had 29 points from that 4 spot tonight. They both played so well we had them both in at the same time some. We were originally going to put those two in for each other back and forth so I think they're making each other better knowing the other one is playing so well."

"We got some of these matchups and got Alex with a 3 man on him. You know Alex is really effective in the post. We don't get him the ball in there enough, we did more last year, but that's a big part of his game. Early on he got a lot and Adam gave him some good passes to split up their zone a bit. They got a few high-lows into the interior to get some easy baskets. Alex is prone to get a lot of rebounds, but normally doesn't get that may offensive ones. Tonight though, he had five of them. At halftime we were significantly up in offensive rebounds and I told the guys that's the biggest reason we were up 10 going into halftime. It was critical late in the game tonight that we got a few and were able to work it late in the shot clock. We've talked about it, just being patient and not being afraid to go the extra second to make one more pass.

On outscoring UWG 22-2 in points off turnovers:
"It's a little tough for me at times, but every once in a while I want to put the brakes on them sometimes. After Christmas though I told Jeff, if we get those opportunities on those long rebounds just go. I told Adam just sprint to the low post and a lot of Jeff's assists tonight were just on those long passes. That's partially why I believe we made it to triple digits tonight. I would have been concerned if you told me going in that one team was going to score over 100, but we functioned extremely well offensively tonight."

On traveling to Huntsville:
"Well maybe this will jinx them, but we have never beaten them there. We've had a couple of really close games, but that's one I'd finally love to have the monkey off our back. They're always one of the best coached teams in the nation, not just the conference, and it'll be a tough game. Nobody's going to come in and just take it to them. It'll take 40 minutes of good basketball, but its as doable as it's been in a while. Hopefully we can go down and play our A-game in there."

WHAT'S NEXT:
The Bucs hit the road for their next two games, visiting Alabama Huntsville Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. and North Alabama Tuesday night at 8 p.m. Their next home game is Saturday, Jan. 13, when they host Valdosta State at 3 p.m.