BPC Men’s Basketball Wins Two Games

Courtesy of BPC

The Brewton-Parker College men's basketball team took on Paine (Ga.) on Tuesday of last week and then hosted Keiser (Fla.) on Friday.

BPC vs. Paine

Barons Basketball continued with nonconference action in the second installment of this season’s twopart series against Paine (Ga.), traveling to Augusta, Ga., on Tuesday night. Brewton-Parker (2-3) held on to surpass the Lions (02) in an 83-80 victory in a tough road environment.

Paine captured an early lead before Brewton-Parker was in brief control with a five-point swing coming from a layup from Ferlin Joseph Jr. and a three-pointer from Grant Sanders to lead 7-5 with 18:39 on the clock. The Lions shifted the score in their favor with a 7-0 run in just over a minute of play and eventually moved to an 18-9 lead with 14:07 to play in the half.

Fortunately for BPC, the Barons answered well to the attack of the Lions with a big 16-6 run, which was capped by a trey ball from Zailan Blue for a one-point edge with 10 minutes to play in the first frame.

The game switched to a slower back-and-forth scoring affair spaced apart by several minutes of play and was finished by a tip-in from Chris Spenkuch that leveled the game 27-27 with 7:56 on the scoreboard. After a jumper from Paine, Brewton- Parker produced a huge 16-1 run highlighted by four three-pointers split evenly between Dre Burroughs and Jordan Johnson for a 43-30 lead with less than four minutes until halftime.

BPC managed to cruise to a 53-38 lead at the break, closing the first half with a solid performance from beyond the arc by shooting 80% (8-of-10) while also going 52.8% (19-of-36) from the field. The Barons were led by Burroughs’ 14 points and Johnson’s 12.

Paine opened the second half with an 11-4 run, cutting the deficit under double figures in the first five minutes of play. The Lions held the Barons from scoring anywhere in the field for nearly 10 minutes as BPC was only able to score from the charity stripe.

PC managed to cut the deficit down to a 59-53 game with 11:18 on the clock before Lance Smith produced Brewton-Parker’s first jumper of the half. A back-and-forth shootout followed for the next few minutes as Paine continued to hold the Barons to a single- digit lead.

A good free throw from Spenkuch at the 5:20 mark shifted BPC back to a double- digit lead and a pair of foul shots from Johnson at the 3:28 mark did so once more. The Lions clawed their way back late in the game, outscoring the Barons with a 7-0 to pull the deficit to just a two-bucket game with 2:17 to play.

Free throws down the stretch from Burroughs as well as a layup from Spenkuch with 16 seconds helped give Brewton-Parker a two-score cushion. However, Paine continued to battle and converted a BPC turnover into a slam with seconds to play to move to just a two-point game. Smith was able to ice the game with a free throw to give BPC the 83-80 win.

BPC finished the evening with two season-high shooting percentages. The Barons notched a seasonhigh three-point percentage, shooting 57.1% (8-of-14) from beyond the arc while also recording 71.1% (27-of-38) from the foul line. A total of four Barons were in double digits for scoring. Both Smith and Burroughs finished with 18 points apiece while Johnson notched 17. Spenkuch picked up a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. BPC narrowly edged out PC 46-44 in rebounds while also leading 12-10 in steals as Sanders led with four followed by Smith’s three.

BPC vs. Keiser

Brewton-Parker Men’s Basketball faced Keiser (Fla.) in front of a home crowd in Gillis Gymnasium on Friday afternoon. The Barons (3-3) took down the Seahawks (2-2) in a battle to the end by a score of 7265.

The first half started off slow with the score coming nearly two minutes into play as Chris Spenkuch put the Barons up first with a jumper. From there the Barons took a 9-4 lead, but slipped up and allowed the Seahawks to score seven unanswered points to claim a 12-9 lead with 13:28 on the clock.

Keiser moved to 19-13 lead over the next two minutes before Brewton-Parker called a timeout to adjust and responded well with a 7-1 run of their own led by Dre Burroughs with five points to level the game at 20-20 with less than 10 minutes to play in the half.

After some slow back and forth play, the Seahawks put up a six-point deficit the Barons with 5:47 left. The Barons tied the game back up with a jumper from Spenkuch and followed by four points from Damarcus Johnson Jr.

With two big dunks from Lance Smith and Ferlin Joseph Jr. the Barons were able to produce a three-point lead over the Seahawks with 2:04 left in the half.

Brewton-Parker ended the first half leading 37-35, after a pair of made free throws from Keiser.

The second half started with the Seahawks on the foul line to tie the game back up. Keiser produced a 46-41 lead with nearly 17 minutes remaining, outscoring BPC 11-4 to open the half with two big shots from beyond the arc.

Brewton-Parker utilized a huge “and one” from Johnson Jr. to put the Barons within two of the Seahawks and sparked a 16-2 momentum shift that gave BPC a 59-50 lead with 7:33 to play.

With a shooting foul from outside the threepoint line from Keiser, Jordan Johnson produced three made free-throws to extend the Barons lead to 62-53 with 5:05 left in the game.

Keiser made a late push and cut the lead to five with a three-pointer at the 1:11 mark. A slam from Grant Sanders as well as free throws from Smith and Spenkuch boosted BPC’s lead to nine with 30 seconds to play. In the end, the Barons were able to hold off the Seahawks to take a 72-65 win.

BPC shot 52.2 % (24of-46) from the floor, 25% (2-of-8) from three, and 73.3% (22-of-30) from the foul line. BPC produced five Barons in double figures as Spenkuch lead the team with 16 points followed by Burroughs with 13. Johnson Jr. scored 12 and Johnson recorded 10. Smith led the team in assists with eight and netted 10 points as well. Defensively, Brewton-Parker forced 14 turnovers from Keiser while notching 8 steals in the process.

The Barons will stay at home and start conference play with a game against Stillman (Ala.) on Thursday, November 16 at 7:30 p.m.