The Charleston Southern men's basketball team began its season with a win Saturday night, defeating Division II Anderson University 85-74 at CSU Field House behind the performances of Jamarco Warren (24 points), Shelton Carter (21 points) and Omar Carter (19 points), who combined to score 60 of the team's 85 points.

The Bucs started out slightly slowly on the night as the Trojans of Anderson looking much improved over the team that went 4-24 in Division II last season. Things would slowly begin to change as the half progressed. The Bucs began to take charge by heeding head coach Barclay Radebaugh's call for agressive defense, as CSU pressured the Trojans up and down the floor, forcing no less than 16 Anderson turnovers in the first half.

The Bucs would then started to impose themselves on the offense end as well as the first half reached its midway mark. Leading the charge was Omar Carter (Charlotte, N.C.), who combined with Chris Moore (Morgantown, N.C.) to hit three consecutive threes to take CSU from a 17-14 defecit to a 23-17 lead, a lead they would never relinquish for the remainder of the game.

In fact, the lead would soon reach 20, thanks to a 27-8 run keyed by freshman point guard Warren (Gainesville, Ga.) and sophomore forward Shelton Carter (Greensboro, N.C.). Warren showed no hesitation in firing shots in the half, especially from the perimeter as the Trojan defense continued to leave him unguarded on the wing. The Georgian made Anderson pay, hitting four of nine threes in the half to build the Buccaneer lead.

Shelton Carter also was a huge contributor in the run, as he came off the bench to shoot six of seven from the field in the half for 16 points. Carter capped the half for the Bucs by scoring the team's final eight points to provide CSU with its 54-38 halftime margin.

The threes would continue to pour in from the freshmen in the early second half, as Omar Carter and Warren connected from deep to maintain a working margin for the Bucs. The Trojans would keep things close, however, as Brandon Young poured in 12 second half points and Drew Keenan, who finished with 14 points on the night, continued to play consistently well.

The Bucs would finally see off the game Trojans with a 7-0 run that pushed the score to 77-57, once again providing the Bucs a 20 point lead, with just six minutes remaining. Warren began the run by finding Shelton Carter running free down the floor, and Carter would dunk emphatically, with an causing Radebaugh to jump for joy. Warren then made an impressive drive to the hoop and banked home an even more impressive shot, while also drawing a foul, on the next possesion for the Bucs. After Warren connected on the free throw, junior Giedrius Knysas (Vilnius, Lithuania) then capped the run by blocking a shot on the Anderson end and sprinting down the floor. Warren then picked up yet another assist, one of his eight on the game against just one turnover, when he spotted the Lithuanian for a layup that capped the run.

Anderson closed the gap in the dying minutes, but the overall effort, and the strong performances of the freshmen and the Carters, left Radebaugh justifiably pleased.

"I would like to compliment our team's enthusiasm and effort," the coach said. "But we learned ways that we can get better and ways that we can improve."