By: Colton Steiner

BEREA, Ky. - The Bluffton University men headed south to the bluegrass state to face off against the Berea College Mountaineers in the first-ever matchup on Wednesday, Dec. 18 for Blue Christmas at the Seabury Center. Blufton was able to go up 18, but a late run from the Mountaineers forced the game into overtime. Beaver guard, and Kentucky local, Ian Snelling (Erlanger, Ky./Dixie Heights) would hit a three as time expired to lift the Beavers over Berea, 81-78, as they improved to 2-7 on the season and get their first conference win to put them at 1-3. The loss dropped Berea to 4-4 overall and 0-3 in the HCAC.

After Berea was able to score the first basket of the contest, Bluffton would answer with buckets from William Layfield (West Chester/Lakota West) and Connor Martin (Holland/Springfield) to jump ahead 4-2 with 16:04 left on the clock. The Beavers were able to extend their lead to 9-4 after Trevor Daughtry (Wabash, Ind.) knocked down a triple and William Layfield would follow that up with a layup with 11:58 to go in the half. After Berea cut its deficit to 9-7, the Beavers would go on a 7-0 spurt to make it a 16-7 contest. The two teams would exchange buckets, with Bluffton maintaining a three to four possession lead. The Beavers managed to extend their lead to 13 after Luke Beyke (St. Henry) converted a pair of free throws to put the visitors ahead 33-20 with 1:38 remaining in the half. After a free throw and a layup from the Mountaineers, Nevin Robson (Kenton/Hardin Northern) knocked down a jumper as the clock expired to give Bluffton a 35-23 advantage at the break.

The Mountaineers were able to trim the deficit to 11, but an Ian Snelling triple at 17:06 pushed The Beavers to a 41-27 lead. After four straight points from the hosts, Snelling would connect on another shot from behind the arc to make it 44-31. The two teams would exchange buckets for the next several minutes, but the Beavers capped off a 15-7 run in a four-minute span with a Brendan Williams (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka) step back three, giving them a comfortable 68-50 lead with 7:10 left in regulation.

Despite the run, Bluffton would hit a brick wall as Berea outscored them 19-2 to make it a one-point ballgame, 70-69, with two minutes left in the game. The Beavers would end a three-minute scoring drought after Cam Rogers (Cincinnati/Cincinnati Christian) would knock down a bucket, putting the visitors up 72-69 with 1:29 remaining. Following a Beaver turnover, the Mountaineers drilled a pair of freebies to pull within one, 72-71, with 51 seconds remaining in regulation. Ian Snelling would be unable to knock down a three on the Bluffton possession, and after the Berea split a pair of free throws, the game would be even at 72-72 as the two teams took it to overtime.

Berea would get out to a 75-72 lead to start overtime, but a triple from Ian Snelling would even the score up with 2:25 left on the clock. With only 25 seconds remaining, trailing 78-76, Snelling got the whistle and also connected on a turnaround shot in the lane to even up the game with a chance to take the lead. Despite missing free throws, offensive rebounds were clutch for the Beavers, as they had the opportunity to take the last shot of overtime. Then with only one second left on the clock, Snelling would have ice in his veins and knock down a corner triple, sealing the 81-78 victory for Bluffton.

Ian Snelling led the way for the Beavers, scoring 16 while grabbing six rebounds and tallying four assists. Adding 12 was Trevor Daughtry, who shot 5-of-9 from the field, and also collected four assists in the win. Brendan Williams added 11 and Cam Rogers scored 10 in the outing.

Bluffton would connect on 32-of-66 (48.5 percent) of their shots from the floor and 8-of-20 (40 percent) from behind the arc. The Beavers stout defense forced the Mountaineers to only shoot 36.5 percent (23-of-63) for the game, including a paltry 16.7 percent (4-of-24) from three. The charity stripe was not nice to Bluffton as they connected on only 9-of-20 of their shots from the line while Berea knocked down 28-of-40 (70 percent) freebies. Despite narrowly losing the rebounding battle 43-42, the Beavers bench was the difference as they outscored the Mountaineers 34-11.

Bluffton will look to carry this momentum into its next contest when the Beavers travel to Hiram College on Saturday, Dec. 21, with tip-off set for 3 p.m.

-Beavers-