Box Score
After playing their first ten games on the road, the Bruins were excited to welcome the Emmanuel College Lions for their first home game of the season. The team has struggled in adjusting to the intercollegiate style of play. Coming into their match on Tuesday night against the Lions, the Bruins were 1-9 on the season. The Lions have started off the 2012 campaign well in winning their first seven games. The team entered Tuesday's game against BJU with an 8-2 record. These two teams met three weeks ago in Georgia, with Emmanuel getting the upper hand in a 79-64 win. 

From the opening tip, the Bruins showed that their style of play would be influenced by the energy of the crowd at the Davis Field House. The Bruins jumped out to an early lead by playing a smothering defense and finishing scoring opportunities. "We just wanted to do the little things right," Bruins' guard Jason McVey said. "We knew if we could pressure them that it would help us." The Bruins played tremendous defense throughout the first half, but really struggled to get anything going offensively. The Lions were able to regain the lead, but the two teams went back and forth in this defensive struggle. At the half, the Bruins were down 22-18. 

"We just settled for shots instead of working the offense the way we know how to," Coach Ring said. "That will come as we work on it more, but us not getting to the line like we should have really hurt us tonight."

In the second half, the Bruins continued their good defensive play as the team forced the Lions into 16 turnovers. Despite the play, the Bruins still struggled to score as shot after shot rattled off the rim. As the half wore on, the Lions slowly began to stretch their lead by finishing many second-chance opportunities. The team was led by Adrian Justice who scored 14 on the night. As the game was nearing its end, the Bruins made a few runs to try to cut into the Lions lead. Each effort would prove to be futile as the team shot just 26% from the floor tonight. The final buzzer handed the Bruins their fourth straight loss in a 52-39 game. 

"We can fix the offense but I was really proud of our defensive effort tonight," Coach Ring said. "That kind of pressure is going to win you a lot of ball games. We know what we need to work on and we will have to work more on generating good shots."

Despite the loss, Bruin players were excited to play in front of their home crowd. "It is nice to play with a crowd that is behind you," Bruins' guard Jason McVey said. "They picked us up several times and we fed off their energy tonight."

Zach Mercado led all scorers for the Bruins with 10 points, while Evan Brondyke added 9. With the loss, the Bruins fall to 1-10 on the year. The team will get back to work in practice this week as they prepare for their next game coming up on Saturday. The team will welcome Johnson and Wales University on Saturday at 3 PM in Greenville.