LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Bluffton offense got stuck in Allen County on Saturday, Feb. 20, however, the Beavers were playing against Transylvania University four hours south in Lexington, Ky. The Pioneers held Bluffton to 17 first half points en route to a 58-49 victory in the Beck Center.
Bluffton and Transy combined for a whopping five points through the first six minutes as the visitors were clinging to a 3-2 lead with less than 14 minutes to play in the opening stanza. Back-to-back buckets by freshman Marcus Peaks (Pataskala/Licking Heights) put the Beavers up 7-4 at the 13:06 mark before five straight points from senior standout Dezman Brown (Elyria) had Bluffton up 12-11 with 7:40 on the clock.
Peaks got to the rack and sophomore Marcus Bruns (Coldwater) dialed long distance, making the score 17-13 at the 4:17 mark, but that was where the party ended as Transy rolled off 15 straight points in the final three minutes to put the game on ice (28-17) at the break.
The Pioneers led by as many as 16 with 4:37 to play before back-to-back triples by Mike Ketner (Minster) and Brown made it a 10-point game at the 2:11 mark. Freshman standout Damian Davis (Bexley) got to the rack with 1:24 to play and then Bluffton emptied the bench as Transy capped off its 58-49 victory.
Brown led the visitors with 22 points, one off his career high, on 6-of-11 shooting from outside the arc. The six triples was also a career-high for Brown who celebrated his 22nd birthday with a victory over the same Pioneers last night! Davis continued an impressive freshman campaign with his fourth straight game in double figures. Despite playing in just four games, he is netting 11.5 PPG and has yet to be stopped when driving to the basket. Sophomore AJ Kenney (Marion/River Valley) led the Beavers with five rebounds, while senior Ronnie James (Cleveland/Benedictine) dished out a team-high four helpers.
Transy pulled down eight more rebounds (36-28) and the home team also dominated bench scoring (37-18). Bluffton hit just 17-of-51 (33.3 percent) from the field, including a paltry 7-of-28 (25 percent) effort in the opening stanza.
The Beavers will now wait until Sunday night to find out their seed for upcoming HCAC tournament that was determined by a blind draw weeks ago.
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