Late run seals Charleston Southern win over Gardner-Webb

By Jacob Conley (@gwujake)

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. — Charleston Southern went on a 9-0 run in the final 1:40 seconds to hold off a valiant comeback by Gardner-Webb, defeating the Runnin’ Bulldogs Saturday, 79-72.

CSU superstar Taje’ Kelly scored a game-high 31 points, but it was Keenan Wilkins and Lamar Oden, Jr. who hit 3-pointers during that stretch to key the decisive run.

“That was the difference in the game,” Gardner-Webb head coach Jeremy Luther said. “They hit big shots in the last two minutes of the game and we didn’t. We showed great fight to come back and take the lead, but we did not get the stops defensive when we needed them. That’s on me as a head coach to figure out.”

Charleston Southern hit a pair of early threes, prompting Luther to call a timeout. Buddy Simmons answered on the other end with a three of his own, but the Bucs hit two more triples before the first media stoppage and led 14-6. After the stoppage, Jacob Hudson came off the bench to convert an acrobatic layup and Anthony Selden scored on a drive to the basket to cut the deficit to 15-12.

CSU answered with a quick 8-0 run to grab its first double-digit lead, at 23-12. Jamaine Mann broke the run with a runner and Simmons hit a three from the corner. The home team had a hard time securing rebounds on either end of the floor, allowing CSU to pull back in front, 26-17.

Mann scored on a nice spin move and also knocked down a long three. Isaiah Richards then hit four in a row from the foul line as part of a 9-0 Gardner-Webb run. By the time Pharrell Boyogueno converted an old-fashioned three-point play, the game was tied at 30. GWU took its first lead of the game on a pair of technical foul shots, but CSU took a 38-36 lead into the locker room on a buzzer-beater by Daylen Berry.

The teams traded buckets to start the second half, but the bigger story was that CSU picked up three personal fouls in the first 90 seconds of the half. The teams kept trading buckets with GWU trailing, 45-44. Kelly began to take over from that point, scoring seven straight points for the visitors as they built a 10-point lead.

Simmons and Selden hit threes to cut the deficit back to 54-50, but another triple from Kelly kept the Bulldogs at bay. Mann hit four in a row from the stripe to cut the deficit to 66-59 and Kelly picked up his fourth foul with 6:22 left to play. Mann hit two foul shots on the other end, and by the time Hudson had a steal and layup, GWU only trailed by two, 69-67, with exactly four minutes remaining in regulation.

The zone trap continued to pay dividends, as a turnover led to Ademide Badmus tying the game at 70. After a stop, Mann threw down a dunk to give GWU a 72-70 lead. Those would be the last points the hosts would score, though, as the aforementioned 9-0 run proved to be the difference in the win by the Buccaneers.

There’s A First Time For Everything: With the win, Charleston Southern has swept Gardner-Webb for the first time in program history. The Runnin’ Bulldogs still lead the overall series, 27-9.

At 4-7 in the conference, this could be the first time in the Craft/Luther era that GWU finishes below the .500 mark in Big South play (13 seasons). It could also be the first time GWU falls to the play-in round of the Big South tournament’s current format. The Runnin’ Bulldogs are currently 4-7 in conference play, just a half-game ahead of Presbyterian in seventh place.

Stats Tell The Tale: One does not have to look far to see why CSU won and GWU lost. The Bucs outrebounded the Bulldogs, 35-27, outscoring them 21-10 in second-chance points. GWU was also just 4-for-21 from beyond the arc.

“We were only 1-for-19 down there,” Luther said. “We have to do better. “We are a better shooting team than that.”

You Da Mann: Jamaine Mann scored a career-high 30 points in the loss. He was 9-for-11 from the field and 11-of-12 from the foul line.

“He had a great game,” Luther said of Mann’s performance. “We kept feeding him because they were in foul trouble. He responded well, playing off of both feet, but we could not get over the hump.”

Don’t Stop Believing: Those words are not just song lyrics made famous by Journey, but it was also the message Luther gave to his team after the game.

“We are still a good basketball team,” he said. “I know we have lost three in a row, but we are right there. A possession or two go the other way and we win those games. It’s my job as coach to figure out how to make that happen and also keep the team motivated. We have to keep believing, and that starts with picking up our first road win at USC Upstate.”

Up Next: GWU will look to  bounce back with that trip to Spartanburg on Saturday, while CSU tries to continue its climb up the standings, hosting Presbyterian on Wednesday.