MEMPHIS-The Christian Brothers University Bucs connected on their first three three-pointers inside the game's first 90 seconds and never trailed for the third straight game in a 99-88 win over North Alabama Thursday night at Canale Arena.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
• The Bucs (16-6, 8-6 GSC) opened the game on a 9-0 run featuring triples by Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS), Jeff Larkin (Cincinnati, Ohio/La Salle HS) and Joe Laravie (Kettering, Ohio/Alter HS), the last of which came with 18:29 remaining in the half.
• A 6-0 burst capped by another Dieball three gave the Bucs their first double-digit lead at 23-12 with 11:36 remaining in the half.
• CBU used a 7-0 spurt late in the half to take a 48-28 lead, their largest of the night, on a Joe Laravie (Kettering, Ohio/Alter HS) triple with 1:57 remaining in the half. 
• UNA (10-11, 5-9 GSC) made a late run to cut the deficit to single digits. First, an eight-point run capped by a Tavaras Tolliver layup cut a 19-point CBU lead to 69-58 with 10:28 remaining. A 6-0 burst capped by a pair of Tolliver free throws brought the Lions within 80-74 with 3:37 remaining.
• Jeff Larkin (Cincinnati, Ohio/La Salle HS) answered with a layup, and two Brad Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder HS) free throws pushed the lead back to double digits at 84-74 with 2:08 remaining, and the Lions never came closer than seven in the game's final minutes.

KEY STATS:
• Larkin scored a game-high 26 with six assists and no turnovers in 38 minutes. He finished 16-of-18 at the free throw line, including 10-of-10 in the game's final minute.
• Dieball scored 25 points before fouling out in 26 minutes. He finished 8-of-13 overall, including 7-of-12 from three-point range, adding four assists and two blocks.
• Miller scored 20 with eight rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes. He was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field, including four three-pointers, and he made 4-of-6 free throws.
• Laravie scored 13 with four rebounds in 34 minutes.
• Alex Trentman (Alexandria, Ky./Bishop Brossart HS) added eight with a game-high 10 rebounds and two steals in 35 minutes.
• Jacob Lyons (Hernando, Miss./Christian Brothers HS) scored seven with four rebounds and two blocks in 19 minutes off the bench.
• The Bucs shot 49.1 percent (27-of-55) for the game, including 43.2 percent (16-of-37) from three-point range. UNA finished 48.5 percent (33-of-68) overall, including 28.6 percent (8-of-28) from beyond the arc.
• CBU shot 72.5 percent (29-of-40) at the free throw line to the Lions' 70 percent (14-of-20).
• UNA out-rebounded the Bucs 41-33, including a 16-10 edge in offensive boards. CBU forced 10 turnovers while committing nine.

NOTABLE:
• Dieball's seven three-pointers were a career-high and are tied for seventh-most in a game in school history.
• Larkin's 16 made free throws were tied for fourth-most in a game in school history and one off the school record set three times, most recently by Scott Dennis at Ouachita Baptist Jan. 20, 2011.
• CBU's 29 free throws made are tied for fourth-most in a game in school history and the most since making 30 against Harding Nov. 26, 2013.

HEAD COACH MIKE NIENABER'S THOUGHTS:
On the close game down the stretch:
"Obviously, not having Adam out there made it more interesting, especially in the type of game he was having. I thought it was tough and I thought there were some really tough calls. It seemed like there'd be a cluster of players bumping and when they came out it would be number #33. You'd like to see our players like that see the type of respect other players in this conference get over the years. We survived it though. The other good thing about it and going into the game with some guys sick, I felt like the minutes that Jake would get were really a positive thing."

On freshman Jacob Lyons:
"I though he played really well and did a lot of really good things. He's just so physical. He brings a physical presence that we don't have a lot of. A couple things that didn't show up in his stat-line, he just got in there and bumped and knocked some balls loose. He'd bump a ball and Brad would pick it up and lay it in or someone else would get it. He gives us a little of the physical presence Jordan used to, something we're missing so much. I've been on myself all season about getting him more minutes. The silver lining is that he had to play more and did a great job at it.  We're still frustrated about Luke, and wish we could get him a little more lined out. I know what he's capable of and if we can add that ingredient, sometime in here in the month of February going into March it'll be big for us."

On Adam Dieball making three-pointers and Jeff Larkin going 16-for-18 on free throws:
"That was major for us. Adam showed signs of doing what he's been doing I turned to the guys on the bench after he hit his 3rd three and went I am really really good coach when Adam's making threes. It makes everything so much easier for us. Jeff had a lot of good looks that just didn't go. Another thing I turned to the bench, trying to get the young guys to buy into and think about, every time after practice Jeff has stayed after to practice free-throws. Every practice. It's clearly paid off big time and made tonight a lot easier because a lot of people weren't making them."

On Brad Miller going 6-of-6 from the field:
"He made big shots and every one of his 3s in the first half when we were stretching the lead and then in the second half when they were making their run. He played really well. I'm really tough on him, because he had two turnovers and I'm killing him about both of them since I thought they were both kind of careless. The problem with us is we only had 9 turnovers, but every one of them gets scored. A lot of them tonight end up being threes. They had 14 off of turnovers and then the fast break points."

Have you ever won a game being outscored 30-0 in fast break points?
"Probably, being the way we are. Usually we can grab a couple off of turnovers but that didn't happen tonight and that's crazy. I think the biggest thing with them over the years, and this probably being the last time we play them since they're heading to DI next year, we've always been effective by keeping them on defense. In the first half we got the lead to 20 and took a couple quick threes and after 3 possessions they almost took it to 11. They hit a couple and we put it back in their hands. You go down their roster and they're all 3pt shooters except a few of the big guys, which makes them dangerous. They went down to Huntsville and won, they played West Florida and Valdosta and took those games to within a couple points, they swamped Montivallo earlier in the year. They're good. So many things they do, we can't guard. They're faster than us at every spot so we're constantly sagging and helping. The best thing we can do is keep it out of their hands."

On Saturday's game against Alabama Huntsville:
"We knew going into this stretch that the one waiting for us at the end, Huntsville has been our biggest problem over the years. It was one of our worst this year, they were really ready to play in the game there. Lenny does a great job and we struggle with them. We got them in a big game here last year in the final week of the season, this one is in the same cut as far as the importance of I because if we lose they'll have the tiebreaker over us. It's so bunched up in the standings, its always good to look at what happened in the league after a win. Hopefully a few good things happened for us tonight were maybe the standings shook in our favor. Clearly this is going to be a big big game for us. Hopefully we can close this home stand out. To me pushing for that 20 win mark is really important to have that going toward the tournament and obviously the more the better."

WHAT'S NEXT:
The Bucs return to action Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. as they host Alabama Huntsville.