Bucs stay hot with road win at Presbyterian

Riding high on a six-game winning streak, one might think Wednesday night’s game against four-win Presbyterian would be a trap game for the Charleston Southern Buccaneers.

Not the case.

Saah Nimley scored a career-high 26 points and Jeremy Sexton followed his 34-point effort on Saturday with 18 points to pace Charleston Southern to a 79-59 Big South Conference road win in Clinton.

The Buccaneers (11-6, 6-0) have won 10 of their last 11 games and earned their fourth road win of the season.

Charleston Southern connected on 15 3-pointers, tying a season high. The Bucs entered the game ranked fourth nationally, averaging 9.3 made 3-pointers per game.

“We were fully engaged and ready to play tonight, which was great to see,” coach Barclay Radebaugh said. “I told the guys before the game, no matter how hard our assistant coaches work to scout and put together a game plan, it’s up to them to get it done. We got it done tonight in a mature, efficient manner. I’m real proud of our effort.”

For Nimley, the night marked his eighth scoring effort of at least 20 points this season. The 5-6 guard finished with nine rebounds, as well. Sheldon Strickland came off the bench with 15 points, while Mathiang Muo scored 10 points with nine rebounds.

“It’s all about team and this is a very unselfish basketball team,” said Radebaugh. “This team works very hard together every day to be the best we can be.”

CSU led for all but about five minutes of the game, falling behind 6-2 in the first three minutes. The Bucs took their first lead at 8-6 with 14:18 left in the first half and never trailed again.

After taking a 36-22 lead at the break, the Buccaneers quickly put the game away in the second half, opening up a 49-27 lead on Sexton’s 3-pointer with 14:22 to play.

Presbyterian (4-16, 1-5) could get no closer than 15 points over the final 14 minutes as the Buccaneers played with a comfortable lead.

“We want to take it to another level each time we play so we’re never overconfident in any game,” said Buccaneers sophomore forward Paul Gombwer, who had seven rebounds in the win. “We are playing with a lot of confidence as a team right now but we never relax.”

CSU hits the road again on Saturday for a game at Liberty before returning home for a game with Gardner-Webb next Wednesday.