CHARLESTON, S.C. – After winning three of their past four conference contests, Charleston Southern hosted Presbyterian for the opportunity to win another. The Bucs' production leader, Taje' Kelly, scored three points shy of his 34-point career-high last Saturday at Gardner-Webb and returned Wednesday night with 28 more, shooting 10 of 12 from the field.
The scrappy 40 minutes of basketball that occurred in Clinton, South Carolina back on January 22 carried over to Wednesday night's matchup in the Buc Dome. Both teams shooting over 46% in the first-half led to a back and forth 20 minutes of basketball, ending in a 31-27 CSU lead.
The Blue Hose duo of Kory Mincy and Kobe Stewart had their fingerprints all over the box score, especially in half number one. At the end of regulation, the Mincy-Stewart duo combined for 38 of Presbyterian's 70 points.
A key to victory for CSU was limiting Presbyterian's three-point shooting success, and that they did. The Blue Hose averaged 7.5 made threes per contest, and were shooting a Big South third-ranked 36.5% from beyond the arc. Wednesday night, Presbyterian only saw two long range shots go through the net (2/12).
The second-half was just as close as the first. Of the 8 times the game was tied-up, six occurred in the second half. With 24 seconds left in the contest, Presbyterian cut the lead to four (66-62). Two good free-throws would put the Bucs up six, followed by two free-throws by Kory Mincy bringing the gap back to four with 0:14 left to go. A Presbyterian steal on the inbound would lead to a made layup by Mincy, cutting a once 11-point Buccaneer lead to two (68-66). With 12 seconds remaining, the Blue Hose would send Daylen Berry to the line. Making one of his two attempts, Presbyterian would have time to close the three-point gap (69-66). The Bucs would foul, not allowing the Blue Hose to tie the contest with a potential long range connection. Two good free-throws by PC's Carl Parrish, followed by two makes by Taje' Kelly, would leave the Blue Hose with possession of the ball and a three-point deficit. CSU would foul again, and PC would close the gap to one (71-70). A turnover by Daylen Berry with four seconds remaining would give the Blue Hose just the opportunity they had been striving for the whole second-half, one last shot to win the game, with the ball in Kory Mincy's hands. Mincy would attempt a step back jumper from the left elbow as time expired, and after taking several bounces on the rim, the ball would not go in… Bucs win, 71-70.
On the box score, three Bucs would cross the double-figure threshold: Taje' Kelly (28), Daylen Berry (17), and Lamar Oden Jr. (15).
Oden Jr. has scored 11+ points in three of the past four Buccaneer ball games. Tonight against PC, he scored 15 points and snagged a team-high 7 rebounds.
Taje' Kelly, who can be labeled as anything except one dimensional, proved his versatility once again as he not only led the team in scoring (28), but also led the squad in assists (5).
The Bucs will suit up this Saturday against the currently ranked 2nd best team in the Big South, the UNC Asheville Bulldogs.
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