by Catherine Rogers
Staff Writer
The Bryan Lions’ men’s basketball team cut short a three-game skid and won both away games last week, tying for first place in the AAC with the Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs (Athens).
The highlight of the week was Saturday night’s game at Milligan (Tenn.) College where the Lions took an early lead and held it the rest of the game for a decisive win 69-54. Head Coach Don Rekoske credits the win to many players who stepped up in the second half and made shots.
One highlight of Saturday night came early in the game when, as described by junior student assistant John Cannon, “Coach Rekoske took a gamble and put in Jeremy Haley,” who hasn’t played all season.
Rekoske said, “We put him in a key situation and he came in and knocked down a three-pointer.”
Cannon went on to say that sophomore shooting guard Haley’s “deep NBA three-pointer” lifted the team’s spirit. It seems as if that set the momentum for the rest of the game as only minutes later junior point guard Demond Craig made an assist to senior Scott Newton who “slammed a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer [putting the team] up by nine points.”
In the second half, it was sophomore power forward Astral Guerriers’ dunk that sealed the game, according to Cannon. Guerrier described the play leading up to his dunk with Craig penetrating the opposing team’s offense toward the basket and passing to Guerrier just before Milligan’s defense crashed on him.
With 15 wins overall, eight conference wins—seven with a lead of at least 15 points—and only four games to go, it’s safe to say that our men’s basketball team has had a good season.
“We’ve not only won a large number of games,” said Rekoske, “ but have done so impressively and sometimes in a dominating fashion.”
However, the season isn’t quite over yet., according to Rekoske. He hopes to continue building the “big-time momentum” created at the Milligan game and win the AAC conference. This will qualify the Lions to host the conference tournament, giving them a huge advantage.
“That’s the goal,” said Rekoske, “with only four games to go and a chance to win the conference, what else do [we] need for motivation?”
“We have great chemistry. We’re tough and we play hard,” said Rekoske, who added that the Lions are in the top five in the nation defensively and in rebounding statistics.
Rekoske said he hopes this momentum continues into this week’s games at Virginia Intermont College on Wednesday and against Montreat College on Saturday, which is a “big home game,” he said. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.