BPC Men’s Basketball Falls to No. 18 Tennessee Southern
Courtesy of BPC
Brewton-Parker Men’s Basketball continued its weekend road trip with a tough challenge at No. 18-ranked Tennessee Southern on Saturday afternoon. The Barons (813, 4-9 SSAC) fell to the Firehawks (19-2, 13-0 SSAC) in a 73-59 defeat in Pulaski, Tenn.
The Firehawks came out hot with a four-minute, 11-0 run to knock the Barons into a deep hole early. Tennessee Southern added to the tally by moving to an 18-1 lead with 15:23 left on the clock.
After a few scoreless minutes, Brewton-Parker found the first field goal of the game with a layup from Lance Smith at the 12:44 mark to lead a 7-0 run to cut the UTS lead to 10 with 11:25 to play. Dre Burroughs assisted the run with a trey as did Ferlin Joseph Jr. with a layup.
Tennessee Southern moved to a 20-8 lead at the 10:13 mark before Zailan Blue and the Barons were able to respond at 6:34 with a shot from beyond the arc. After a pair of free throws from Smith at the 5:34 mark, UTS took the next few minutes to advance to a 27-13 lead.
Brewton-Parker answered with a strong closing performance within the final three minutes. The Barons pieced together a 10-2 run down the stretch to cut the deficit to 29-23 at the break. Smith led the first half with seven points, four boards, and two assists and was followed by Blue with six points.
Tennessee Southern opened with a jumper 30 seconds in but Brewton-Parker was able to respond well with a 6-0 run to begin the second half, cutting the lead down to 31-29 with 17:15 on the clock. After a free throw and a jumper from the hosts, Blue hit a trey at the 14:08 mark to cut the BPC deficit back down to two.
A layup from Domanic Betancourt pushed BPC within a one-point game with 13:16 on the clock, but that would be the closest the Barons would get for the remainder of the contest. The Firehawks answered with an eight-point swing over the next couple of minutes.
Two free throws from Jordan Johnson, and five points from Burroughs in response made the contest a two-possession score, but the Barons were unable to take advantage of the shift in momentum. The Firehawks eventually took a chunk of time off the clock and advanced to a 51-41 lead with seven minutes to play.
Brewton-Parker was battling hard with the final few minutes on the clock ticking away. Tennessee Southern was able to outscore the Barons 22-18 throughout five and a half minutes to keep control of the double-figure advantage and eventually secure a 73-59 victory.
BPC shot 38% (19-of-50) from the floor, 33.3% (7-of-21) from three, and 77.8% (14-of-18) from the foul line. Burroughs led BP with 16 points which was the second-highest scoring effort in the contest. Blue notched 12 points and was followed by 10 points apiece from Smith and Joseph Jr. Smith also dished out five assists while snagging seven rebounds.
Brewton-Parker returns home for a midweek SSAC matchup against Dalton State (Ga.) on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. ET in Gillis Gymnasium.
