It was an exciting NCCAA South Region showdown as the Bob Jones University men's basketball team battled back to take the 93-88 victory over Trinity Baptist College Thursday night. With Thursday's home win, the Bruins have improved to 12-3 on the season.

"I don't want it to sound like an excuse, but we haven't had the lineup we had to start the semester for a month now. We've had several guys out sick and others nursing injuries with very few people at 100%,"  began Head Coach Burton Uwarow. "Trinity always play us tough and everyone on their team has a defined offensive skill. We knew tonight was going to be tough. Unfortunately, there was a stretch there that was tougher than I would have liked it, but I was really proud of how we responded."

The Trinity Baptist College Eagles wasted no time tonight with back-to-back jumpers to open the scoring before Camden Gearhart made a basket to get the Bruins on the board. The competition was tight as the two teams kept the score close through the opening minutes. 

Around the 10 minute mark, Kenney Garrick made back-to-back buckets to put the Bruins ahead by six points. They continued working to increase their lead and with 1:23 on the game clock the Bruins saw a 10 point advantage with two made free throws by Elijah Cupples. Consecutive three-pointers from the Eagles cut at the Bruins lead, and at halftime the two teams went to the locker room with BJU ahead 43-39.

After the break, Trinity opened the second half on a 9-2 run to take the lead. The lead continued to build for the Eagles and with eight minutes remaining, Trinity pulled ahead to an 11 point advantage. 

The Bruins had their work cut out for them, but rallied with a 12 point run to regain the lead. Throughout the rest of the contest, the Bruins held strong to finish ahead 93-88 to remain undefeated in region play. 

Following the game, Head Coach Burton Uwarow broke down some of the highlights from the stat sheet. "We were 19 for 19 from the free throw line in the second half and that was huge for us," said Uwarow. "We had 23 points off the bench and Brandon Wilkins was responsible for a good portion of that. Trinity had 12 points off the bench, and we had 23 and basically doubled them. I think that was as an important thing as our free throw shooting."

Up next, the Bruins are back at the Davis Field House on Saturday for a 4 p.m. contest against Johnson University Florida.

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