Despite a valiant first half comeback from the BJU Bruins, a late second half rally fueled the Columbia International Rams to a 76-68 victory in the Davis Field House on Saturday evening. CIU jumped out to an early 15-3 advantage in the first half but the Bruins answered back and took the lead going into halftime, and managed to hold that lead for most of the second half. With the loss, the Bruins fall to 1-11 on the season.
It was also a memorable game in that Senior Chris Gray would be playing his last game with the team due to graduating this semester. "Chris has been a big part of the team for these past four years," Bruins Head Coach Burton Uwarow said. "He is a great leader on and off the court. No one wants to play without Chris and we wish him the best in the future."
Columbia International jumped out to an early 15-3 lead in the first four minutes of the game. Turnovers and poor transition defense haunted the Bruins early on which led to a timeout called by Coach Uwarow.
Following the timeout, the Bruins proceeded to go on a 18-5 run of their own. Jayson Barnhart and Jon Allen fueled the BJU rally as they combined to score 26 of the team's 48 first half points, as the team went into halftime holding a 48-39 lead.
"Coach's speech in the timeout really woke us up," Bruins forward Chris Gray said. "It was really one of the turning points in the game for us."
In the second half, the Bruins continued to build on their lead. The team started out on a quick 8-2 run to build their lead up to fifteen at 56-41. The Bruins did a great job in the second half defensively on the perimeter holding CIU to 25% on three point attempts, shooting 4-16 as a team after they made 42% in the first half at a 6-14 clip.
"I was proud of our execution on both sides of the floor," Coach Uwarow said. "We limited our turnovers and played great perimeter defense."
Despite the execution on both sides of the floor for the Bruins, the Rams came rallying back. With under three minutes to go the game was tied 68-68 after Zachary Orr was able to find Jayson Barnhart for the game tying layup. The following possession, Barnhart missed an open three pointer which led to a fastbreak for the Rams. Damian Hurta drained a clutch three pointer to give the Rams a 71-68 lead. Columbia International held on to the lead from this point on after making key free throws down the stretch to clinch a 76-68 victory over the BJU.
"Despite the loss I am very proud of our team," Coach Uwarow said. "We will have lots of success in second semester of play if we can execute our game-plan like we did today."
Jayson Barnhart led the way for the Bruins scoring 30 points. Freshman Jon Allen finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds, while Zachary Orr scored 12 points off the bench. The Bruins had a dominant performance from the free throw line in the game as the team shot a perfect 18-18. They also won the rebounding margin 35-32.
Next up after Christmas break, the BJU Bruins will travel to Kissimmee, Florida to take on Johnson University. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 on January 5.
