Box Score
Box score
LYNCHBURG, Va. - Charleston Southern's Saah Nimley had 23 points
and Arlon Harper added 19 as CSU extended its winning streak to
eight games and gave Bucs' head coach Barclay Radebaugh his 100th
win at CSU with a hard-fought 79-75 win over Liberty on Saturday
night at the Vines Center.
Charleston Southern (12-6, 7-0 Big South) won at the Vines
Center for the first time since 2006 and extended its winning
streak, the third longest in school history, but it wasn't
easy.
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Highlights
The Bucs built a number of leads in each half but could never
put the Flames away.
CSU held a 74-66 advantage with 6:21 left to play, only to see
Liberty reel off an 8-0 to tie the game in the final minutes.
CSU would hold the Flames to a lone free throw over the final
2:53 to remain perfect in Big South play and move to 11-1 overall
since Dec. 1.
"I'm proud of our guys on this one," CSU head coach Barclay
Radebaugh said after the win. "This was a tough win. With three
minutes to play, I looked at our guys and said 'I want this, every
game is not going to be a (double-digit) win. I want us to execute,
relax, and play and they did. This is a tough place to play and
have not won here in a long time."
CSU won with its defense down the stretch. Neither team had a
field goal in the final four minutes. Liberty had a couple of tough
looks from three-point range with a chance to take the lead or tie
in the final 30 seconds, but couldn't connect. CSU's Paul Gombwer
and Allie Fullah each grabbed big rebounds and knocked down a free
throw to help seal the win. Fullah had a career-high five blocked
shots.
"We stepped up on defense (in the final seconds) and did a good
job defending the three on the final possession," Radebaugh said of
Liberty's possessions in the final minute. "This was very much a
team effort and a team win.
However, it was the offense that kept the Bucs in the lead
throughout the second half.
Nimley came up three points shy of his career high, which he set
on Wednesday night at Presbyterian, with 23 points. He made 6-of-12
three-point attempts. He also added 10 rebounds, his second
double-digit rebounding game this season.
Harper added a 9-of-15 effort and had eight boards. The Bucs
hung tough in the rebounding column, getting out-rebounded only
44-42 despite playing most of the game with a much smaller
lineup.
"Give our guys credit, we battled," Radebaugh added. "It wasn't
pretty, we didn't shoot the ball well, we made a lot of mistakes,
but we found a way to win on the road in late January to remain
undefeated in our league, and that's all you can ask for in a tough
environment."
Seniors Jeremy Sexton and Mathiang Muo each added 14 points. Muo
was 4-of-5 from three-point range.
The Bucs, who entered Saturday night's game as the national
leader in made three-point field goals per game at 9.6, went
10-of-25 from behind the arc. Liberty was 11-for-27 in a matchup of
the Big South's top three-point shooting teams.
CSU's balanced scoring was a much-needed answer for Liberty's
Davon Marshall, who finished with a game-high 23 points. He hit
7-of-14 three-pointers and repeatedly rallied Liberty from six and
eight-point deficits in each half.
Marshall missed a contested look from the top of the key in the
final 10 seconds, which preserved the Bucs' streak and sets up what
could be a historic week for CSU hoops.
The Buccaneers will try to match a nine-game winning streak put
together in 1994-'95 on Wednesday night when they host
Gardner-Webb. The school record for consecutive wins is 10.
Radebaugh picks up his 100th win as the Bucs' head coach and is
31-18 in his last two season at CSU. He trails Gary Edwards, who
coaches the Bucs from 1987-'96, for the most wins as Bucs' head
coach. Edwards has 121.
The Bucs started slow as Liberty took a 7-3 attacking the
offensive boards, but the Bucs answered. An old-fashioned
three-point play by Arlon Harper on a reverse layup and a runner in
the lane from Jeremy Sexton gave CSU an 8-7 lead. Harper would cap
the 7-0 run with a steal and a dunk to give the Bucs a 10-7
lead.
The Flames retook the lead on back-to-back three pointers by
Davon Marshall and Davon Roberts to take a 13-10 edge, but a Nimley
three tied the game moments later to stop the run.
The two teams traded buckets until a steal and score by Sexton
gave the Bucs a 28-23 lead with 6:11 to play in the first half. The
score followed Mathiang Muo's second three of the first half.
CSU extended its lead to as many as seven at 38-31 in the half,
before Liberty closed the gap to three at 41-38 at the break.
Muo opened the second half with his third three pointer of the
game and Harper became the third Buc to move into double figures
with a basket as CSU extended its lead to eight in the opening
minutes of the half at 46-38.
Nimley would carry the Bucs over the next four minutes as he hit
back-to-back three pointers and knocked down a pair of free throws
as CSU kept some distance between itself and the Flames, but it
could not put Liberty away.
Marshall answered with a three of his own, then capitalized on a
CSU technical with two free throws to cut the lead to 62-58 with
11:28 to play.
Muo followed the free throw with another three from the right
corner to push the lead back to seven, 65-58, but Liberty would tie
the game behind Marshall's hot hand to set up the drama in the
final minutes.
J.R. Coranado had a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Bucs host Gardner-Webb on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in
the Buc Dome.
-CSU-
