By: Colton Steiner
CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Bluffton University men's basketball squad headed south to Cincinnati to face off against the Mount St. Joseph Lions in their first conference matchup of the year. Despite trailing at half, the Beavers would fight to the end in a 79-78 setback on Wednesday, Dec. 4. The loss drops Bluffton to 1-5 overall and 0-1 in conference play. Mount St. Joseph improved to 5-3 and 1-0 in the HCAC.
The Beavers would get on the board first after Sihr Sumner (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) knocked down a jumper in the paint to put the score at 2-0 just 52 seconds in. After the two teams battled and traded buckets, Bluffton would go on a run and extend its lead to 13-9 when Nevin Robson (Kenton/Hardin Northern) collected a steal and threw down a fast-break dunk!
The home team was able to answer with a 8-2 run to take a 17-15 lead with 10:04 left in the half. At the 6:51 mark, the Lions were able to extend their lead to seven after a layup from Elisha Jones made it 27-20. The Beavers would answer with a run of their own and cut it to a one possession game after Nevin Robson converted an old-fashioned three-point-play which made it 32-29 with 2:24 left till the break. After a three put the Lions up by six, a Robson layup and a Brendan Williams (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka) steal and slam put the game at 35-33 with 51 seconds remaining in the first half. A triple by Mount St. Joseph made it 38-33 heading into the break.
After the two teams went back and forth to start the second half, the home team pushed its spread to 50-41 heading into the first media timeout. Bluffton would come out of the stoppage with a renewed sence of urgency, going on an 8-2 run that was capped by a Nevin Robson throwdown with 12:49 left in regulation as the Beavers cut the deficit to 52-50.
Mount St. Joseph was able to extend the five, but a little run from Bluffton brought them within one after Cam Rogers (Cincinnati/Cincinnati Christian) knocked down a jumper with 11:12 left in the contest. However, the Lions would answer with back-to-back layups and a three to extend their lead to 63-55 with just under 10 minutes to play in the game. The visitors outscored the home team 12-2 with Brendan Williams hitting from in close to give the Beavers a 67-66 lead with only 6:23 left.
The lead for Bluffton would be short-lived as Mount St. Joseph responded with a 9-0 run over the next two minutes to go ahead 75-67 with 4:13 left on the clock. While the Beavers were able to cut the gap back down to two with a Williams deuce, a jumper from the Lions with 27 seconds left put them ahead 77-74. After the home team was able to split a pair of free throws with four seconds left to make it a 79-75 game, the Beavers would hit a late three from William Layfield (West Chester/Lakota West), making the final score 79-78.
Nevin Robson and Cam Rogers had solid outings, each scoring 19 and collecting eight boards apiece on Wednesday night. Adding 14 on 7-of-10 shooting was Brendan Williams with Sihr Sumner scoring eight points.
While Bluffton was able to knock down 33-of-70 (47.1 percent) from the field, they struggled behind the arc, only shooting 23.8 percent (5-of-21) for the game. Mount St. Joseph hit an efficient 52.8 percent (28-of-53) of their shots, including 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) from distance in their win over the Beavers. Bluffton dominated the boards, winning the rebound battle, 40-29, with a 16-5 advantage on the offensive glass.
The Beavers will be back home on Saturday, Dec. 7, to face off against the Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers with a 3 p.m. tipoff following the 1 p.m. women's contest with RHIT.
-BEAVERS-