A late rally by Brevard College saw the Tornados come out on top of the Bob Jones University men's basketball team 74-72 from Brevard, North Carolina. With today's result, the Bruins sit at 2-3 on the season.
"Brevard is a really good team, and they are on a hot streak right now just beating Sewanee and Oglethorpe," commented Head Coach Burton Uwarow. "We did a lot of things really well. But we gave up too many offensive rebounds and too many three pointers to be successful. On nights when we only make a few threes, our defense will need to carry us more than it did tonight. It's still early in the season, and we are still learning each other."
The Bruins entered today's game 2-2 on the season through four regular season games played. Friday's contest marked the second meeting this season between the Bruins and Tornados and ninth in program history with Bob Jones leading the series 5-3.
As today's game got underway, three turnovers for the Bruins saw down early, until Trevor Brunson took advantage of an opportunity to put the Bruins on the board. Camden Gearhart evened the score with the and one.
As the game continued, it remained close with a lot of back and forth effort. After 20 minutes of play, the Bruins held the slight 36-35 advantage heading into the locker room.
36-35 advantage for the Bruins heading into the locker room. At the half, the Bruins were out-shooting 58% to 40% from the field with Bob Jones going 5-5 from the free throw line.
The Bruins went on a 15-2 run to open the second half highlighted by Devin Pope who scored nine of those points for Bob Jones to see the Bruins lead 51-37.
After a slow start for the Tornados in the second half, the intensity began to ramp up. With just over 4 minutes remaining in the contest, the Tornados worked their way back from a 14 point deficit to tie the game at 67 points a piece. Back-to-back three pointers from Brevard put the Tornados back in the lead.
Devin Pope sank two more shots to put the Bruins back within one. With just seconds on the board, Bob Jones stole the ball looking for the shot to seal the deal, but a block by Brevard kept the Bruins from scoring. As the final buzzer sounded, it was Brevard who finished on top with the 74-72 win.
Devin Pope led the Bruins with a career high 26 points followed by Trevor Brunson with 12. The Bruins shot 55% from the field and were 89% from the free throw line, but were only 25% from outside the arc.
"Tough games on the road tend to accelerate the learning," said Uwarow. "I'm looking forward to seeing how we respond in our exhibition at Piedmont next week."
Up next, the Bruins continue their road trip down to Demorest, Georgia to face Piedmont University in an exhibition on Tuesday night.
