MEMPHIS – Behind a bevy of three-pointers from Luke Rudy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS) and Joe Laravie (Kettering, Ohio/Alter HS), the Christian Brothers University men's basketball team bounced back from a three-game skid against the Auburn University-Montgomery Warhawks, 107-87 in Canale Arena on Saturday.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The first nine minutes of the game remained tightly contested, as Joe Laravie (Kettering, Ohio/Alter HS) slid in a layup over the Warhawks to give the Bucs a four point lead. That bucket spurred a 10-2 run for CBU over a two minute span and powered them to a 30-20 lead with 8:44 remaining.
• A three-pointer from Brad Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder HS) at the 1:43 mark in the first half gave the Bucs their largest lead of the half, at 51-34. However, the Warhawks would chip into that a bit, going into halftime trailing 51-37.
• CBU exploded out of the gates in the second half, going on a 9-0 run over 1:10, powering them to a 60-39 lead.
• A Luke Rudy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS) three, at the 4:24 mark gave the Bucs a 29-point lead, their largest of the game, powering them to a 99-70 advantage.

KEY STATS:

• As a team, the Buccaneers shot lights out, hitting at a 58 percent clip (36-of-62 overall) and an even more baffling 53 percent from behind the arc (24-of-45). Twenty-four three-pointers from the Buccaneers breaks the school record of 20 (2x, last 11/26 vs. Harding).
• Additionally, 107 points from the Bucs is the most since 12/5/13 when CBU scored 108 vs. Central Baptist.
• Joe Laravie (Kettering, Ohio/Alter HS) scored a season-high 30 points, on a baffling 10-of-12 overall, including 3-of-5 from behind the three-point line and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in 26 minutes of production.
• Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) put together a well-rounded performance, logging 12 points, nine rebounds, nine assists, and two blocks in 30 minutes.
• However, Luke Rudy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS) stole the show for the Bucs. Rudy posted 44 points, on 14-of-22 from the field (all three-pointers). Rudy's 44 points ties a CBU record, previously set by Jeff Sanders (12/9/1978 vs. Lambuth) and his 14 three-pointers sets both a school (11, Tim Stock 2/15/1988 vs. Freed Hardeman) and Gulf South Conference (12, Beau Justice 12/10/18 vs. Fort Valley State) record.

NOTABLE RECORDS FROM THE BUCS IN SATURDAY'S PERFORMANCE:

• 1 - 3-point field goals attempted - 22, Luke Rudy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS)
• 1 - 3-point field goals attempted - 45, TEAM
• 1 - 3-point field goals made - 14, Luke Rudy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS)
• 1 - 3-point field goals made - 24, TEAM
• 1 - Most points - 44, Luke Rudy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS)
• 4t- Most assists - 29, TEAM
• 11t- Field goal percentage - .833, Joe Laravie (Kettering, Ohio/Alter HS) (10-12)
• 12t- Field goals made - 14, Luke Rudy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS)
• 20t- Field goals made - 36, TEAM
• 20t- Most points - 107, TEAM
• 25t- 3-point FG percentage - .636, Luke Rudy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS) (14-22)
• 26 - 3-point FG percentage - .533, TEAM (24-45)
• 26t- Field goals attempted - 22, Luke Rudy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS)
• 27t- Most assists - 9, Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS)
• 40 - Field goal percentage - .581, TEAM (36-62)
• 43t- Most points - 30, Joe Laravie (Kettering, Ohio/Alter HS)
• 46t- Most assists - 8, Nick Deifel (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS)
• 62t- Field goals made - 10, Joe Laravie (Kettering, Ohio/Alter HS)
• 88t- Field goals attempted - 62, TEAM

Christian Brothers University Head Coach Mike Nienaber postgame interview:
On the outburst of scoring:

"I'm a (heck) of a coach when those threes are falling, I'll tell you. And they hadn't been falling either, we were due. It's good to be back home, and obviously you have to be so happy for Luke (Rudy). When we were struggling a little bit, I felt like we needed to get Nick (Deifel) in the (starting) lineup. I really didn't want to take anybody out, and when I took Luke out, I told him I was hoping I would jumpstart him. And obviously today was a pretty good start. It's almost one of those things where you go, "okay, do you really want to change it now?" So, let's keep doing what we're doing.

We've got one more game before Christmas. And we talked about it before today's game. If we can get these two wins going into the holiday, and be 3-1 in the league, then I like our chances where we're headed. Having that Valdosta (State) and West Florida trip out of the way, which is a tough trip for anybody, I think so many other teams in the league are pretty evenly balanced.

This team tonight is capable. We kind of busted it open there with Luke's shooting, and our three-point shooting in general, but this team played (Alabama) Huntsville in a really tight game, a couple of weeks ago they beat Tampa, so they're dangerous. Like most teams in the Gulf South (Conference), you can't take a night off. Anybody in the league can get you If you don't bring your A-game. We started kind of shaky tonight. I thought we were kind of sloppy out of the gate."

On Luke Rudy's (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS) performance:

"(Chuckling) I mean we all know he's capable of that. We all know. I mean, what can you say? They were packing in, trying to take away a lot of the inside stuff. So Adam didn't have a big numbers game, but he didn't take a lot of shots. He was 4-for-7, but they were taking him out. But they gave us other things. And Adam almost had a triple-double. He had nine assists and nine rebounds. So, (today) was fun."

". . ."A lot of times you take a player out. Like if Luke was starting, I would have taken him out. But he's coming off the bench, we're trying to get him going. You said he's made as many three's today, as he's made all year (14). He really hasn't been on top of his game. So to have a breakout game like that for him was major. That's kind of why we left him in there."
 
 
On gaining confidence for the upcoming road trip:

"Yeah I think we did. Like we talked about before the game, two out of the last three games were against teams that are top-five teams in the country. And we didn't play as well as I would have liked to see us play. I think we could have played those games closer than we did. Bellarmine was a complete disaster. It's just one of those things. You play bad against a team like that, they're going to hand it to you. And that's kind of what happened. But it's good to see us bounce back and have the kind of day that we had."

On carrying momentum into Mississippi College:

"Mississippi College is playing well. I think they might be playing Delta (State) today, and that is going to be a big game for them. But they've been playing well. I think they're 1-1 like us going into today in the conference, but their loss was a heartbreaker to (West Alabama). And West Alabama is playing well, so anybody in this league, if you don't bring your A-game, you can get beat. There is no nights off. So hopefully we can go down there and take care of business.

The other thing that would be a big advantage, if we go into Christmas 3-1 in the league having three of them being road games, that gives you a leg up on a couple the other teams that might be 3-1, even might be 4-0, that have played games at home. So hopefully we can find a way to go down there to my alma mater and take care of business on Monday night."

UP NEXT:

• Christian Brothers University looks to remain hot on Monday as they travel to Clinton, Mississippi to face the Choctaws of Mississippi College. First tip is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.