MEMPHIS-In a game the Christian Brothers University Bucs led by 14 in the first half and 19 with 13:00 remaining, they had to outscore visiting Alabama Huntsville 15-3 over the final 2:30 to finally claim an 85-78 win and move into sole possession of fourth place in the Gulf South Conference standings.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
• The Bucs (17-6, 9-6 GSC) used an early 9-2 run to take an 11-4 lead on a Joe Laravie (Kettering, Ohio/Alter HS) layup with 14:50 remaining in the first half.
• A 13-2 CBU run extended the BUcs' lead to 26-12 on a Laravie triple with 10:07 remaining in the first half. Laravie scored 12 of the Bucs' first 26 points.
• The Chargers (14-9, 7-8) controlled much of the rest of the first half. First, a 10-2 run brought them within 29-27 on back-to-back Justin Ward triples with 5:10 remaining. Later, a Kip Owens three in the final seconds of the first half sent the teams to the locker room tied at 37.
• The Bucs made seven straight three-pointers to start the second half. Adam Dieball (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East HS) started the onslaught with a jumper in the lane, then Brad Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder HS) knocked down a triple. Jeff Larkin (Cincinnati, Ohio/La Salle HS) followed with a layup and the Bucs' lead was 44-37 with 18:43 remaining in the game.
• Two triples each from Laravie and Dieball as well as one from Brad Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder HS) and Luke Rudy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills HS) were part of a 20-5 run capped by a Dieball three that gave CBU a commanding 64-45 lead with 13:00 remaining.
• UAH answered with a 30-6 run that spanned 10 minutes of the second half. It started with a 9-0 run capped by an Owens three that brought the Chargers within 64-54 with 11:16 remaining. The run ended with 12 straight Charger points, taking a 72-70 lead on a Ward layup with 4:20 remaining and extending their lead to 75-70 on an Off free throw with 2:51 remaining.
• CBU snapped the skid with a Dieball free throw with 2:30 remaining to cut the deficit to 75-71. Laravie sank a triple to bring the Bucs within a point at 75-74 with 1:41 remaining, then he buried a corner three-pointer to put the Bucs back ahead for good 77-75 with 1:01 remaining. Larkin, Laravie and Miller were a perfect 8-of-8 at the free throw line in the final 45 seconds to seal the victory.

KEY STATS:
• Laravie scored a game-high 28 points, shooting 10-of-13 from the field including making all six of his three-pointers.
• Dieball scored 21 with seven assists and six rebounds. He finished 7-of-13 overall, including 5-of-11 from beyond the arc.
• Larkin scored 17 with four rebounds.
• Miller, already the nation's leader in assist-to-turnover ratio at 4.67, scored eight with five assists, four rebounds and no turnovers.
• The Bucs shot 51.7 percent (30-of-58) for the game, including 50 percent (14-of-28) from three-point range. UAH finished 47.6 percent (30-of-63) overall, including 40.6 percent (13-of-32) from beyond the arc.
• The Bucs out-rebounded UAH 33-29, including an 8-7 edge in offensive boards. The Chargers forced eight CBU turnovers while committing six.

THE GSC STANDINGS:
First-place Valdosta State has clinched a berth in the GSC Tournament as they sit in first place at 13-1, followed by West Florida (12-3) and West Alabama (10-4). CBU sits in sole possession of fourth at 9-6, followed by Montevallo (8-6), Delta State (8-7), Lee (7-7) and UAH (7-8). North Alabama, West Georgia and Mississippi College are in a three-way tie for ninth at 6-9.

HEAD COACH MIKE NIENABER'S THOUGHTS:
"It really was [strange]. Whatever we were doing at the beginning of the half's, we came out and it looked like maybe we could break it. You know though, that they're going to make their runs at you and make you pay for every mistake. It just seemed like when they got an open three they made it, it felt like every time they made it. We weren't staying in front of them and we finally, with a couple of those late time outs, were rotating every possession we could to keep Cody and Jake in there on defense and get the other guys in there for offense. When they got that 5 point lead late it just did not look good. We were reeling and we just weren't making plays. I think we got a little rattled when that Technical got reversed. I was sort of ready when it got reversed but I wasn't ready for them to get the ball. I understood what the refs said but when the guy does a chin up on the rim and when you blow the whistle like that I think even Huntsville would've been ok with us getting the ball. It was just weird and I thought that was kind of a turning point play. I was trying to rally our guys and say we have to forget about that and play forward. We had a 6 point lead at the time, but they were just scoring every time and we just went dead on offense. Adam had a really rough stretch there where he fumbled a couple of passes. Then when we had the double digit lead we had the turnovers that got it right back. That was actually when we were up 19, then we had three straight turnovers. We just got sloppy. We look so good at times, but it's kind of been the story of the year we kind of dilly dally but at the end of the game we make shots and tonight kind of looked like the first semester team this year from November and December's season. It just seemed for a long stretch every time they missed they got the rebounds."

On contributions from multiple players:
"When Joe shoots like that and Adam shoots the way he's been shooting and Jeff's playing well, when our top three are playing well I become a whole lot smarter as a coach. Our big players stepped up. Brad Miller gave us great minutes. We got a lot of contributions from a lot of people. I was really pleased with Jake when he was able to come in late after not playing much in the second half. I felt we needed to get him in there on defense and he got in there and dug out a big rebound and just makes our defense better. I felt like we needed Luke in there at ties for the offensive end. We didn't want to get Jake in a position where he was going to get fouled be the guy we had at the foul line, especially as a freshman we didn't want that on him. We were able to get it to Jeff when we needed to and got him to the foul line, where he's been big all year for us making free-throws."

On the standings:
"The thing is if you just talk about Huntsville alone, having two games on them is major because they still have the tiebreaker over us from beating West Florida. It's going to be crowded. Lee is right there within a game from us, so that game there next Saturday is going to be major. To make it as big as we need to make it though we have to first go and take care of Shorter. They're a dangerous team right now, they have the kind of team that's just free and easy, like we saw here the other night. They have a couple guys that if they get going and get comfortable they can give you a lot of trouble. It's a long trip, but we have to get over there Thursday night and take care of business and keep knocking them down. We've got five left and they're all extremely winnable games. I think the road games, Lee record wise is the best, but Shorter and Auburn that beat us in here are not going to be easy games. They're all going to be a battle. If we've got Joe and Adam and Brad and Jeff and these guys clicking on all cylinders though I like our chances."

SENIOR DAY:
The Bucs honored four seniors in pregame ceremonies: Jordan Miller (Fulton, Ky./Fulton City HS), Tyler Estep (Cincinnati, Ohio/Reading HS), Cody Garbuzinski (Memphis, Tenn./Christian Brothers HS) and Jeff Larkin (Cincinnati, Ohio/La Salle HS).

WHAT'S NEXT:
The Bucs play three of their last five on the road, beginning with a trip next week to face Shorter Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. and Lee Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. Their next home game is set for Wednesday, Feb. 14, when they host Delta State at 7 p.m.