Box Score
CHARLESTON, S.C. – In one of the greatest games in Big South Conference history, Charleston Southern outlasted High Point, 97-93, in three overtimes to capture its second regular season championship in three years before a standing room-only Buc Dome crowd on Saturday.
FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS - CSU 97, High Point 93 - 3 OT Classic
2015 VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Basketball Championships Bracket
CSU trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half and fell behind by 11 early in the second before rallying behind yet another brilliant performance by senior guard Saah Nimley. Nimley poured in 36 of his 38 points after halftime, including the final six of the third overtime, to will the Bucs to victory. Arlon Harper added 20 points and buried a long contested three-pointer with 14 seconds remaining in the second overtime to force the third extra session.
The win earned CSU (19-10, 13-5 Big South) a share of the Big South regular season title with High Point (22-8, 13-5 Big South). CSU holds the tie-breaker and as a result enters next week's VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Basketball Championships as the No. 1 seed. The Bucs have also secured a spot in the NIT, if they are not to win the conference tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
High Point struck first in each of the three overtimes but Harper and Nimley, as they have done so many times in their careers, put CSU over the top. Harper answered a Haiisshen McIntyre runner with a three from deep on the left wing to vault CSU into the lead, 91-89, with 2:43 left. John Brown spun inside for a layup to tie the game at 91 apiece, but Nimley drove the lane for a lay-in on the Bucs' next trip down the floor to give CSU the advantage for good. He added four free throws in the final 14 seconds to cement the victory, with the last providing a two-possession lead with just 3.6 ticks left on the clock.
CSU honored its five seniors before tipoff, and a group that has delivered some of the biggest moments in program history made their final game in the Buc Dome one to remember. The victory secured the winningest regular season – both in terms of overall and Big South wins – in the 50-year history of Charleston Southern Basketball.
CSU head coach Barclay Radebaugh remarked on a courageous effort that saw four Bucs – Nimley, Harper, Will Saunders and Aaron Wheeler – play 52 minutes or more. The Bucs missed their first ten threes of the night, faced a five-point deficit in the first overtime and a three-point deficit in the second overtime but overcame all of it to the delight of a raucous crowd.
"It was just incredible," Radebaugh said after cutting down the nets with his team. "It was beyond what you can describe with words. We were blessed today. God blessed this team. There is just no other way to think about it. Just look at all the miraculous plays that happened out there. To think that this team could do what we've done, you've just got to give God the glory for it. We've been totally injury free. We've got a point guard who was told he'd never play again that now should be player of the year in our conference."
"I'm never amazed by anything our five seniors do," Radebaugh said of a group that has accounted for 80 percent of the Bucs' scoring output this year. "The threes by Saah, the follow dunk by Ced, the tip by Paul, the amazing shot by Arlon, the consistency of Will, and then the toughness of the little guy. He's amazing and this group is amazing."
Saunders notched his second career double-double with 15 points and ten rebounds. Wheeler compiled a double-double as well and was perhaps the unsung hero of the game for the Bucs, recording 10 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, including ten on the offensive glass. Brown led High Point with 27 points and made two clutch free throws with 0.4 seconds left in regulation to force the first overtime. Lorenzo Cugini chipped in 15 points for the Panthers, and hit a three that gave High Point the lead late in the second overtime before Harper's monumental trey ushered the matchup into a third extra session.
CSU set a single-game program record – against Division I opponents – with 19 made threes. The Bucs started 0-for-10 from beyond the arc before hitting 19-of-35 attempts the rest of the way. CSU connected on 8-of-9 threes, including seven straight at one point, in the opening 9:34 of the second half to turn a 42-31 deficit into a 54-50 lead. The trio of Nimley, Harper and Saunders combined to go a sizzling 16-of-26 from three over the remarkable game's final 35 minutes.
Nimley was 0-for-6 from the floor and 0-4 from downtown in the opening stanza, but jolted the Bucs after intermission in showing why he is the front-runner for Big South Player of the Year honors. He drained back-to-back-to-back treys on three successive CSU possessions to trim an 11-point deficit to four in just 1:10 of game time. On a night where he tied Ed O'Neil as CSU's all-time assists leader, he then found Saunders and Harper for threes to whittle the High Point lead down to two. Nimley ended his own personal barrage with two more deep triples – one from the edge of the pirate ship logo inside of half court – to push CSU in front, 54-50, at the 10:26 mark.
"This is one of the most exciting things in my life," said Nimley after logging all 55 minutes and recording his 7th 30-point effort in CSU's last 14 games. "I'm just so happy with the way we battled back and refused to quit. We really wanted this one. That's two in three years now. That is the toughest thing to do in college basketball, to win the regular season, and we were fortunate to do that now twice. It's a great feeling and hopefully we can continue the run next week."
Wheeler skied for an acrobatic tip-in to give CSU a 66-62 lead with 2:55 left in regulation. High Point scored the next five points, though, to take the lead on Brown's tip-in with 49 seconds remaining. Nimley missed a three on the ensuing trip down the floor but came up with a steal and sailed through his reprieve to push CSU ahead 69-67 with 19 seconds left. Brown sunk two pressure free throws with 0.4 seconds remaining to force the first overtime.
Cugini swished a three, and Brown soared for a two-handed fast break dunk, to give High Point a 74-69 lead in overtime. Nimley made one of his CSU single-game program record tying eight triples following a Bowen steal to bring the Bucs within two, and tacked on two free throws to tie the contest at 74 and bring about a second overtime when Brian Richardson's three sailed off the mark.
Bowen's ultra-athletic dunk put-back of a Nimley miss highlighted the beginning part of the second overtime. Cugini came free on the left arc and drilled a three to stake High Point to an 83-80 edge at the 43 second mark. Nimley tried to answer but missed his try, leading to one of the more wild sequences of a wild night. Wheeler ran down the offensive rebound and tipped it to Harper, who was stripped on his way up for the shot. Wheeler hustled his way to the loose ball again, however, and shoveled it to Harper to set up the three most important points of the senior's career.
CSU opens Big South Tournament play on Friday at noon at the HTC Center. The Bucs will play No. 9 Longwood. The Bucs' contest on Friday will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
