By: Colton Steiner
HIRAM, Ohio - The Bluffton University men's basketball team faced off agianst Hiram College on Saturday, Dec. 21, in an afternoon battle to kick off the holiday season. A second half comeback from the Beavers wouldn't be enough as they fell to the Terriers, 70-68. With the loss, Bluffton slipped to 2-8 on the season.
Hiram would get out to a 11-2 start on the Beavers before a pair of Connor Martin (Holland/Springfield) free throws and a Sihr Sumner (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) dunk pulled the Beavers within five. Trailing 13-10, Bluffton was able to tie up the contest after Nevin Robson (Kenton/Hardin Northern) knocked down a free throw and a Cam Rogers (Cincinnati/Cincinnati Christian) layin made the score 13-13 with 14:00 left in the half. After a 10-4 scoring run from the Terriers, the Beavers would go on a barrage from behind the arc, hitting three consecutive threes for a 26-25 lead. Hiram responded with an 11-0 spurt before a Sihr Sumner free throw ended the scoring drought from the Beavers to make the score 36-27 with 2:50 remaining on the clock. The two teams would go back and forth in the final two minutes to end the half with the Terriers taking a 44-34 lead going into the break.
Neither team was able to get their offense going to start the second half, but back-to-back layups from Cam Rogers cut the deficit to 46-39 with 15:45 to go. After a Terriers timeout, Bluffton went a 7-0 run to take a 47-46 advantage after Trevor Daughtry (Wabash, Ind.) knocked down the go-ahead jumper with 11:56 remaining in regulation. Both teams would battle for the lead, exchanging bucket for bucket over the next three minutes. Following a Nevin Robson slam that evened up the score (54-54) the Terriers would score four straight points to make it a two-possession game with 7:40 left on the clock. The two possession game was short lived as Nevin Robson would answer with an old fashioned three-point play to pull the Beavers within one. Hiram was able to answer whatever Bluffton could do over the next three minutes until layups from Robson and Rogers put the visitors ahead 64-62 with 3:54 to go play. After exchanging buckets, with only 69 seconds remaining in regulation, Nevin Robson converted a tip-in to give the Beavers a 68-66 lead. The Terriors would immediately respond with Mitchell Wiechecki laying it into the cup to even up the game with under a minute left to play. Following an unsuccessful trip on offense for Bluffton, Collin Jones drew a foul on the Beavers with nine seconds remaining where he would go 2-for-2 from the charity stripe to give the home team a 70-68 lead. As time ran out, Bluffton was unable to knock down its last shot attempt, walking away with the 70-68 loss.
Setting a career-high and leading the Beavers was Nevin Robson who scored 26 while also snagging five rebounds. Trevor Daughtry would set a career-high as well, netting 14 on 5-of-8 shooting that included going 3-of-6 from three-point range with Cam Rogers adding 13 points to go along with six boards
Bluffton would struggle from the floor, shooting 42.1 percent (24-of-57) for the game, but the visitors did knock down 6-of-13 (46.2 percent) from long range. The Beavers would push the pace as they would net a 15-7 advantage in fast break points, but the Terriers would get the edge in second chance opints, 11-8. In a game with 18 ties and 20 lead changes, both teams had problems controlling the rock with Bluffton turning the ball over 16 times to Hiram's 15.
The Beavers return home after a long road trip as they will host the Kalamazoo College Hornets on Tuesday, Dec. 31 (New Year's Eve) with a 1 p.m. tip-off.
-Beavers-