CHARLESTON, S.C. – It was not easy or conventional, but Charleston Southern found a way to win its sixth straight Big South Conference home opener. CSU senior Cedrick Bowen's two-handed dunk with 0.8 seconds left provided the difference as the Bucs edged Campbell, 74-71, in a wild affair at the Buc Dome on Monday night. CSU rallied from four points down to score seven straight points over the game's final 43 seconds.

Saah Nimley started the Bucs' game-ending run with a deep three-pointer to cut Campbell's lead to 71-70. CSU chose to play defense instead of fouling, and secured a stop when Campbell's Nehemiah Mabson misfired on a jumper in front of the shot clock buzzer. Nimley grabbed the rebound, and found Bowen streaking ahead of the pack for a dunk. Mabson threw away the ensuing inbounds pass before anyone could think, and Nimley hit two free throws to seal the wild win as Campbell's desperation heave went begging.

CSU (7-6, 1-1 Big South) trailed by 15 in the first half, led by ten four times in the second half, and trailed by six with 1:40 left before pulling out the victory. Nimley scored 22 points to pace the Bucs, while Will Saunders tallied 18 and Arlon Harper added 17. Campbell (7-8, 1-1 Big South) shot 50 percent from the field and from three-point range, knocking down 13-of-26 tries from beyond the arc. The Fighting Camels' Andrew Ryan hit six of those treys, and led all scorers with 22 points.

"We found a way," said CSU head coach Barclay Radebaugh after the topsy-turvy tilt. "We made a lot of mistakes but we found a way to get the win. It wasn't pretty but we did what we had to at the end and sometimes those crazy games like that can turn it for you."

Bowen threw down a two-handed follow dunk to lift CSU over Ole Miss in overtime to open the season. His second game-winning dunk of the year was not quite as dramatic, but set off a raucous celebration as the Bucs evened their Big South mark at 1-1 heading into a clash at defending regular season champion High Point on Thursday. Radebaugh discussed CSU's strategy following Nimley's triple to cut the deficit to a point.

"Our philosophy is with five or more seconds, with Saah Nimley, we go," Radebaugh said of playing out the shot clock defensively. "We know Saah can get end-to-end really quickly. We held on defense and got the rebound. Even if they made the bucket, it is still a one possession game. They got one last play at it, and we thought we could too. Thankfully, Saah found Cedrick and we found a way to win."

Campbell made plenty of shots in the early going to build a 29-14 lead. The Fighting Camels hit 9 of their first 16 shots and six of their first nine threes to set the tone. Ryan and freshman Troy Harper, who notched 18 points and four treys, keyed the Camels' first half production. CSU snapped out of its early funk with a 15-0 run to tie the game, though, holding Campbell scoreless for 5:14 of game time.

Saunders was the catalyst in CSU's rally, draining three threes in a two-minute span. He drilled two over a 38-second stretch off passes from Nimley and Aaron Wheeler to bring the Bucs within 29-27 at the 3:28 mark. Wheeler chipped in a driving shot to even the ledger at 29 and cap off the spurt.

CSU kept the momentum on its side early in the second half, scoring 12 of the stanza's first 14 points to take a 46-36 advantage. Harper highlighted that spurt with a steal and jam in transition, and added a three. Saunders buried one of his career-high tying six to bookend the run and put CSU on top by ten with 14:57 left. CSU kept Campbell at bay for the next few minutes, before the Camels answered with a 16-0 run to push ahead, 59-53.

Campbell kept CSU off the scoreboard for 6:21 of game time during the contest's longest run. Ryan buried two triples, Harper had one and D.J. Mason put through a jam to lift Campbell into the lead by six at the 7:54 mark. CSU three times sliced Campbell's lead to a point before the Camels advanced their lead to six and before the Bucs staged an improbable final 100 seconds.

CSU continues a stretch of four games in eight days on Thursday at High Point. Tipoff at the Millis Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. The Bucs cap off a busy opening week of league play Saturday, hosting Longwood.