Box Score
Poor 1st half shooting crippled the Bruins on Friday night as the team suffered their fifth straight loss 77-53 against the University of Pikeville in Pikeville, Kentucky.
"We struggled tonight offensively particularly in that first half," Bruins Coach Neal Ring said. "We played pretty well defensively but just couldn't keep pace on offense."
The two teams met earlier in the season with the Bears winning 94-73. The Bruins were hoping for a spark as the team had lost four of their last five while the Bears entered the contest ranked #14 in NAIA with an 11-3 record. The Bruins took the court ready to play the first of two road contests to close out the first semester of play.
From the opening tip, the Bears came out strong with pressure defense forcing the Bruins into early mistakes as UPike jumped out to a 17-4 advantage. The Bruins began to find their rhythm offensively as they worked the ball inside to Quez Fisher for points. The Bruins big man accounted for the team's first eight points but the team couldn't seem to gain ground as the Bears continued to build their lead.
As the half wore on, the Bruins offense hit a standstill as the Bruins shot just 25% from the field and 11% from beyond the arc. The Bears closed out the half strong to take a 35-13 lead into the break.
In the second half, the Bruins looked to shake off their shooting woes from the first half as Marshall Riddle knocked down a three point shot early on. Unfortunatley, each time the Bruins scored, the Bears would answer back with points of their own as the Bruins couldn't seem to chip into the lead. Although their shooting percentage was better in the second half, the Bruins were plagued with 25 turnovers in the game which the Bears took advantage of as the put the game out of reach.
Despite several short runs throughout the remaining minutes of the second half, it was too little too late as the Bears defeated the Bruins 77-53 to hand BJU it's fifth straight loss.
Marshall Riddle led the Bruins with 13 points while Dustin Killough scored 12. With the loss, the Bruins fall to 2-12 on the season. Next up, the team will be back in action on Saturday afternoon as they battle Georgetown College at 2 p.m. in Georgetown, Kentucky.
