CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern played some of its best basketball of the season to build a 50-24 second half lead, and staved off Western Carolina's furious late rally to pick up a 72-66 win at the Buc Dome on Monday night.

CSU (4-2) put forth perhaps its most impressive stretch of the year to go on a 23-4 run and take a 45-22 lead into halftime. The Bucs held Western Carolina (3-4) to two field goals over the final 7:06 of the first half, and limited the Catamounts to 30 percent shooting overall in the opening 20 minutes. CSU shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half and knocked down 7-of-13 three-point attempts, with Saah Nimley posting 12 of his team-high 22 points.

The Bucs pushed their advantage to 26 points on a Nimley three with 17:04 left, but Western Carolina answered behind the shooting of Rhett Harrelson. Harrelson hit for 14 of his 22 points after intermission, and buried four of WCU's seven second-half threes. He brought WCU as close as six on his sixth and final trey of the game with 54 seconds remaining, but CSU came up with a defensive stop and Nimley made two free throws to seal the victory.

CSU head coach Barclay Radebaugh was pleased with his team's stellar first half, as well as the way it responded down the stretch to answer WCU's charge. The Bucs were able to defeat the Catamounts a year after falling in Cullowhee to a Western team that ended up winning 19 games and advancing to the Southern Conference Tournament championship game.

"We have tons and tons of respect for Western Carolina," Radebaugh said. "We knew this would be a tough one coming into tonight and it was just that. We had a big lead in the first half, but I told our guys at half, 'that's a championship team.'"

"They were going to fight back and we knew it," Radebaugh continued. "Sure enough, they did. Western Carolina came in here with some quality wins and tons and tons of weapons. We shot it really well in the first half and I just kept telling our staff 'we need all the points we can get.' I'm really pleased with that win. We were put in a bind late and we came through."

Nimley entered off a tough shooting night in a gritty 39-minute effort at Florida State last Friday, but had his stroke in form against the Catamounts. He connected on 7-of-11 field goals and drilled 5-of-8 threes, including a critical one to up the Bucs' lead to 67-58 at the 4:03 mark.

Nimley wasted no time in setting the tone for CSU, answering a three-point play by WCU's Torrion Brummitt with a four-point on CSU's first possession. CSU's sparkplug point guard sailed through another three minutes later, and tallied nine of the Bucs' first 13 points.

Harrelson's second triple of the night cut WCU's deficit to 22-18 with 7:06 left in the first half, but the Bucs dominated the remainder of the stanza. Gombwer started the 23-4 run with a free throw, and Javis Howard contributed a layup. It was a three-point barrage from there as CSU hit four threes in the span of 2:19 to blow the game open. Arlon Harper swished two straight triples, and added a layup in a run of eight straight points. Aaron Wheeler spun inside for a layup to cap a brilliant CSU first half that saw the Bucs out-rebound WCU 26-14 and outplay them in virtually every area.

It was a three-point barrage that enabled Western Carolina to rally after CSU pushed its lead to 50-24 early in the second half. Harrelson made one, and Mike Brown added two to bring WCU within 50-35 as the Catamounts rattled off nine points in just 1:19. CSU pushed its lead back up to 19 twice – once on a Will Saunders three and once on a pair of Wheeler free throws – but Western Carolina would not go away.

WCU scored 18 of the next 23 points to close the gap to 64-58 on James Sinclair's floater with 5:10 remaining. Harrelson and Brown each contributed threes during the surge, as the guards combined to go 10-of-21 from beyond the arc. Nimley connected on his most important three of the night to stop the run, and Wheeler found Harper behind the WCU zone for a lay in and a 69-59 lead with 3:14 left.

Harrelson gave WCU one last gasp with a run of five straight points before CSU persevered for the triumph.

Nimley paced five players in double figures scoring with 22 points. CSU shot 46 percent for the game and limited Western Carolina to just under 39 percent. Wheeler drew the assignment on Sinclair for much of the night, and stifled the Catamounts' leading scorer. Sinclair, who was averaging over 19 points coming into play, did not score in the first half, started 1-of-12 from the field and finished 4-of-18.

"Our veterans, our seniors really stepped up tonight," Radebaugh said. "I'm happy to be 4-2. We've played a gauntlet of a schedule. At Florida State, at Ole Miss, top-three team in the SoCon, top-three team in the Horizon. That's a really tough schedule with eight new players. I'm really happy with this team and the way we're meshing together."

CSU hosts Columbia International on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before taking an eight-day break from game action for final exams.