WALESKA, Ga. — In yet another tense league match up, Truett McConnell's late comeback bid at Reinhardt University fell short by one free throw, and the Bears were edged 95-94. The loss drops Truett McConnell's record to 18-11 and 10-9 in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) play with one regular season game remaining.
Down six points with 38 seconds left, TMU guard David Campbell scored a driving lay-up on the right hand side. Then after a backcourt steal by guard Christian Davis, Campbell nailed a left-corner 3-pointer off an assist from freshman Myles Monroe to cut the deficit to one point with 13 seconds left.
Reinhardt's Dwight Sanders was fouled, and the senior missed both free throws. But fellow senior Melvin Irvin bullied his way for the offensive rebound and was subsequently fouled. Irvin hit the first shot and missed the second. TMU freshman Calvin White corralled the rebound and the pressure mounted.
On the transition, Campbell missed a contested 3-pointer from the top of the key for the win, but Mario Westbrooks grabbed the miss and was hacked on the put back attempt with 0.7 seconds remaining. Westbrooks calmly swished the first attempt, but his second missed long and the Bears ran out of time.
White's last second lay-up against the press gave the Bears a 51-37 lead heading into halftime. The Bears had the hot hand shooting 58% from the field. But Reinhardt caught fire in the second half, and the stats were flipped. The Eagles converted on 54% of their attempts in the second stanza.
"We played very well on both sides of the court in the first half," said TMU Head Coach Jon Yeh. "But I told our guys that a 14-point lead here at Reinhardt was safe for like five minutes with the way they are capable of shooting. I really don't think we played terrible defense in the second half, but there was a stretch where they just caught fire and we were a little sloppy on our end finishing our lay-ups."
Campbell led all scorers with 24 points. The senior recently moved into fourth place in career scoring at TMU. White posted a 20-point, 10-rebound performance, the first 20/10 game of his young college career and his second consecutive double-double. Monroe chipped in 16 points. And Davis added 14 points and nabbed four steals to extend his national lead in both total steals and steals per game.
The Bears finish off the regular season on Saturday when they host AAC foe Bluefield College in the Bear Cave. TMU will honor its four seniors: Campbell, Westbrooks, Eddie Hurst, and manager Peter Kough. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 pm.
