Charleston Southern University Athletics
Fla. Christian
Bucs Ease Past Suns, 91-31
12/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Two twenty-plus point runs early in the first and second halves allowed CSU to breeze past the Florida Christian Suns of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), 91-31, Saturday night for their biggest margin of victory in nearly twelve years.
The first big CSU run came at the game's outset, as the Bucs opened the game on a 21-0 run. Barclay Radebaugh's squad showed strong unselfishness in the run, as six players scored, lead by six points and two threes from senior guard Chris Moore (Morganton, N.C.). The unselfishness would continue throughout the game and half, as 11 of the 12 Buc players that participated Saturday had points by halftime.
After this initial burst, the Suns would hang tough for the remainder of the half, as the CSU lead would only increase by seven to 28 at 46-18 at halftime. Wendell Coates took charge for Florida Christian, scoring 13 of the team's 18 points on the half on six of nine shooting.
The Bucs were able to maintain their comfortable first half lead thanks to excellent shooting. CSU shot 59.4% for the first half and 7 of 12 from three point range, with Moore (9 points on 3 for 4 three point shooting and freshmen Omar Carter (9 points on 3 for 4 shooting) and Austin Johnson (9 points on 4 for 5 shooting) particularly effective in the game's opening 20 minutes.
After Florida Christian scored the first basket of the second half, the Bucs would continue their early half dominance by going on a 20-0 run to build the lead to 66-20. Whereas the previous run had been keyed by shooting from the perimeter, all 20 points would be scored from inside the arc in this run. The run was once more a balanced effort amongst the Bucs, but starring was Marquise DuVall (Columbia, S.C.), who scored six straight points in one stretch.
The night was a strong one overall for the sophomore forward, who scored eight points and pulled down a team-leading and career high 13 rebounds, helping CSU outrebounded their NCCAA foes 55-26 on the night.
The Suns showed some ill effects from playing just six players Saturday as the game wore on, demonstrated by the Bucs holding Florida Christian to 13 points in the second half and 31 points for the night.
31 points represents the fewest points allowed by CSU in the shot clock era and is the fewest points CSU has allowed in a game since allowing 18 points to the College of Charleston in the 1979-80 season, allbeit in an 18-15 loss. The 60 point win also gave CSU their largest margin of victory since a 110-45 win over Webber International of the NAIA on December 4, 1995.
Moore lead the Bucs on scoring Saturday with 17 points, 15 of which came from 3 point range as he connected on five of nine three point shots. Johnson followed right behind with 15, a career-high for the freshman guard who had scored just three points on the season before Saturday. Omar Carter (Charlotte, N.C.) and Giedrius Knysas (Vilnius, Lithuania) had 11 and 10 points respectively.
The Bucs lost few statistical battles Saturday, outshooting the Suns 49.4% to 28.6% on the night and committing only 13 turnovers to FCC's 25. The Bucs showed good ball control particularly in the second half, where they had 12 assists to only three turnovers, mainly thanks to the play of Lorenza Knight (Hardeeville, S.C.), who made his mark on the game in spite of not scoring by picking up 7 second half assists in just 11 minutes played.
Saturday's game was the second game in which the Bucs did not play with forward Shelton Carter (Greensboro, N.C.), who is indefinitely suspended due to conduct detrimental to the team. Carter's status will be reevaluated following CSU's next game.
That next game comes Monday night back at CSU Field House, when the Bucs will entertain the Mercer Bears, who defeated Southern Cal earlier this year, at 7:30 P.M.
