CLINTON, S.C. - It was once again a game of missed opportunities, as the CSU men's basketball team missed 37 shots and dropped its second consecutive game with a 61-48 loss to Presbyterian at the Templeton Center in Clinton, S.C., on Saturday night. The loss concludes the Bucs' conference road schedule for the regular season.

Johathan Brooks and Jeremy Sexton stepped up in the absence of Kelvin Martin. Brooks grabbed 14 rebounds and put up eight points while Sexton's 15 points paced the Buccaneers. Jamarco Warren was limited to single digits for the second straight game. Matt Kennedy also had one of his best performances of the season, sinking three of the Bucs' six buckets from downtown for nine points.

The Bucs, who fall to 13-14 on the season and 7-8 in the Big South Conference, missed plenty of chances from the field, going 18-of-55 for 32.7 percent. They fared slightly better from beyond the arc at 46.2 percent and made six of their eight free-throws. Led by Kennedy, the CSU reserves outscored the PC bench 16-11.

Pierre Miller put up 14 points for the Blue Hose, while Khalid Mutakabbir added in another 12. Jake Troyli finished just outside double figures with nine points for PC. They Blue Hose took a slight rebounding edge at 32-31, and put up 25 points inside the paint to the Bucs' 16. Despite the two teams each having 10 turnovers, PC made better use of the miscues by scoring 11 points off of turnovers.

Both teams shot from beyond their arc for their first points of the night, and the Blue Hose added in two layups to get off to an 8-3 lead in the opening minutes before Sexton sunk his second three of the night less than four minutes into the contest. Brooks was able to tie things up with a long jumper, and some strong defensive stands allowed the Bucs to take their first lead of the night at 10-8 with 13:30 to go in the first half.

A 7-2 run stretched the Bucs lead to seven before back-to-back treys from Miller brought PC within one. The Blue Hose were able to tie the game 21-21 with a bucket from Mutakibber and then took their second lead of the night off a three from Josh Johnson.

A 3-pointer from Matt Kennedy cut the CSU deficit from six to three with just under 2:30 minutes to go in the first half, but Walt Allen put up two in the pain as the Blue Hose ended the half with the 29-24 advantage.

Neither team could find its rhythm at the start of the second, as the teams played two and a half scoreless minutes before Sexton nailed a jumper to bring the Bucs within three. Mitchell put up two layups, but a porous CSU defense kept the Blue Hose ahead as Ryan Hargrave hit a trey soon after to put PC up 38-30 with 12:24 to go.

Kennedy hit two more shots from beyond the arc, but the Blue Hose kept adding treys of their own and stayed ahead by 10. Chris Grier hit the free-throw line for two to cut the deficit to eight, and Mitchell added in another bucket to bring CSU within six.

A few quick baskets later the Bucs found themselves back in a double digit hole with just under three minutes to go. A layup, combined with free-throw, by Miller put PC in front 57-44 with time dwindling down. Allen added some free-throws for the Blue Hose, while Zimmy Nwogbo sunk once for the Bucs. Sexton added in three from the charity stripe, but the Blue Hose picked up the 61-48 win.

The Bucs will host UNC Asheville on Tuesday night at the Buc Dome in a 7:30 p.m. matchup. CSU will look to split the series with the Bulldogs after falling to UNCA on the road earlier in the season.