CHARLESTON, S.C. – After a non-conference slate full of high major programs and heavy travel, Big South play is now here for Head Coach Saah Nimley's Buccaneers as they hosted the Runnin' Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb Thursday afternoon.
Bucs' team captain and senior guard DJ Patrick got injured just a week before the start of the 2024-2025 season. After over two months of recovery, Patrick returned to the court to start conference play. Not only did he return, he led CSU in scoring with 19 (14 in the first half) and hauled in 7 rebounds. Patrick's presence is felt in every facet of Coach Nimley's system. Of course the production can be seen on offense, but Patrick prides himself on the defensive end. Coach Nimley has often returned to his team captain as "the best perimeter defender in our league", and that label was believed by many Runnin' Bulldogs Thursday afternoon.
Gardner-Webb jumped out to an 8-1 lead to begin the ball game, but once CSU saw the ball go in the hoop a handful of times, they never looked back. The Bucs would take a 16-15 lead with nine minutes left in the first-half, and they would never trail in the ball game again. Entering the halftime locker room, CSU possessed a 12-point lead by DJ Patrick's 14 points.
The Runnin' Bulldogs would not go out quietly and made several runs to potentially regain the upper-hand. Their runs would never reach that goal as CSU would claim a 1-0 conference record by defeating GWU 72-63.
Outside of Patrick coming just three points shy of his career-high in scoring, several other Buccaneers made huge impacts on the stat sheet. RJ Johnson scored 18 points on an efficient 6/12 shooting clip. Taje' Kelly secured his sixth double-double of the year with 14 points and 16 boards, and true freshman Anthony Gause would finish with 9 points in only 14 minutes of action.
The Big South conference schedule is now in full swing as CSU will travel to Farmville, Virginia to take on the Longwood Lancers Saturday night at 7 PM on ESPN+.
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