CHARLESTON, S.C. - After nine days without a ball game to compete in, the Charleston Southern Buccaneer men's basketball team traveled to Florence, Alabama to take on the North Alabama Lions.
The ball game started out as a back and forth battle. The two squads would trade buckets for a majority of the first half, with the Lions taking a double-digit lead thanks to a made three-pointer by UNA's Daniel Ortiz with 4:38 remaining in the half.
Taje' Kelly would get hot early and would never cool off. The senior from Atlanta, Georgia has played 105 games as a Buccaneer and in none of those contests did he score more points than he did tonight. Kelly would finish the night with 34 points shooting 12/20 from the floor, 3/6 from behind the three-point line, and 7/10 from the charity stripe. Kelly also pulled in a team-high 14 rebounds to notch his fourth double-double of the season.
The Bucs would enter the halftime locker room down 11 points with a gameplan to close the gap in place. Unfortunately, turnovers and North Alabama's shooting efficiency would extend the deficit on the scoreboard. The Lions would shoot over 55 percent in the Thursday night bout, and with the Bucs turning the ball over 17 times, a blueprint for CSU success was not present. The Lions would get the win on their home court 86-69.
Outside of Taje' Kelly's stacked stat-line, Daylen Berry was the only other CSU player to see double digits in the scoring column (18). Berry would almost join the double-double club as he pulled 8 rebounds of his own. Redshirt freshman Lase Olalere would score five points and haul in five rebounds in only 12 minutes of play, adding some intense energy off of the Buccaneer bench.
The Bucs have one more high-major opponent on their 2024-25 schedule, the Georgia Bulldogs. Head Coach Saah Nimley's crew will head to the Peach State this weekend to take on the Bulldogs Sunday (Dec. 22) afternoon at 3:30 PM.
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