Jayson Barnhart and Daniel Fuller provided the one-two punch for the Bruins on Friday night as the team defeated Trinity Baptist College 74-65. With the win, the Bruins move into first place in the South Region as they improve to 5-1 in region play and 6-14 on the season.
"We had really good intensity tonight," Fuller said as he finished with 23 points on the night. "Having played them earlier in the season and playing as bad as we did in that game, we knew we were better than that. Tonight, our mentality was to prove that we were better than them and that we could beat them."
The two teams met down in Jacksonville, Florida on December 1 with the Bruins falling 69-60. In that loss, the Bruins committed 27 turnovers. Tonight, the Bruins were determined to rectify their earlier season loss as they took the court in front of the Bruin faithful.
Jon Allen opened the scoring for the Bruins with a three from the top of the key but the score remained close in the early stages of the game. Just over halfway through the first half, an 8-0 run sparked by a three and a layup from Daniel Fuller allowed the Bruins to jump ahead 18-12. Defensively, the team forced the Eagles into tough looks but TBC continued to battle in the paint for points.
With just over three minutes to play in the half, Fuller hit another three to give the Bruins their first double-digit lead 30-20. The Bruins looked to ride momentum into the half but instead the Eagles came clawing back as BJU led 34-30 at the break.
In the second half, captain Jayson Barnhart began to take the game on his shoulders as the senior was incredibly efficient from the field. Still, the Eagles remained neck and neck with the Bruins as Justin Tucker had a team-high 15 points to lead TBC.
As the game began to draw to a close, Jon Allen hit another three as the Bruins took a slim 62-57 lead. The Eagles came right back with back to back baskets to tie the game at 62-62. On the next three possessions, the Bruins came away with points as a layup by Zac Orr, two free throws by Daniel Fuller and a jump shot by Jayson Barnhart give the team a 68-62 lead with under two minutes to go. The Eagles couldn't recover as the Bruins iced the game with free throws down the stretch to win 74-65.
"Right now these guys are exceeding a lot of people's expectations but they aren't exceeding their own," Bruins Head Coach Burton Uwarow said. "We don't focus on the scoreboard, we focus on the effort and the execution to make sure we get better. We're starting to see the benefit of their effort. These guys are buying in and we're doing a great job putting together a good team effort each game."
Jayson Barnhart led the team with 24 points while Daniel Fuller finished shooting 65% from the floor to finish with 23 points. Jon Allen finished with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. The Bruins took care of the ball with only eight turnovers in the game while outrebounding the Eagles 31-22 in the game.
Next up, the Bruins will be on the road Saturday as they face North Greenville University in Tigerville, South Carolina. Tip-off for the game is set for 12 p.m.
