CHARLESTON – Tuesday night, Charleston Southern hosted the Piedmont Lions just two days before the Thanksgiving holiday. CSU defeated the Lions, 93-81 – improving to 5-3 on the season and 3-0 inside Buccaneer Fieldhouse.

The first bucket of the game was scored by Charleston native—and now Piedmont Lion—Parker Renault. The visiting Lions would hold the lead for all of seven seconds, as at the 19:37 mark Jacob Taylor knocked down the first of CSU's eventual 17 three-pointers. Just over a minute later, Taylor hit another triple, giving CSU its first lead of the night, 6–3. The rest of the first half essentially turned into a three-point contest, as CSU took 27 of its 31 first-half field-goal attempts from beyond the arc.

Despite being up by 20 just 11 minutes into the game, the Buccaneers headed into halftime leading by only eight. Coach Nimley's message to his team was straightforward, revolving around taking care of the basketball and getting his players to stop acting like they were "allergic to layups."

In the second half, CSU's shot selection was more balanced—53% of attempts coming from three compared to 87% in the first half. Within the first 92 seconds, CSU's back-to-back conference Player of the Week, Brycen Blaine, knocked down two long-range attempts. The Buccaneer lead hovered around the 15-point mark for nearly the entire half, and although the Lions closed the gap to 10, it never dipped into single digits. CSU won, 93–81.

Notables:

• Brycen Blaine had one of his most active performances vs Piedmont, in both good and less desirable categories – recording 25 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 fouls, and 5 turnovers in only 28 minutes.

• Jacob Taylor would receive Coach Nimley's Player of the Game award after recording a career-high 11 points, shooting 3-4 from downtown.

• Jaquias Franklin would score the 1,500th career point of his collegiate career Tuesday night.

• Nate Brafford had the most productive night of his now eight-game Buccaneer career vs Piedmont – recording 11 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and only 1 turnover in 25 minutes of playing time. 

• The younger of the Brafford brother duo, Devin Brafford, made his CSU-debut Tuesday night and posted 5 points in only 8 minutes on the floor.

• Luke Williams would post a team-second 6 assists to pair with 11 points and 4 rebounds.

• Lase Olalere recorded a career-high 3 blocks in only 7 minutes of playing time.

Post-Game Points:

"First of all, credit to Piedmont. I thought they played great. That's a good program over there with a good coach… Credit to our guys. We were ready to play. To start the game, I think we kind of jumped on them early – specifically defensively… The second-half was a battle. It went back-and-forth… I thought we played well in spurts. Overall, I think this was better for our team than some of these games where we come in here and win by (a large margin) because (in those games) you can do a lot wrong and still get away with it, where tonight you couldn't do that against (Piedmont)... I appreciate Piedmont coming in here and being excellent like they were in here tonight," said Head Coach Saah Nimley.

When asked about the multitude of qualified guards he has on his roster and how he manages that rotation, Nimley answered, "People may not realize this but I don't think we've started the same five guys twice. The reason is because we come into practice every day and we earn it. Regardless of what happens in the game before, (our players) have an opportunity to come into practice and earn a starting spot. Our guys know that, and it keeps that competition up… (Our players) wait for those (practice grades) to come out every night to see where they grade out offensively and defensively, and those guys are essentially who we start. I've told our guys I could care less about who we start. I want the guys that execute the best are most locked into that game's gameplan to start at those spots."

When asked about the balanced offensive night including seven guys scoring 9+, Nimley commented, "We're predicated on ball movement and body movement… 22 assists tonight – we've been in the twenties multiple times this year. We've gotta keep that turnover number down, but to have 22 assists, these guys are buying into ball movement… and it's fun to play that way… Credit to our guys for buying in."

When asked about any feelings regarding his team now leading the nation in made three-pointers, Nimley commented, "We're just trying to play and take what the defense gives us. We do have an offense that generates a lot of (threes)… These guys can make shots, and they were recruited to do that… These guys really fit our system… We took 47 (threes) tonight, but I probably thought we should pass up on only two of them… As a program we understand who we are, and we'll continue to generate those, but somebody eventually is going to try and take that away and we'll have to adjust and be ready to take what else the defense gives us."

Up Next:

CSU will play the second of their two high-major games this season against the SEC's South Carolina Gamecocks on Black Friday, November 28th at 4:00 PM. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.

To see a full sit-down conversation with Coach Nimley discussing the Bucs' next opponents and previous game recaps, watch the "2025-2026 Nimley Coaches Show" on CSUsports.com, X/Twitter, or YouTube.

For all the most up-to-date coverage involving CSU Men's Basketball, follow us on Instagram and X/Twitter @csu_mbball.