Box Score It was a special night for the four Bruins seniors as the fans gave the players a fond farewell in thanks for their contributions over their storied careers. The players didn't disappoint as each took advantage of the spotlight with big contributions in the team's 102-84 win over College of Faith.
 
 

"It was emotional for me," head coach Neal Ring said. "These are more than just basketball players to me. They believed in what we are trying to do here and we are so much better off as a program and so much farther down the road in establishing a program because of their dedication and contributions. My heart is full and my emotions are very raw because there are going to be some tears shed in the next few weeks knowing they aren't going to be back."

The Bruins came into the game hoping to finish out the regular season strong as the team had dropped five straight games entering Saturday's season finale. Their opponent would be the College of Faith Knights. Emotions were high as the Bruin faithful wanted one last regular season win for their seniors. 

Noah Smith provided the spark for the Bruins as the team began with several three point shots from the outside as the Bruins jumped out to a 14-5 lead. The Bruins had great communication and ball movement offensively as crisp passing lead to wide open layups and looks for points. Smith kept the offense rolling along with seven straight points for the Bruins as the team continued to build the lead. After the Knights took a timeout, College of Faith came back to cut the lead to 28-21. From there, captain Kyle Turner made back to back baskets to spark another big run capped off my a monster dunk by Kirtis Yurchak to help the team mount a double digit advantage. The Bruins continued to close out the half strong and took a 54-42 lead into the break.  

"Offensively we knew we just needed to keep doing what we were doing," Coach Ring said. "We were doing a lot of things right but we also knew we needed to shore up some of our defense. We challenged the guys to take this next half and make it the first half of our region playoffs to gain momentum to end the season." 

Kyle Turner came out strong for the Bruins in the opening minutes as the senior continued to dominate in the paint. Each time the Knights would score, the Bruins would answer as they continued to keep the lead. Justin Matthews brought the crowd to its feet again with a rim-rocking dunk as the Bruins continued to pour it on offensively. As the game was drawing to a close, Kyle Turner knocked down another three point shot to put the Bruins into triple-figures scoring on the night. Each senior was subbed out with under a minute to play and were given a ceremonial curtain call by the Bruin faithful. As the final buzzer sounded, the Bruins had controlled the game from start to finish in a 102-84 win. 

In the postgame press conference, each senior was emotional in recalling the experiences of their basketball career. "It's been a long journey," senior captain Ray Holden said. "Kyle and I have been able to be here from day one and to see the growth as a program over the course of four years is something special. We faced a lot of adversity over the four years and it was tough but I look back at that and God grew me and made me a better person."

It was a special night for each Bruin senior as Kyle Turner had a career night for the team with 34 points and 10 rebounds, his highest point total of his career. Noah Smith finished with 21 points and Ray Holden scored 12. Kirtis Yurchak finished the night with 7 points, 7 assists and 8 rebounds as the Bruins improved to 15-15 on the season. The team dominated the rebounding margin 52-37 while shooting an impressive 52% from the floor. Next up, the Bruins will play in the NCCAA DI South Regional playoffs next week. The tournament will be hosted at Bob Jones University with the Bruins hosting Carver College on Friday night. 

More infomation about the tournament will be available next week at bjubruins.com.