SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Charleston Southern used a late comeback to get a huge road win at USC Upstate on Wednesday night by a final score of 63-60. The victory snaps a three-game losing streak and helps set the Buccaneers up for a strong close to the season ahead of the Hercules Tires Big South Championship.
 
The victory marks the team's first season sweep over the Spartans since the 2018-2019 season as the Bucs defeated the Spartans 77-70 earlier this year inside the Buc Dome. The victory also keeps CSU in a tie for 5^th in the league standings following the result tonight as Longwood defeating Asheville 80-75.
 
Charleston Southern was able to get to a big lead early in the contest getting a 14-5 lead just eight minutes into the contest. The Spartans were able to cut back into their deficit and eventually take their first lead in the game after Justin Bailey's trio of free throws at the 6:06 mark to put them ahead 20-19.
 
Shortly after, Reginald Duhart Jr was able to score the team's next three baskets and put CSU back ahead. Upstate was able to get a late three-pointer from Nick Alves and take a 30-28 lead into the break.
 
The teams traded baskets at the start of the half until Charleston Southern was able to rally off a ten-point run to give them back the lead at 45-36 with 11 minutes remaining. An Upstate seven-point run and eight-point run fueled their comeback to retake the lead eventually at 60-54 with three minutes left to play.
 
After the final point of that scoring run for the Spartans, CSU was able to keep them off the scoreboard for the rest of the night and claw their way back into the lead to get the win. Nobal Days notched the first six points of the stretch to tie the game at 60 each with some gritty plays. It started with a put-back layup with 2:43 to play that was followed by two separate successful trips to line.
 
Charleston Southern was able to get the lead back off a pair of free throws from RJ Johnson following a hard foul on a fastbreak layup. The Spartans were unable to find a bucket on their possessions and a late Kalib Clinton free throw in the closing seconds gave them the three-point margin to get the win.
 
A'lahn Sumler and RJ Johnson tied for the team-lead in scoring as they each finished with 19 points on the night. Duhart and Days each contributed greatly as they finished with nine and eight which tied Duhart's season-high and set Days season-high.
 
Charleston Southern was able to create their margin in the rebounding battle as they finished with a +18 advantage. CSU finished with 42 to Upstate's 23 and the Bucs had 14 total off the offensive glass.
 
The Buccaneers will be back in action this Saturday for a rematch with High Point (11-2) for CSU's Senior Day and tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. The first time these teams met, HPU got the victory 79-86. With four minutes to play, the score stood at 75 apiece, but the Panthers were able to get a few key buckets to get the victory.