CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Charleston Southern men's basketball team shot a torrid 70 percent from the field in the second half to open up a tight game and defeat Erskine, 96-69, at Buccaneer Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.

Freshman guard Arlon Harper led five Bucs in double figures with a career-high 22 points, while senior forward Kelvin Martin posted his fourth double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Martin's latest stellar performance was particularly special, as he passed Radford's Art Parakhouski to move into 10th place all-time on the Big South Conference's rebounding list.

CSU (8-4, 2-0) trailed by as many as seven in the first half, and was down 52-49 with 15:26 remaining as the teams traded buckets out of halftime. That's when the Bucs flipped the switch, however, outscoring the Flying Fleet 47-17 the rest of the way to post the 27-point final margin of victory.

The Bucs once again displayed their depth off the bench, highlighted by junior guard Jeremy Sexton's 14 points in his first game action in five weeks. Freshmen Saah Nimley and Cedrick Bowen rounded out the double digit scorers with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Erskine (1-7) was spearheaded by 21 points from point guard Mike Gabbard, while leading scorer Corey Sorrell chipped in 18.

Sorrell's layup brought the Flying Fleet within 64-57 at the 10:46 mark, but the Bucs responded with 13 straight points to push the cushion to twenty. Four different players scored during the spurt, which was punctuated when Martin rebounded a miss and found Sheldon Strickland streaking down the lane in transition for an old-fashioned three-point play.

With a large advantage in tow, Barclay Radebaugh was able to get minutes off the bench for Mitchell Deter, Thomas Odom, Greg Dorleus, and Matt Kennedy. Three of the four reached the scoring column, with Deter sailing home his fourth trey of the campaign and Odom connecting on a three of his own for his first bucket of the year.

Harper got the Bucs off on the right foot at the outset, drilling a pair of triples from the right side for a 6-2 lead. Erskine executed its methodical offense in the half court, though, en route to opening up a 31-24 advantage on Gabbard's three-pointer with 7:38 to play until intermission. Gabbard pumped in 13 of his points before the break, as the Flying Fleet shot 60 percent from the floor.

Undeterred, the Bucs came back with a 9-0 run to surge in front and maintained a 42-41 lead into the locker room even when Sorrell beat the buzzer with a layup off a length-of-the-court pass from DeShaun Hall.

Led by Martin, CSU's athleticism proved too much for Erskine to combat over the final twenty minutes of action. Martin's ten caroms helped engineer an effort which produced a +18 margin on the glass (38-20), as the Bucs tallied 40 points in the paint to the Flying Fleet's 20. The Bucs also ripped down 14 offensive boards to lead to 18 points, and outdid Erskine on the fast break as well, posting a 14-2 advantage.

The bulk of Big South play gets underway this Saturday, as the Bucs travel to Lynchburg, Va. for a 2 p.m. meeting with the Liberty Flames. Coverage can be heard starting at 1:50 on Sports Radio 1450 AM.