The Bruins continued their road trip on Friday night as they traveled to Florida for a game against the Pensacola Christian College Eagles. The team was coming off a disappointing 86-55 loss against Southern Wesleyan on Tuesday night. The Bruins were in the midst of a three-game losing streaked and looked to get back on track against the Eagles. They knew the game would be a tough challenge as the last time these two teams met, the Eagles won in an 84-48 landslide victory. The team was also going to be without Ray Holden, who suffered a knee injury last week. Pensacola has been on fire as of late winning four straight games and seven of their last 10. The gym was packed for senior night as the two schools were set to tip-off.
As the game began, the Bruins showed their improvement from the last time they played the Eagles and jumped out to an early lead. Darnel Antoine and Zach Mercado drove right into the Eagles defense for trips to the line and layup baskets. Even though the Eagles had much bigger players, the Bruins stayed neck and neck with the team throughout the opening minutes. After a series of timeouts, the Eagles came out with back to back runs of 9-2 and 9-0 to quickly get a double-digit lead. "We beat ourselves in certain possessions," Coach Ring said. "I felt like we were doing some good things, but overall we struggled in making good decisions and stopping their big men." The Bruins clawed their way back into the game by getting to the free throw line. The team was a perfect 12-12 in the first half. Despite 8 first half turnovers, the Bruins were down 37-29 at the break.
"We were the aggressor in getting to the line," Coach Ring said. "That helped us keep the game close, but we struggled against their size."
As the second half began, the Bruins came out looking to get back even with the Eagles. PCC used their size to their advantage in the second half as the Eagles scored 52 points in the paint. The Eagles shot 57% throughout the game, and continued to increase their lead. As the game was drawing to a close, the Bruins continued to battle adversity as Zach Mercado drained several shots from behind the arc to try to get the Bruins back into the game. Try as they might, the Bruins offense was squelched by the red-hot shooting of PCC. As the final buzzer sounded, the Bruins had been handed their fourth straight loss in a 81-68 defeat.
“I felt like our guys put forth a great effort tonight and we kept our composure throughout the game," Coach Ring said. "We showed great improvement and took more steps forward tonight. That's all we ask for."
Zach Mercado led the Bruins with 22 points while Darnel Antoine added 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Jason McVey had one of his best games of the season with 12 points and 7 rebounds. The Bruins lost the rebounding battle by a slim margin 36-32, showing the team's hard work and effort against the bigger Eagles front court. With the loss, the Bruins fall to 6-22 on the season and will play their last regular season game on Saturday night on the road against Huntington College.
