COLUMBIA, S.C. – Charleston Southern traveled to play at South Carolina on Saturday and fell by a final score of 73-69. The Buccaneers held tight with the SEC foe and pushed them to the brink all night long.  
 
The first half saw the Buccaneers take an early lead in the contest, getting ahead by a 6-3 scoreline three minutes into action. Heading into the first media timeout, the score stood at 12 apiece. Before the team was able to cash in on their next possession, they regained the lead by a 19-16 edge off a bucket by Nobal Days.
 
The Gamecocks took the lead back with eight minutes to play and held onto it for the rest of the opening frame. The Buccaneers kept them at bay, never letting them go more than five points ahead. Taje' Kelly finished the first 20 minutes of play with 16 points off 8-11 from the floor. At halftime, the score stood at 39-36 with Kelly scoring in the final seconds before the break.
 
After USC scored the first points of the half, Charleston Southern rattled off six unanswered to regain the lead at 42-41 with Patrick's second make from deep on the night. The teams continued to trade scoring runs, with each team piecing together a 7-0 scoring run. After the home advantage was cut to a point at 61-60 with five to play, USC put together a 9-2 run to lead by eight with under two minutes left in regulation.
 
Charleston Southern was able to score on back-to-back trips down the floor, but the hosts were able to hold the lead and claim the win by a 73-69 decision.
 
The Bucs had four players finish in double figures for scoring with Kelly leading all players in scoring with a season-high of 22, marking his highest total since March of his freshman season. Sumler was next on the team collecting 15 with Patrick and Johnson each finishing with 13. Kelly also had the game-high in rebounds with seven. Reginald Duhart Jr. was next on the squad as he finished with six.
 
As a team, Charleston Southern shot 28-58 (48.3%) from the floor and was able to convert at a high level from behind the arc going 7-18 (38.9%) from deep. On the other end of the court, CSU's defense held USC to just six makes of their 25 attempts from three-point range. The Buccaneer defense also had a season-high in blocks with seven, their most since December of 2022 against Kentucky Christian when they finished with eight. 
 
Charleston Southern returns to the court on Tuesday, November 19^th as they will travel to Illinois. The Bucs will take on Loyola Chicago with a tipoff slated for 8:00 p.m.