Box Score
The BJU Bruins were on the road on Friday night against the Piedmont International Bruins. In round two of the "battle of the Bruins," the two schools were ready for another great game. The two teams met a week ago with BJU winning a thriller in overtime 86-84. Piedmont was looking to get some payback against the Bruins as the school hosted senior night for their final home game of the season. The Bruins were coming off a two-game winning streak with victories over Piedmont and Appalachian Bible, but the team knew this would be another tough test for their inaugural season of play.
From the opening tip, Piedmont played with great enthusiasm to quickly jump out to an early lead. The team knocked down several open opportunities, and the Bruins struggled to find an answer. The Bruins committed 14 turnovers in the 1st half, and shot a horrendous 0-12 from the three point line. Piedmont rallied off of the energy generated by their fans to continue to build their lead. At one point, the Bruins were down 30-12 before Coach Ring called a timeout to make some adjustments. "We just took way to many three's and didn't play our game," Coach Ring said. After the timeout, the Bruins rallied and began to cut into the Piedmont lead. As the buzzer sounded for halftime, the Bruins trailed 40-30.
As the second half got underway, the Bruins came out and showed great adversity in battling their way back into the game. Zach Mercado and company began to work their offensive sets and battle for rebounds, further cutting into the Piedmont lead. As the game began to count down to the final minutes, fans in the gym began to think a little "deja-vu" may be happening between the two schools. Piedmont was determined not to let history repeat itself as the team stayed just enough ahead to keep the Bruins at bay. The Bruins fought all the way back to make it a one possession game at 54-51 before Javon Summers and company began to build the lead again. Piedmont sunk several free throws down the stretch, and the Bruins couldn't respond as the final buzzer handed the Bruins a 78-66 loss.
"PIU just played a really good game," Coach Ring said. "We turned the ball over too many times and gave them too many 2nd and 3rd chances."
Darnel Antoine led the way with 16 points. Ray Holden Jr. added 12 and Zach Mercado and Josh Clater each had 11. The Bruins committed 24 turnovers in the game while shooting 1-24 on the night from three-point range.
With the loss, the Bruins fall to 6-19 on the season. The team will face a tough test on Saturday night as they welcome the Tennessee Temple Crusaders to the Davis Field House.
