By: Jack Reed, sports information assistant
CINCINNATI, Ohio- The Bluffton University men's basketball team traveled to Mount St. Joseph on Saturday, Feb. 6, with an unblemished record to take on the Lions who had yet to garner their first win. The script was flipped at MSJ as the Beavers saw their 10-game winning streak come to a screeching halt. The Mount defense was up the task in a 58-37 shutdown of the Beavers who now stand 10-1, while MSJ improved to 1-9.
From start to finish the Lions controlled the tempo and almost every facet of the game. Mount jumped out to a quick 15-2 lead less than six minutes into the game. At the 12:30 mark in the first half, freshman Michael Stammen (Versailles) connected on a three to pull the Beavers within 10 before junior Jameel Cosby (Springfield/Kenton Ridge) got his first points of the day with a layup.
Dezman Brown (Elyria) dialed in from beyond the arc thanks to a nice feed from fellow senior Aaron Rich (Greenville). With just over a minute left in the half, sophomore AJ Kenney (Marion/River Valley) scored on a layup to make the score 27-18 in favor of the Lions heading into the break.
Two minutes into the second half, Cosby grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast with it for two. His basket cut it to seven, which would be the closest they came to the Lions in the second stanza as The Mount would go on a 19-0 run which ended up being the nail in the coffin. MSJ closed out its first victory of the season with a convincing 58-37 final.
Cosby led the Beavers with 12 markers followed up by Kenney with six. Ryan Rose (Tipp City/Bethel) and Stamman added five apiece. While much of the game was sour, a bright spot for the Beavers was that they won the rebounding battle (36-25) as Rich pulled down a team-high five boards.
The men struggled as they hit just 16-of-48 (33 percent) from the field and only 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) from distance. In direct opposition to the Beavers, the Lions shot 50 percent (23-of-46) from the field and 38.1 percent (8-of-21) from three-point range.
The men return to action next Friday, Feb. 12, at Anderson University with tip-off slated for 6:15 p.m.
-BEAVERS-