CHARLESTON, S.C. - A 31-point performance from senior Jamarco Warren, plus the return of junior forward Kelvin Martin, enabled the CSU men's basketball team to climb out of an 11 point hole to take a 79-70 victory over the UNC Asheville Bulldogs on Tuesday evening at the Buc Dome.

Warren shot 9-of-14 for 31 points and a team-high four steals, also going an impressive 11-of-13 from the charity stripe. Kenny Mitchell also put on one of his best performances of the season, notching a double double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Jeremy Sexton dished out three assists and posted 12 points for the Bucs, who move to 14-14 overall and 8-8 in the Big South.

Martin, returning to the court after missing two games with an injury, put up nine points and four rebounds for the Bucs. After a rocky first half, CSU shot 15-of-28 in the second to finish the game shooting 45.6 percent from the field. They were also 21-of-26 for 80.8 percent from the free-throw line.

The Bucs struggled to control the ball in the first half, turning it over 16 times in the first 20 minutes alone. The Bulldogs were able to capitalize off of the CSU miscues scoring 23 points off of turnovers in the first half alone. CSU made adjustments at halftime, but still ended the night with 23 turnovers.

"Certainly the tale of two halves, for sure," said head coach Barclay Radebaugh. "The first half, we played really, really hard, really hard, flying around the court, probably too much; because that's a symptom of trying too hard is turning the ball over. We really made a big emphasis on moving the ball around and making the extra pass. We had some guys have some turnovers in the first half, and some of those same guys came out in the second half and just played terrific."

J.P. Primm led the Bulldogs with 20 points and had five of UNCA's 10 steals. John Williams put up 14 points and Jaron Lane added in ten. None of the Bulldogs finished in double figures in rebounding as they were out-rebounded 39-22 by the Bucs. Asheville is now 13-12 overall and 8-7 in the Big South.

Warren put up seven quick points as the Bucs took a 13-5 lead just under five minutes into the contest, but a 10-2 run by the Bulldogs negated the CSU advantage and tied the game at 15-15 with half of the first half in the books.

A four-minute scoring drought by the Bucs allowed UNC Asheville to take a six point lead. A 3-pointer from Strickland cut the advantage in half, but Dickey returned the favor to take the lead back up to six. Asheville added four from inside the paint to take an eight points lead before another trey from Strickland cut it back down to five.

A 3-point play from Warren brought the Bucs within four with 4:30 to go in the half before the Bulldogs started to gain momentum once again. Warren was able to interrupt the Asheville scoring streak with a shot from downtown, but it wasn't enough to stop the Bulldogs. Asheville would put up nine points to CSU's three in the final four minutes of the half to take a 39-29 halftime lead.

Asheville started the second half off at the free-throw line, with Primm extending the lead to 11 before Sexton brought it back down to single digits with a shot from downtown. The Bucs came within three and a dunk by Mitchell made it a one point game with 14:11 to go.

Warrant tied things up at the free-throw line before Brooks gave CSU a two-point lead on a fast break. Asheville came back to tie things up twice, but four points from Warren put the Bucs ahead. John Williams was able to bring UNCA within a point soon after, but a trey from Sexton and a fast break layup by Martin put the Bucs in front by six and added a free-throw to make it seven with just under eight to play in the game.

Primm cut it down to just four with a trey, but Warren added a shot from downtown as well for the Bucs to put themselves ahead by eight once more. The teams then hit the free-throw line, with the Bulldogs taking two and the Bucs picking up four to stay ahead 69-61 with 2:43 left.

Down by three with 90 seconds to go, the Bulldogs sent the Bucs to the charity stripe with Warren and Mitchell combining for five points. UNC Asheville went inside the paint to try and dig themselves out of their hole, dunking twice in the last minute of play. CSU countered with a dunk from Martin and a layup from Sexton to take the 79-70 win at the Buc Dome.

CSU will take a break from Big South action to participate in the 2011 ESPN Bracketbusters, where they will take on UNC Wilmington in Wilmington, N.C. on Saturday in a 7 p.m. match up.

Postgame Highlights

Postgame Quotes Story