CHARLESTON, S.C. – Three days after defeating USC Upstate on the road, CSU returned to the Buc Dome to take on a traditional powerhouse Big South basketball club, the Longwood Lancers.

The Lancers have won the Big South tournament for the past two seasons, and beat the Bucs by five (83-78) earlier this conference season. Exciting match-ups could be found all over the court Saturday afternoon as some of the conference's most productive players would square off at the same positions. Longwood's backcourt duo of Kyrell Luc and Colby Garland would face off against what Head Coach Saah Nimley has donned "the best backcourt in the league" in RJ Johnson and Daylen Berry. To make the guard competition even more entertaining, Luc and Johnson were college basketball teammates before both ending up in the Big South. As members of the 2021-2022 Holy Cross men's basketball team, Johnson and Luc grew close as members of the Crusader guard rotation. In the post game press conference after Saturday's conference contest, Johnson left no doubt as to how much respect he has for his former teammate,

"That's my guy… we spent a lot of time together up north… I don't want to see him do well against us, but I am most definitely rooting for him outside of that."

In both contests this season vs Longwood, RJ Johnson impressively tied his career-high in assists (8). LU's Colby Garland entered the Buc Dome Saturday as the Big South leader in assists per game, but after another phenomenal facilitating outing by Johnson, the Bucs' point guard has regained ownership of the category as he now averages nearly five assists a night (4.78).

On the frontcourt side of the lineup, Taje' Kelly would see action against both Michael Christmas (the Lancers' leading scorer with 12.6 per game) and Elijah Tucker. In the January 8th match-up between the Bucs and the Lancers, Christmas and Tucker combined for 22 points while Kelly alone posted 25. Coming off a near triple-double stat line earlier in the week (25 points, 17 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 blocks), Kelly quietly snuck into Saturday's 20-point club finishing right at the 20 threshold. Also in the 20-point club were Kelly's teammates Daylen Berry (28) and RJ Johnson (22).

Once the ball was tipped-off, CSU came out firing. In the first four minutes of action, Lamar Oden Jr. knocked down 3 three-point attempts and he finished the ball game with 13 total points, his fourth best scoring game of the year and just two points shy of his scoring record as a Buccaneer.

As the Bucs' cooled down from their initial hot-streak, Longwood began to climb back into the young ball game. After being up by almost double-digits in half number one (9), CSU would see the Lancers fight back to tie the game at 38 entering the halftime locker room. 

Foul trouble would find both of the available CSU big men in Reis Jones and Lase Olalere, both of whom would eventually foul out, causing Taje' Kelly's minutes at the five-spot to increase. This small ball formula would bring junior Thompson Camara, a player who has seen both big and small roles in the CSU lineup all season. A huge three-pointer by Camara with 13:06 left in the second-half would shift momentum as it cut the Lancer lead to two points (55-53).

RJ Johnson would find Daylen Berry on back-to-back three pointers with 10:14 remaining cutting the Longwood lead again down to two (63-61). With less than a minute remaining, and the CSU lead at a slim two points, the ball was given to arguably the most dominant player in the entire Big South, Taje' Kelly. Kelly would hit a scoop layup on the right side of the glass to stretch the lead to four. The Lancers would eventually begin to foul the Bucs, hoping for an opportunity to close the margin, but luckily good free-throw shooting would seal the deal earning the Bucs their fourth conference win 89-84.

Charleston Southern gets to host consecutive home games with the latter half of the back-to-back happening this upcoming Wednesday at 7 PM against the Winthrop Eagles, a team the Bucs went to triple-overtime against last month.

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