CSU earns an easy victory

Charleston Southern 115, Ohio Christian 44

Mired in a three-game losing streak, the Charleston Southern Buccaneers received a get well card in the form of Ohio Christian.

After losses to Florida, Gardner-Webb and Stetson during the holiday break, the Buccaneers (6-8) rang in the New Year with a 115-44 victory Saturday.

The 115 points was the fifth highest in Charleston Southern history, and the most since scoring 110 points against Webber during the 1995-96 season.

Freshman forward Omar Carter scored 20 points to lead six players in double figures.

Freshman guard Jamarco Warren scored 17 points and sophomore forward Shawn Outen posted a career-high 16 points.

Sophomore Marquise DuVall added 14 points and 10 rebounds while freshman Austin Johnson tallied 12 points and senior Terrence Grier scored 11.

Junior center Quinton Goods pulled down 14 rebounds, the most by a Buccaneers player this season.

Charleston Southern shot a season-best 60 percent from the field, and all 11 players that saw action scored. Senior Chris Moore, the team's second-leading scorer, did not play in the game.

"Ohio Christian is a much better team overall than they showed tonight and their statistics show that out," said CSU head coach Barclay Radebaugh."I thought this was a well-earned margin of victory. I thought we defended very well, we contested a lot of shots and caused their misses. Offensively we distributed the ball well and we made shots.

"We needed a game like this. We lost three games in a row and we didn't compete as well as I would have liked. I thought we improved as a team and I thought several players improved a great deal."

With a starting lineup that included three freshmen and a sophomore, the Buccaneers opened up a 13-0 lead five minutes into the game. Ohio Christian made only two of their first 18 shots and trailed 26-6 with 7:30 left in the first half. Ten Buccaneers scored and CSU shot 58 percent in the first half, en route to a 62-20 lead at the break.

CSU opened up a 51-point lead at 87-36 at the eight minute mark and led 94-39 with five minutes left.

"We have established through the first 14 games that we can score points," said Radebaugh. "Our emphasis continues to be on the defensive end. We'll have a different starting lineup every game because we're determining our starters based solely on their defensive grades and their defensive effort in the previous games. Our players are beginning to understand that if they want to play, it's not about putting points up. It's all about playing defense with the level of intensity that it takes to win at this level."

Charleston Southern travels to Virginia Tech on Monday night.