CLINTON, S.C. ? The Presbyterian College men's basketball team outscored Charleston Southern by seven points in the second half en route to a 63-54 win Saturday evening in the Templeton Center.
The Blue Hose improve to 7-11 on the year and 4-3 in Big South play while the Bucs fall to 5-11 overall and 1-5 against league foes.
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With 7:52 to go, Giedrius Knysas made a lay-up, putting the visitors up 54-53. However, strong defensive play the remainder of the way allowed head coach Gregg Nibert's team to outscore the visitors 10-0 the rest of the game, giving the home team its fourth win of the season in front of the home crowd.
At the 6:33 mark, sophomore Pierre Miller drained a three-pointer for what turned out to be the game-winning basket. Neither team could score again until 3:01 to play when Bryan Bostic sank a three for a five-point edge. A Josh Johnson lay-up at the 2:45 point, along with Travis Sligh's two charity tosses with 1:55 to go made the 63-54 final margin.
In all, the game was tied seven times and had 20 lead changes.
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A back-and-forth affair all night, the Bucs scored seven of the first nine points of the game only to see the Blue Hose knot the score at 7-7. The five-point advantage was the largest for CSU the entire game.
Up by one with 12:51 to play in the first stanza, Chase Holmes buried one of the team's six first-half three pointers, giving PC a 19-15 lead. A minute later, Johnson netted two free throws, giving the Blue Hose a six-point advantage. Less than two minutes later, Austin Johnson made a jumper, giving the visitors the lead, 22-21.
The teams would trade baskets virtually the rest of the way, but Johnson's lay-up with 15 ticks to play gave the Bucs a 35-34 edge. Then, Bostic stepped up and hit a big three-point basket with just three seconds to play in the opening half, giving PC a two-point lead at the intermission.
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In the first half, CSU made 13-of-26 attempts while PC connected on 12-of-27. The difference at the break was the fact that the Blue Hose had made two more three-pointers and two more foul shots.
For the game, PC made 22-of-54 shots for a 40.7 percent clip while the Bucs made 21-of-53 for 39.6 percent shooting from the floor.
The Blue Hose out-rebounded the visitors 38-34 and had four more assists. Each team had 14 turnovers and four blocks, but PC recorded seven thefts versus four by CSU.
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Leading the way for the Blue Hose was Bryan Bostic, who netted 15. Miller had 13 while Johnson netted 12. Al'Lonzo Coleman was close to reaching his second consecutive double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds while Sligh had six markers and a game-high nine rebounds.
Miller led the way on the defensive front with five of PC's seven steals. ?
The Blue Hose will look to continue their winning ways Wednesday evening when they host fellow Big South newcomer Gardner-Webb in a 7 p.m. match-up. The Bulldogs are coming off back-to-back wins over Winthrop and Coastal Carolina, respectively.
