| Show Bruins suffer two close losses it Regroup to beat North Idaho r. r J I ITHE HE Bruins gave BYUs BYU's JV team a T THE late Christmas gift by handing them a 92 87 triple overtime win January 9 in Salt Lake City Both teams had thrashed Treasure Valley and dropped hefty losses to number one ranked College of Southern Idaho in the tournament January 5 S Earlier in the year BYU stole a 84 83 heartbreaker from the Bruins November 25 in Provo The Bruins played well in the first half and took a 32 33 lead into the locker room BYU had up beefed-up their roster by inserting five varsity players into the up line-up Alan Frampton David Astle John Lloyd Todd Gentry and Kirk Davidson but controlled controlled controlled con con- trolled the half and prevented the Cougars from gaining momentum Both teams were flat in the second half as BYU out scored the Bruins 26 24 to tie tic the game at 58 Less than great free throw shooting shooting shooting shoot shoot- ing throughout the game 29 19 and nine missed three-pointers three hand cuffed They had numerous opportunities to blow the Cougars off the court but failed to con con- vert The Bruins couldn't shake BYU in the first two overtimes and the Cougars went to their varsity players in the third en route to a 9 14 scoring margin for the final 92 87 victory Coming into Fridays Friday's contest against Ricks College the Bruins were looking to knock off their first nationally ranked team Ricks sporting the number 20 ranking in the latest JUCO poll proved to be the better team on the evening Although they came out strong to begin with lack of depth on the bench proved to be the Bruins achilles heel against Ricks College on Friday After a physical first half that left three Bruin big men with three fouls apiece both teams were tied at 39 The Bruins looked to take control in the decisive second half I came out on fire building an eight point lead only to watch it dwindle to nothing nothing nothing noth noth- ing in the final minute Due to the persistent foul trouble that continued to plague the team Coach was forced to be selective selective i tive in the rotation of Ken Johnson Rob 1 Stark and Lorenzo Jarvis gambled big by putting Johnson in with four fouls with 13 minutes to go The move paid off as Johnson remained in the game until just under the two minute mark although it was later discovered after reviewing reviewing reviewing review review- ing the game films that Johnson had only J been called for four fouls in the game r. r Stark and Jarvis were not as fortunate Stark left the game with five minutes remaining remaining remaining remain remain- ing and Jarvis was disqualified with four minutes left to play Without the necessary post defense provided by the Bruin big three was forced to continue the game without a true center Ricks finally took the lead 89 87 with 20 seconds remaining to play when took a time out and designed a play to free Ryan Hunt lunt for the last shot Ricks came out in ina a zone defense and caught the Bruins off guard The ball was knocked out of bounds with four seconds left to play and used his final time out to set another play for fora a three point shot Once again the Ricks defense reared its ugly head and denied the Bruins their final attempt at victory obviously disappointed with the loss lashed out at his players but promised if everyone stuck with him that they would make their mark in the tournament This team has had a lot of adversity but we can overcome it When the tournament comes in March I guarantee these players will triumph triumph triumph tri tri- said following a post game interview Chris Fox led all Bruins with 22 points Zach Allison and Hunt each contributed with 15 as did Lindsey Familar and Johnson with 10 Tough times go away but tough players are arc here to stay in the words of Head Basketball Coach Jeff prior to Saturdays Saturday's game against Northern Idaho Col Col- lege The Bruins proved that they were indeed here to stay by literally blowing the NIC team off the court in the second half led by only three at the end of the first half 36 Freshman guard Ryan Hunt started the Bruin offense by hitting 8 points in the first two and a half minutes to begin the second half NIC possibly looked past the game against and elected not to take a warm-up warm shoot around after arriving in town Saturday afternoon The Cardinals from NIC although much taller were clearly over matched The tenacious tenacious tenacious tena tena- cious team defense put on by combined with their offensive play execution was overpowering overpowering overpowering over over- powering for the naive Northern Idaho school Hunts Hunt's 22 points on 6 of 9 three point shooting led all Bruin scorers Zach Allison poured in 18 and Ken Johnson added 17 forthe for forthe forthe the victory |
