FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga. (Nov. 13, 2018) – The Truett McConnell University men's basketball team took a break from conference play and traveled to NCAA DII Emmanuel College on Tuesday night. The Lions defeated the Bears (3-1, 1-1 AAC) for their first victory of the season, 65-55.
SLOW START | LATE RALLY
The Lions came out hot in the first 20 minutes of play draining seven 3-pointers which made up over half of their points heading into the second half. Nothing at the rim seemed to fall for the Bears as they only had eight points with seven minutes to go before halftime. However, TMU outscored the Lions in the last seven minutes of the half 14-10 as the Bears drained a couple of 3-pointers themselves.
The Bears trailed by 10 (22-33) entering into the second half but TMU earned the first six points on a pair of 3-pointers. In fact, TMU's defense went on to hold Emmanuel to zero points behind the arc for the rest of the game. With 11:34 to go, Filipe Goncalves' layup cut the deficit to just two points (38-40) but the Bears ultimately could not capitalize as Emmanuel pushed to lead by as many as 12 and as little as four even though Bears outscored the Lions in the second half by one (33-32).
COACH'S COMMENTS
"I thought we completed really well against a perennially tough DII program," Head Coach Jon Yeh said. "TJ always has them playing well. Maybe we gave them too much respect early in the game. But I thought we really controlled things and were the aggressors in the second half. One of our objectives was to stop turning the ball over. We improved dramatically there… Just shot it really, really poorly."
LEADERS
Senior Christian Davis led with 13 points and four assists while fellow senior Goncalves put up 11 points. Sophomore Calvin White recorded 10 rebounds and nine points. Jacob Booke added seven points and seven rebounds.
TMU shot 77.8% behind the free throw line (14-for-18).
UP NEXT
The Bears will return home to the Benjamin F. Brady Arena to face Appalachian Athletic Conference foe Montreat College on Saturday, Nov. 17, at 4:00 p.m.
