CHARLESTON, S.C. - Friday afternoon, the Charleston Southern Buccaneers men's basketball team took the floor for the first round of the inaugural Greenbrier Tip-Off event. The event, hosted at the world famous Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, is a two day affair featuring CSU, Tennessee Tech (TTU), UT-Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), and the Virginia Military Institute (VMI).
The Bucs first round match-up was the Vaqueros of UTRGV. Coming into the contest, UTRGV shared the same record as CSU (1-2). Similar to the Bucs, UTRGV's two losses were to high-major opponents, including a match-up vs #15 Creighton that came down to the wire.
In the first half, the Bucs' offense was held together by veteran-duo RJ Johnson and Taje' Kelly. Johnson put up 11 points in the half as he connected on all three of his first-half three-point attempts. Inside the perimeter, Kelly's combo on physicality and shooting touch let the Vaqueros know early that a double team would be necessary if they planned to contain the Preseason All-Big South First-Team forward.
CSU went into the half with a very narrow two-point deficit to make up. The Buccaneer shooting splits in half number one were also very promising as the team shot 50% from the field, 40% from three-point land, and 71% from the free-throw line. The Bucs were shooting so efficiently that one message from the CSU coaching staff at the half was very simple, "do not pass up shots, we're making them."
The second 20-minute period was dominated by CSU's starting two-guard, Daylen Berry. Berry, who transferred to Chucktown from the Charlotte 49ers, did not score a single point in the first-half of Friday's matinee match-up, but he certainly made up for it in half number two. Berry scored 18 second-half points and ended up leading the team in scoring outright. Berry's impact was not only felt through his field goal attempts, he successfully knocked down nine of his ten free throws. On the defensive end, he also led the team in steals (3).
Outside of Berry (18), Kelly (16), and Johnson (14), no other Bucs reached double-figures in the scoring column. Although CSU would out-rebound and out shoot UTRGV from deep, turnovers and a large difference of points in the paint favoring the Vaqueros would lead to a Bucs loss (76-86).
The Greenbrier Tip-Off structure features a third-place game (12:00 PM) and a championship game (2:30 PM) on Saturday (Nov. 16) afternoon. CSU will take on the Keydets of VMI in the third-place battle.
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