By: Colton Steiner
BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University men hosted the Mount St. Joseph Lions in HCAC battle at Copeland Court on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. After a back and forth first half, the cold weather would find its way into the gym as the Beavers lost to the Lions 78-65. The setback dropped Bluffton to an overall record of 4-13 with a 3-7 mark in the HCAC while Mount St. Joseph improved to 9-8 and 5-5 in the conference.
After a 5-0 start from the visitors, Nevin Robson (Kenton/Hardin Northern) got the Beavers on the board with a layup at the 16:30 mark of the first half. The Lions held the lead until 12:26 left in the half when a pair of Ian Snelling (Erlanger, Ky./Dixie Heights) free throws gave Bluffton their first advantage of the game at 10-9. The two teams struggled to get any baskets to fall, but a crafty layup from William Layfield (West Chester/Lakota West) pushed Bluffton's lead to three with just over eight minutes left on the clock.
With the Beavers leading 18-15, Mount St. Joseph went on an 8-0 spurt to go up 23-18. The home team answered with back-to-back layups from Nevin Robson and Cam Rogers (Cincinnati/Cincinnati Christian) to cut the deficit to one with less than four minutes to play. The two teams would exchange points for the rest of the half as the Lions took a 32-29 lead into the break.
The Beavers jump right out of the gate with a William Layfield lay in to bring the score to 32-31 in the first 15 seconds of period two. Trailing 34-32, Bluffton would get some momentum and go on an 8-0 run before a Mount St. Joseph layup cut the lead to 40-36. Over the next several minutes, the momentum for the Beavers would completely fade, getting outscored 17-4 and falling behind 53-44 with 10:48 left in regulation.
Bluffton trailed 66-50 before Brendan Williams (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka) knocked down a triple to spark a 7-0 run which cut the MSJ lead to 66-57 with under three minutes to play. While the Beavers would show a little life, the visitors were absolutely clutch in the final minutes from the charity stripe, going 6-for-6 en route to the 78-65 victory and season sweep.
It was a cold night from the floor for the Beavers as they hit only 37.3 percent (25-of-67) for the game, including a paltry 2-of-21 (9.5 percent) from behind the arc. While Bluffton would have an 11-2 advantage in points off turnovers, Mount St. Joseph edged out the Beavers in second chance points (14-5). The Lions were all over the glass, having a crushing 48-33 advantage in total rebounds.
Nevin Robson led the Beavers with a team-high 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting to go along with six rebounds in the contest. Adding 14 with seven boards was Cam Rogers to go along with 13 points from Brendan Williams. Ian Snelling tallied eight with three assists.
Bluffton will look to put this loss in the rearview mirror as the Beavers will go head-to-head with the Franklin Grizzlies on Saturday, Jan. 25 with a 3 p.m. tip following the women's game. Come out and support your Beavers and find out who's in the Beaver suit before the start of the men's same.
-BEAVERS-