MEMPHIS-The Christian Brothers University Bucs never trailed in an 86-76 win over Central State Sunday afternoon at Canale Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
•
Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) accounted for nine of the first 11 points for the Bucs (2-0), scoring two layups and assisting on a
Jacob Lyons (Hernando, Miss./Christian Brothers HS) layup and a
Brad Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder HS) triple to help the Bucs to an early 11-4 lead. CBU led by as many as 10 points in the first half.
• A 7-0 burst late in the first half brought the Marauders (0-2) within three points on a Dwight Richards Jr. layup with 45 seconds remaining, and a 9-3 burst to start the second half brought CSU even on a Dorian Crutcher triple with 17:37 remaining.
• The Bucs never trailed, but their lead never grew past four points over the next four minutes.
• After a Tom Johnson layup tied the game again at 53, the Bucs exploded for a 10-0 run in just over a minute and a half, a run bookended by Dieball triples, with layups by Laravie and Dieball in the middle. By the time it ended, the Bucs led 63-53 with 11:03 remaining, and CSU never came closer than eight again.
KEY STATS:
• Dieball posted game-highs of 24 points, eight assists and three blocks to go with five rebounds and two steals. He finished 10-of-15 overall, including 2-of-5 from beyond the arc.
• Miller scored 18 with six rebounds and five assists, shooting 6-of-9, all from three-point range.
• Laravie tacked on 16 with four rebounds and four assists.
•
Aiden Ruthsatz (Edgewood, Ky./Covington Catholic HS) scored nine with four rebounds and two steals in his home debut.
•
Nick Deifel (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS) added seven with four rebounds.
• The Bucs shot 54.4 percent (31-of-57) overall, including 38.7 percent (12-of-31) from three-point range. CSU finished 44.4 percent (32-of-72) overall, including 36.4 percent (8-of-22) from beyond the arc.
• The Marauders out-rebounded CBU 36-34, including a 15-7 edge in offensive rebounds, and they forced 11 CBU turnovers while committing eight.
HEAD COACH MIKE NIENABER'S THOUGHTS:
"I mean, it was a little sloppy at times and a little less comfortable than we wanted it to be. Each of the past two years we went up there and took control of the game, at Central State, so you kind of get in the back of your mind, we are coming home and it should be even easier. The problem is, they have a solid team. They make adjustments, they come back, and they are hungry. They got embarrassed at home on Friday, so they come back with a little more energy. So that being said, I think that we are making a lot of decision mistakes. Some of our passes are leading to unnecessary turnovers and some shot decisions, I think we are pulling the trigger a little quick at times. That kind of played into their hands a little bit. It plays into everybody we play."
"Our game plan really doesn't change from one game to the next. The way we win, we have to do certain things. If we do them, we've got a fighting chance most nights. If we don't, we will get beat bad. If we don't execute, control tempo, and do the little things that our best teams have done well, we will have some long nights. Especially against the more talented teams on our schedule."
"Looking at our next seven games, we are playing four teams that are ranked in the top 12 in the country. We better get our act together. We are going to have to play better next Saturday. We are going to have to step it up in the weeks ahead. We are going to need to improve."
"There are a lot of encouraging things. Both freshman, off the bench, really contributed. They wound up staying in the game a lot more then I had planned when I initially put them in, because that's when we kind of broke it. The game broke open when they were in the game, so we decided to ride it out a little bit longer. We kept riding and it kept building, so it worked out. The freshman played such a huge role in that."
"When it was going good, I felt like we settled down. Defensively, I felt like we did a better job."
"We tried a little triangle and two at the beginning of the half and it didn't work. They've got some good players. We tried triangle and two because #30 and #12 could be good players for any team in the GSC. They are both really good players. We knew #23 could be the one to hurt us. He knocked a couple down, which led to the players we weren't guarding aggressively missing their shots and them gaining possession of the long rebounds. We gave them some quick scores, which led to a tie."
"We went to more of a traditional defense, and we settled down and did a pretty good job for the rest of the half."
WHAT'S NEXT:
The Bucs return to action Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. as they host No. 3/2 Lincoln Memorial.
