It came down to the wire, but a buzzer beater by Kenney Garrick sent the Bruins into the win column with a 64-63 victory over Pensacola Christian College Friday night. With today's victory, the Bruins have improved to 8-3 overall and 4-0 in conference play.
"We were down a few players tonight, but we keep having people step up," said Head Coach Burton Uwarow. "I wish I could bottle up what this team has."
Coach continued saying, "Pensacola outscored us 40 to 20 in the paint. Second chance points, they had 18 and we only had two. They had 21 bench points and we only had nine. So in almost every category, they did better than we did tonight, but I'm really proud that they found a way to win, and I'm really happy for these guys."
Throughout the last 11 years, the Bruins and Eagles have met 19 times with Bob Jones now holding the 11-8 series record. Last season, the Bruins dropped both of their games to the Eagles, but the Bruins worked to defend their home court as they remain undefeated from the Davis Field House this season.
The energy was electric in the DFH as fans packed the bleachers. Kenney Garrick opened the scoring with a jumper, but the Eagles responded and the two teams battled back and forth early. Halfway through half number one, the Bruins pulled ahead to a seven point lead before PCC dropped back-to-back threes to make it a one point game. Garrick's layup in the final minute saw the Bruins take the 36-29 lead as both teams went back to the locker room.
Halfway through the second half of action, the Bruins ran into a bit of a scoring drought and went nearly three and a half minutes without a bucket. During that time, the Eagles took over the lead. It remained close and was anybody's game as the lead flip flopped in the final minutes of the game. The energy in the building continued to rise and with 28 seconds left on the clock and the Bruins trailing 61-60, Shad Vander Hart poked the ball away from PCC, raced the other way, and dunked the ball to put the Bruins back on top. After a timeout was called, Pensacola gained control of the ball and with eight seconds remaining put themselves back in the lead 63-62. Time was ticking as Elijah Cupples raced down the court and lobbed the ball to Garrick on the home bench side. Garrick's jumper in the final three seconds sealed the deal as the Bruins netted the 64-63 South Region victory.
Three Bruins finished today with double figures with Garrick leading the way with 20 followed by Trevor Brunson with 15 and Hayes Brush at 11.
When speaking of the message to his team during the game, Coach Uwarow said, "we don't talk about the outcome, but we talk about the step by step process that they need to communicate and anticipate and give it exactly what we need to do."
Up next, the Bruins host New College of Florida for the first time with a 2 p.m. tip-off on Saturday from the Davis Field House.
