CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern collected their second consecutive win with an 83-77 victory over Longwood on Saturday afternoon inside the Buc Dome.
A'lahn Sumler paced the team with 34 points, the highest by a CSU player this season and helped the team never trail in the contest. The win splits the season series between the two teams as the Bucs avenged their 21-point loss last month.
This was the first game for the Buccaneers where they went into the halftime break with a lead as they were up 34-29. The hosts were able to get in control of the contest early, building their lead up to double digits within the first ten minutes using a 10-0 scoring run to get ahead. Charleston Southern continued to control the half, but the Lancers were able to piece together some possessions late in the closing minutes to cut their deficit down to five.
In the second, both teams started to raise their level of play on the offensive end, trading baskets, with both teams nearly reaching 50 points apiece in the second half. The Buccaneers shot over 70% in the second half making 19 of their 27 shots in the final 20 minutes.
Longwood was able to cut the CSU led to three points with 1:47 to play. The Buccaneers were able to quickly sprint away from the Lancers scoring seven unanswered points to get ahead 80-70 in the final minute. The teams each went to the charity stripe aplenty in the final minute to tally up some more points, but CSU was steadily in control until the clock expired.
Sumler lead the team in scoring with 34 points as he also had a pair of players join him in double figures.
Taje' Kelly and
Quentin Bolton Jr. each had 16 points, with Kelly reaching at least 10 in all nine conference games while Bolton has for back-to-back games in his first two career starts.
Charleston Southern had a team approach to rebounding as they collected 34 on the night to Longwood's 41 total, with 21 coming off the offensive glass. The Bucs had four players finish with five rebounds with them being Sumler, Bolton, Kelly and
Kalib Clinton.
Jaiden Thompson and Reginald Duhart Jr each picked up a pair of blocks in the contest as well.
The Buccaneers were able to get to their big advantage by driving into the paint and earning their buckets there. They finished with 50 points in the paint, their highest total of the year against a D1 opponent.
Charleston Southern will be back in action on Wednesday night as they will travel to Rock Hill, S.C. to take on Winthrop (5-4). Last time these teams matched up, the Eagles handed CSU a 78-59 loss on their home court just a week and a half ago on January 27.
