The men’s basketball team looked to continue its early season success in a road match-up against St. Francis Brooklyn Sunday, but was unable to wipe away a large first-half deficit, falling 77-74 in a nail-biter.
“It’s early in the season, so we definitely have a lot of room to grow and improve,” said Travis Fuller ’19. “We played hard. We just need to execute better both offensively and defensively.”
In the first half, the Terriers (1-2) were led by Jalen Jordan, who contributed 16 points in the first 20 minutes to put Bruno in an eight-point halftime hole. While the Bears shot 55 percent from the field in the first half, their 38 percent mark from three-point range and 78 percent shooting on free throws were not enough to match St. Francis. Bruno (2-1) also lost 10 turnovers in the half, which was double that of the Terriers and helped give St. Francis its early lead.
Brandon Anderson ’20 led the way in scoring early for the Bears with seven first half points. Anderson and Zach Hunsaker ’20 caught fire, with Anderson scoring 14 points in the second half along with Hunsaker’s 10. The Bears’ crisp free throw shooting helped the comeback, as Brown only missed one from the charity stripe in the second half.
With just 3:13 left in the game, Brown managed to take a one-point lead. But with barely more than a minute remaining in the contest a clutch three pointer from Jordan gave the Terriers a four point lead.
Anderson was able to trim the lead to one with 33.5 seconds remaining and the Bears forced a turnover to regain possession. Anderson and Desmond Cambridge ’21 both missed potential game-winning jump shots. St. Francis was able to make timely free throws to take a three point lead with only five seconds remaining. Anderson had another chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but he could not connect on the deep three-pointer.
St. Francis was able to close out the Bears in part due to Rasheem Dunn’s 16 second half points along with nine points from Darelle Porter.
Anderson finished with a team-high 21 points, and was helped by 15 points and seven assists off the bench from Hunsaker, 10 points from Cambridge and eight points and two steals from Joshua Howard ’20. The Bears shot 46 percent from the field, 33 percent from beyond the arc and made 86 percent of their free throws. The team also accounted for 13 assists and five steals.
“I have full confidence in this team, and I’m excited to get back at it,” Fuller said. “Our goal is always to win the Ivy League championship.”
Bruno will return to the court Wednesday against Stony Brook University before travelling to Bryant University Sunday.
