December 20, 2017
By: Colton Steiner, sports information assistant
HIRAM, Ohio -The Bluffton University men's basketball team hit the road to face the Hiram College Terriers on Wednesday, Dec. 20. Despite a strong start to the contest for the Beavers, they would fall to the Terriers 79-61. The loss dropped the Beavers to 3-6 (2-2 HCAC) for the season.
Bluffton jumped out to a 5-2 advantage to start the outing after sophomore ANDREW RENNER (Cairo/Bath) converted an old fashioned three-point play. With 13:36 left in the half, a KEVIN CHRISTIE (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) triple off a nice feed from ANDREW HUNTER (Arlington) increased the Beaver cushion to 18-9. However, a 14-4 run by Hiram gave the Terriers their first lead of the ballgame at the 8:30 mark of the first half. Trailing 28-33, the Beavers made it a one-possession game at halftime following an Andrew Renner trifecta.
After a Kevin Christie layup made the score 37-35 in favor of Hiram, the offenses went on sabbatical for over three minutes until Bluffton tied the game up at 37 with an Andrew Hunter layin. The home team responded with a 12-2 spurt to take a 49-39 lead with 11:12 remaining in the game. Three minutes later, Andrew Renner split a pair of free throws to pull the Beavers within six. Despite the fight put up by Bluffton, the Terrier offense was too much to handle as they shot 68 percent from the floor to just 37 percent for the Beavers in the second half as Bluffton fell, 79-61.
Leading the charge for the Beavers was HCAC Player of the Week Andrew Hunter who dropped 15 points in the contest on a superlative 6-of-8 shooting to go along with four assists. Also coming up big for Bluffton was Andrew Renner who tallied 15 points while draining 3-of-4 from downtown. JARED WENTLING (Carey) collected a team-high six rebounds in the outing.
Second half shooting was key for the Terriers as they knocked down 17-of-25 from the field while the Beavers were only able to hit 10-for-27. Hiram was all over the glass, dominating the rebounding battle by a 42-28 count. The Beavers only coughed the ball up seven times while Hiram turned it over 13 times. Bench points were crucial as Hiram's reserves outscored the visitors by a convincing 37-14 margin
The Beavers will head home for Christmas as they prepare for their next contest during the McDonalds Holiday Tournament where they will go up against OSU-Lima on Friday, Dec. 29, at 7 p.m.
-BEAVERS-