CHARLESTON – Monday night, Charleston Southern hosted the neighboring South Carolina State Bulldogs. CSU would beat SC State, 84-44.

Including Monday's match-up, the past three years of the Buccaneer-Bulldog series has been home to many stories and drastically different score outcomes. In 2023, CSU Head Coach Saah Nimley coached his first ever contest as a head coach against SC State. He would also pick up his first coaching victory that same day, 66-64. A year later, last season, the Bucs would travel to Orangeburg and suffered a crushing 63-88 loss. Monday night, not only did the Bucs beat South Carolina State by a larger margin than last season's, they'd win by forty.

A slow start for Charleston Southern would have them down seven after the contest's first six minutes (13-6). Buckets by Brycen Blaine and A'lahn Sumler would close the deficit and two free-throws by junior-transfer Armari Carraway would tie the game up at 13-13. CSU would take the lead with 5:27 to go in half number one courtesy of a Nate Brafford three-pointer, and Coach Nimley's revenge-seeking Bucs would never look back. By the end of the first half, CSU would find themselves ahead by 13 (33-20).

Out-scoring the visiting Bulldogs by 27 in the contest's second frame, Charleston Southern would see 14 of its players touch the floor with 10 of them scoring. The trio of double-figure scorers: Brycen Blaine, A'lahn Sumler, and Jesse Hafemeister would lead the crew to a 40-point victory that would push their home-court record to 5-0.

Notables:

• Jesse Hafemeister would shoot 83% from the floor (5-of-6) – scoring 12 points on the night.

• The wing-duo of Brycen Blaine and A'lahn Sumler would combine for 32 points. Blaine would also add 7 rebounds Monday night.

• Reis Jones would be the only Buc to record double-digit rebounds (10). Jones also received Coach Nimley's Player of the Game award for the first time of his CSU career.

• CSU outrebounded SC State 47-38.

• The Bucs would post their highest team free-throw percentage of the season thus far – converting 80% (24-of-30) of their charity-stripe attempts.

Up Next:

CSU will have nine days without a men's hoops contest following their SC State win. The Bucs will suit up again on December 18th at 11:00 AM for an Education Day battle against the North Florida Ospreys.

To see a full sit-down conversation with Coach Nimley discussing the Bucs' next opponents and previous game recaps, watch the "2025-2026 Nimley Coaches Show" on CSUsports.com, X/Twitter, or YouTube.

For all the most up-to-date coverage involving CSU Men's Basketball, follow us on Instagram and X/Twitter @csu_mbball.