Buccaneers hold off late Florida Atlantic charge in CIT First Round win

CSU Sports Media

Charleston Southern held off a second-half Florida Atlantic charge as the Buccaneers topped the visiting Owls in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament on Thursday night in the Buc Dome, 68-66.

Christian Keeling appeared to put the game away with 3:40 to play as the junior guard recorded the steal at midcourt and went in for the dunk to bring the CSU crowd back to life as the Bucs (18-15) went ahead 66-58. The Owls (17-16) responded with an Anthony Adger three-pointer and a Xavian Stapleton breakaway dunk to narrow the Bucs lead to three points with 1:16 to play.

Phlandrous Fleming came up with a clutch layup on Travis McConico’s assist with just under a minute to play to stretch the Bucs’ lead back to five. A Stapleton three-pointer cut the CSU lead down to two on the ensuing possession.

Following a CSU missed free throw with 10 seconds remaining, Dontrell Shuler again showed why he is one of the best on-ball defenders in the country as the freshman forced Stapleton’s game-winner wide to secure the Buccaneers’ win.

Fleming and Shuler paced four Bucs in double-digits with 17 points apiece as CSU shot 50.8% from the floor in the win. Ty Jones (14) and Christian Keeling (12) added double-digit scoring efforts off the bench.

Adger led FAU’s scoring efforts with 17 points from the floor, while Michael Forrest (15) and Stapleton (14) were also in double-digits in the loss.

Coach’s Comments
“We are so thankful to be a part of the postseason and to be a part of this tournament. It was a very exciting win for us. Thanks to our administration for allowing us to play this game at home. That’s a big commitment to men’s basketball. We are very thankful for this. I thought we played very well defensively. We weren’t great offensively. We were good enough offensively but we were terrific defensively. Our guys have bought in defensively. When we play defense like we did tonight, we have a chance to win every game.” – Head Coach Barclay Radebaugh

Up Next
Charleston Southern will await word from the CIT postseason committee on their second round opponent. Date and location are to be announced.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us