In the opening game of the NCCAA DII National Tournament, the Bob Jones University men's basketball team fell in a close 99-97 decision to #2 Spurgeon College. With today's loss, the Bruins will no longer have the chance at the national title as they battle on Friday against #6 Campbellsville University Harrodsburg.
"We were as prepared for this game as we have ever been. We took the #2 team in the country down to the wire." said Head Coach Burton Uwarow. "When you are playing at the end of the season, you have to hit your free throws. We missed 16 free throws today and that hurt us tremendously. You can't miss 16 opportunities and expect to win. This group has put in a lot of work on their free throws because it's such an important component of how we play. I feel bad for them that they didn't fall today when we really needed them to."
The Bruins made their way to Minneapolis, Minnesota as the #7 seed after winning the NCCAA South Region Championship. Their first opponent of the national tournament was #2 seeded Spurgeon College out of Kansas City who entered the tournament with a 23-4 season record.
From tip-off, the Knights out of Spurgeon College got off to a quick 8-0 lead before Shad Vander Hart put the Bruins on the board with a dunk two minutes into the game. The Knights soon built a double digit advantage over Bob Jones.
With just under 10 minutes left on the clock in the first half, the Bruins went on a 14-2 scoring run to cut the deficit to just one point. With 2:56 remaining, Vander Hart knotted the game with a layup. It was Vander Hart again with another layup to give Bob Jones their first lead of the game at 50-48. Devin Pope's free throw in the final minute of the first half put the Bruins ahead by six points as the two teams went into the locker rooms with Bob Jones leading 56-50.
After halftime, Braxton Murray stole the ball and passed it to Pope who dunked it to start the second half scoring. The Bruins soon put up a double digit lead of their own after a layup and free throw by Devin Dean.
The Knights cut at the Bruins lead and soon tied the game 63-63 with 13:42 left on the clock. Through the next 10 minutes of play, the game remained close with neither team letting the other gain too much of a lead. As the clock counted down, the Knights pulled ahead to a six point lead following a back-to-back buckets by Spurgeon. A layup and a free throw by Trevor Brunson got Bob Jones back within three points.
With 14 seconds on the clock, Trevor Pittman added two to the Bruins score to see them narrowly trail 95-94. Sprugeon sank their final four free throws to lead again by five points. Pope got the ball and at the buzzer sank a shot from half court, but it wasn't enough as the Bruins fell with a final score of 99-97.
Five Bruins finished the contest in double figures with Vander Hart leading the way with 22 points followed by Dean with 19 and Pope with 18. Brunson contributed 14 points with Pittman finishing with 11 on the day.
Bob Jones went to the free throw line 50 times, double the amount of Spurgeon, but finished the game shooting only 68% from the line.
The Bruins are back on the court in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Friday at 1:30 p.m. against #6 Campbellsville University Harrodsburg.
