If Chris Moore (Morganton, N.C.) keeps shooting like he did Friday night, the senior CSU guard is going to start earning some pretty high praise.

No praise, however, could be higher than the compliment given Moore by his head coach Barclay Radebaugh following the game.

"I keep saying this, and people keep saying I'm crazy, but Chris Moore is among the very elite shooters in the United States of America," said Radebaugh.

No one would dare to call Radebaugh crazy after Moore's effort in CSU's 72-61 victory Friday night. Moore led the team in scoring by shooting an impressive 10 of 12 from the field, including 4 of 6 behind the arc, en route to a 27 point scoring night.

27 points represents a new career high for the North Carolina native, besting a previous high of 23, set in his sophomore year in a 76-73 Buccaneer win at VMI.

Moore scored many of his 27 points in clutch situations for the Bucs as they sought to hold off a second half rally from North Florida. CSU had built a 36-27 first half lead, thanks in large part to 15 points from Moore, which cancelled out a 13 point first half performance from UNF's James Grimball. The Ospreys would hang tough in the early second, however, and would narrow the Buc lead to 52-50 at the 7:41 mark thanks largely to the play of Chris Timberlake, who scored all 13 of his points in the game's second session.

After Omar Carter (Charlotte, N.C.) hit a jumper for two of his 10 points and the two teams traded free throws, Moore hit one of his more significant shots on the night, as he stepped back and connected on a three-point shot with the shot clock winding down to extend the CSU lead back to seven.

The Ospreys would narrow the margin to four, but Moore would once more have an answer. First, the senior captain connected on two free throws to re-build the Buc advantage. Then, after the two teams played scoreless basketball for three minutes, Moore stepped forward once…more, hitting a jump shot with 1:45 left to extend the Buc lead to eight. Free throws down the stretch from both Shelton Carter and Omar Carter ensured the conclusion of the competitive stage of the game, paving the way for the eventual 11 point Buccaneer win.

The Bucs dominated the Ospreys in several key statistical areas, including shooting percentage where they held a 51.0% to 37.3% advantage, and rebounding, where they held a 46-30 edge for the game. Leading the way on the glass for the Bucs were the unrelated Carters, as Shelton had 11 rebounds and and Omar 12.

The 10 point, 12 rebound night gave the freshman Carter his second consecutive double-double, although this double-double would be reached in a very different fashion than was his first. Whereas on Monday night against Auburn Omar dominated on the offensive glass, pulling down eight such rebounds, Friday Omar excelled defensively, pulling down no less than 11 defensive rebounds as CSU limited the Ospreys to just five offensive rebounds on 19 missed shots in the second half.

The Bucs needed to excel in each of these areas to win, however, as the team struggled with turnovers. All told, the Bucs turned the ball over 27 times Friday, including 18 in the second half as CSU struggled with North Florida's full court, aggressive defense.

Radebaugh admitted that the turnover numbers need improvement, although he attributed many of the mistakes to it being the first road game for several of CSU's regulars.

"Its freshmen and sophomores making turnovers on the road," said the coach. "Its something we have to work on...We've got to value the ball."

For now, though, Moore's shooting and the Carters' rebounding was enough to give CSU it's first road win in a little less than 21 months, with the last such victory coming February 28, 2006 in a Big South Conference tournament win at Birmingham Southern.

The Bucs will hope that that the wait for the next road win does not extend for 21 months this time around, but instead lasts for just three days until next Monday, when the Bucs will travel across town to face The Citadel in search of a 4-2 start and the first step to a third successive City Championship.