Box Score The Bruins road struggles continued on Saturday night as the team fell 78-61 to Pensacola Christian College. "I don't feel like the score is a reflection of our effort tonight," Coach Neal Ring said. "They were able to find some of our weaknesses and take advantage of them but I thought we gave a good effort tonight."
The Bruins have won 3 of their last 4 games but dropped their last game at home to North Greenville University. The Eagles entered the game with a 11-13 record having lost to Toccoa Falls College on Friday night. Earlier this season, the Eagles had defeated the Bruins 73-59. The two teams were set to write the next chapter of their rivalry in front of a capacity crowd at the Sports Center.
The Eagles jumped out to an early 11-4 lead behind the energy of the hometown faithful. From there, the Bruins came roaring back to take a 15-14 behind the play of Kyle Turner and Ray Holden. The teams went back and forth trying to grab momentum.
After a Kyle Turner 3-point shot, the Bruins took a 26-25 lead. From there, the Eagles responded with a 7-0 run to help spark a strong close to the half as PCC went into the break up 37-28 over BJU.
"Their size ate us up a little bit," Coach Ring said. "Having said that, I felt like we did a good job of trying to attack and create opportunities to score."
In the second half, the Bruins tried to spark a rally early by going on a 9-0 run to climb back into the game 42-37. The team rallied behind the play of their captain Kyle Turner and also got a great boost from Dustin Killough off the bench.
In the middle of the half, the Eagles began to heat up offensively as the team slowly stretched their lead over the Bruins. Joel Thomas carried the Eagles with 26 points as the Bruins couldn't find an answer to stop him defensively. The team was able to get opportunities from the line, but the Bruins' free throw struggles continued as they were not able to cut back into the lead. The final buzzer handed the Eagles a 78-61 win.
"We have to get back up and learn from this," Coach Ring said. "I'm confident in our team and our players. We did some things well tonight, but ultimately they made plays and took advantage of some of our defensive weaknesses."
Kyle Turner scored 17 with 9 rebounds while Dustin Killough contributed 16 points off the bench. The Bruins were out-rebounded 42-28 and committed 13 turnovers in the game. The team is now 7-17 on the season and just 1-11 in road games. Next up, the Bruins will travel to Charlotte, North Carolina for a matchup with Johnson and Wales University on Tuesday night.
