By: Joseph Watkins, sports information assistant
BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University men's basketball team played host to Heartland Conference-leading Franklin College on Saturday, Feb. 1 at the Sommer Center. The home team jumped out to a fast start and never looked back. Bluffton came away with a very hard-fought 67-53 win and now stands 10-9 overall and 6-6 in the HCAC, while Franklin fell to 13-6 and 9-3 in the conference.
Bluffton would see its early lead climb to six (11-5) when Isaiah Taylor (Yellow Springs) got to the rack. The home team would control much of the game, only allowing the Grizzlies to cut it to three points (54-51) with 7:16 on the clock in the second half, en route to a convincing 67-53 win.
The home team went up 9-3 when Taylor dropped his deuce with 17:18 on the clock. Bluffton extended its lead to 21-7 when Dezman Brown (Elyria) dialed long distance distance with 11:58 left in the first half. The Grizzlies cut the deficit to eight (32-24) when Payton Mills knocked down a jumper with less than six minutes to play in the first period. The home team would push the lead back to double digits at 38-24 heading into the break.
The Beavers would keep their feet on the pedal in the second half when Andrew Renner (Cairo/Bath) scored the first bucket for the home team to make it 40-26 with 19:16 on the clock. Franklin clawed back and made it 54-51 on a pair of Borden Kennedy free throws with 7:16 left to play. Bluffton would pull away from that point on thanks to some huge buckets, inbcluding a triple from Brown that just beat the shot clock with 5:54 to play, that helped seal the 67-53 win for the home team.
Brown led the way with a career-high 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting from field and a red-hot 4-of-5 from behind the arc. Taylor checked in with 18 points of his own on 9-of-15 from the field and he pulled down six rebounds in the win. Renner notched 11 on 4-of-14 shooting to go along with a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman Marcus Bruns (Coldwater) hauled in three crucial caroms in a six minute stretch to end the first half.
Bluffton hit 27-of-52 (51.9 percent) from the field and was an efficient 7-of-16 (43.8 percent) from distance. The home team pulled down 33 rebounds compared to just 24 for the visitors. Both teams coughed the ball up 10 times on the afternoon.
Bluffton will be back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 5, when they travel to Mount St. Joseph to take on the Lions in a Heartland Conference clash. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
-BEAVERS-
