Box Score The Bruins suffered a road loss at the hands of Piedmont College as the team fell 84-77 in Demorest, Georgia on Saturday evening. "This was a tough loss for us today," Bruins' coach Neal Ring said. "I have to do a better job of managing throughout the game and at the end. It wasn't one thing that beat us today but it was an accumulation of multiple little things."
The team entered the game at 13-9 on the season, having won two of their last three games including a 107-94 victory over Warren Wilson College on Thursday night. The Lions came into the game at 11-8 having won back to back games over Berry College and Johnson University of Florida. The stage was set as the two teams took the floor of Cave Arena.
Trae Gaines knocked down a three to open the scoring for the Lions, but the Bruins quickly responded to jump back into the game. In the early stages, the Bruins relied on the great play of Ray Holden as the captain knocked down a three point shot and created opportunities through the lane. As the game wore on, the two teams exchanged baskets and the lead with neither able to gain control of the contest.
At the midway point of the half, the Bruins built a 9-point lead, but allowed the Lions to claw their way back with a 13-1 run to regain the upperhand 29-26. The Bruins held their own as they muscled their way through the lane to earn trips to the foul line. The Lions closed out the half strong, but the Bruins were within striking distance trailing 42-36 at the break.
In the second half, the Lions jumped out of the gate with a short 6-0 run to set the tone early in the half. The Bruins responded as Corey Turner scored back to back buckets for the Bruins to help chip away at the lead. Defensively, the team strung together several great stops and capitalized on the offensive end to claw al the way back. After Justin Matthews scored, the Bruins had closed the gap to 55-58 with just over ten minutes to play.
From there, the Lions responded again with another 8-0 run to build the lead back up. Despite the Bruins attempts, they never could string together a serious offensive run and the Lions took advantage. This time, the deficit was too much to overcome as the Lions held on for an 84-77 victory over the Bruins.
"I'm confident we'll take the positives from this game and move forward," Coach Ring said. "We shot well from the free throw line and executed some really good things throughout the game."
Ray Holden was one of four players in double figures for the Bruins as he finished with 15 points and 5 rebounds in the game. Dustin Killough had 13 points, Justin Matthews scored 12 and Kyle Turner had 11. The Bruins shot well from the field and from the line, but the team allowed the Lions 40 points in the paint throughout the game. With the loss, the team drops to 13-10 on the season. Next up, the Bruins play an important region game as they travel to Columbia International University on Tuesday night.
