CLINTON, S.C. - Presbyterian
College men's basketball rolled to a 58-51 win over Charleston Southern on
Saturday night. Travis Smith scored a
career-high 22 points in the win to lead the way for PC.
"We played PC defense and PC offense out there tonight,"
said head coach Gregg Nibert. "We had a
few too many turnovers but with a young team that's going to happen. We screened and found the open man and made
the shots we had to."
PC's coaching staff participated in the NABC's Coaches vs.
Cancer Suits and Sneakers Awareness Weekend by coaching Saturday's game in
sneakers. The program was started to
remind college basketball fans about the many ways people can reduce their risk
of cancer, like eating right, exercising, making healthy lifestyle choices, and
following the American Cancer Society's recommended cancer screening
guidelines.
The Blue Hose (4-19, 2-9 BSC) carried a 32-25 lead into the
locker room at intermission thanks to 13 points from Travis Smith and 11 from
Jake Troyli. PC led by as many as nine
on three separate occasions over the Buccaneers (10-11, 6-5 BSC) in the game's
opening period. The hosts were 10-23 (44
percent) from the field in the first half with six three-pointers.
Jay Reynolds earned his first career assist at the 15:36
mark when he fed Ryan Hargrave for a three-pointer. The basket gave PC their largest lead to that point at 13 points. The Bucs clawed back
with a quick 7-0 run over the next minute.
CSU went on an 8-0 run to cut the PC lead to three points as
late as 3:49. The Blue Hose extended the
lead back to six but a trey at 2:01 by CSU's Jeremy Sexton cut the lead back to
just three.
With 28 seconds
remaining and the Blue Hose up by three, Charleston Southern's Kelvin Martin
was sent to the line where he missed both opportunities. On the other end, Walt Allen missed both shots, but
a rebound by Hargrave gave Smith a chance at the line. Smith coolly drained both shots to
effectively put the game on ice.
A miss at the other end followed by two additional Smith
free throws capped the game's final score at 58-51.
The low spot of the night, however, saw Chase Holmes saw a
streak of 47 consecutive games with a point come to an end as he didn't take a
shot in five minutes of play.
The Blue Hose's next outing will be on Thursday night when
PC travels to face VMI in Lexington.
