Box Score
The Bruins played the last of their three-game road trip on Saturday evening as they traveled to Clearwater Christian College for a matchup with the Cougars. The Bruins have been playing well as of late with back to back wins over Johnson University of Florida and Florida College. The Cougars were 3-7 coming into the game against BJU and were back home in the midst of a 5-game losing streak. The Cougar faithful were out in full voice as the stage was set for a great game.

From the opening tip, the Cougars used the energy of their crowd to jump out to an early lead. The team was red-hot from the floor and took advantage of the Bruins missed shots to jump out to a 15-8 lead. Evan Brondyke knocked down a three point shot to stop the momentum and allow the Bruins to get back into the game. As the half ended, the Bruins had fought back to tie the game 44-44.

"It was amazing we were even in the game after allowing them to shoot so well," Coach Ring said. "We needed to play much better defense." 

In the second half, the energy of the Clearwater crowd fueled their team in the opening minutes as the Cougars jumped back on top. Despite being down, the Bruins never gave up and continued to claw their way back into the game behind Larry Taylor's 34 points. With less than two minutes remaining, the Cougars had a slim 3 point advantage 85-82. The Bruins came up with several great field goals, but couldn't stop the Cougars from scoring on the offensive end. 

With less than 20 seconds to play, the Bruins cut the lead to 91-89. That was as close as they would get as the Cougars made clutch free throws down the stretch to ice the victory. The final buzzer snapped the Bruins winning streak and handed the team a tough 94-89 loss. 

"This was a very tough loss for us tonight," Coach Ring said. "I was proud of our effort to come back like we did in the second half. We're looking forward to January 31 at our place." 

Larry Taylor was the high scorer with 34 points for the Bruins. With the loss, the Bruins fall to 8-10 on the season. Next up, the Bruins will have some recovery time before welcoming in Pensacola on Friday night.