Men's Basketball by Jonny Gamet

Eagles Soar Over Bruins 84-48

Team can't overcome early deficit in loss to Pensacola

Box Score
After seeing an emotional win by the Lady Bruins, the Bruin men took the court against Pensacola Christian College in front of over 3,000 fans at the Davis Field House. The Bruins were coming off a 61-53 win over Toccoa Falls and were looking to keep their winning ways alive as they welcomed the Eagles. Pensacola has been on a long road trip over the last two weeks, and yet the Eagles have seen success in winning 4 of their last six games. All the fans in the Den realized that size was going to play a key factor in this game as the Eagles towered over the Bruins and were leading the nation in rebounding margin. 

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From the opening tip, the Bruins struggled to keep pace with the Eagles. Pensacola did an excellent job of working the offense through the high-post and then kicking it back out for open three-point looks. Before most of the Bruin faithful had settled into their seats, the Eagles had jumped out to a 17-3 lead. "You have to take your hats off to their team," Coach Ring said. "They executed their game plan exactly the way they wanted to and made us pay for it." Throughout the 1st half, the Bruins struggled to get anything going on offense, while the Eagles shot 64% from 3-point range to increase their lead. With less than five minutes to go, the Bruins went on a run to cut the deficit to 41-30 at the half. 

"We created some turnovers but with their length they create difficult passing angles," Coach Ring said. "Too often we were trying to float a pass and we didn't execute."

In the second half, the Bruins continued to struggle against the bigger players. "We knew the size they were going to have," Bruins' forward Josh Clater said. "They did very well on the boards and were able to run off the high post very well." The Bruins shot just 25% in the second half and the Eagles capitalized by running the floor for easy layups. With the game in hand, the Eagles continued to work the offense for open shots and ended the night by shooting 54% overall and 53% from 3-point range. As the buzzer sounded, the Bruins had fallen to Pensacola 84-48.

"Unfortunately we can take the crowd out of the game with our play," Bruins' guard Zach Mercado. "It's a tendency for us to somewhat die when the crowd dies and we make bad decisions."

Zach Mercado led all scorers for the Bruins with 13 points while Josh Clater added 10. The Eagles had five different players in double-figures with Adam Pahlsson scoring 16 on 8-9 shooting. The Bruins also lost in the rebounding margin as the Eagles outrebounded the Bruins 41-22. 

"They simply did what they do, and we didn't do what we do well," Coach Ring said. "Overall I am disappointed, but Pensacola played a great game." 

The Bruins will definitely have to exercise their short-term memory as the Bruins will host Hiwassee College on Saturday night. 

 
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