Men's Basketball Continues their Run

Bryant & Stratton College’s winning ways almost came to an end at the Region X Blastoff at Sandhills on Sunday as the Bobcats squeezed by Davidson County Community College 67-66. The one-point win pushed BSC’s record to 6-0 heading into the short Thanksgiving break.

Greg Heckstall led the way for the Bobcats, putting up 16 points, grabbing five rebounds and adding four assists. Heckstall’s 31 minutes paced the BSC lineup and only three other players saw over 20 minutes. Jaron Burnell added 10 key points off the bench in 24 minutes on the court, helping BSC sneak by DCCC. The narrow win was the first time BSC failed to eclipse 70 points offensively, but it was another sterling defensive performance by Brian Graves’ unit as the Bobcats have now held three opponents under the 70-point plateau. While the win over DCCC was easily the most stressful of the young season, BSC’s triumph over Central Carolina Community College on the first day of the Blastoff was smooth sailing.

BSC ran away from CCCC 83-71 on the heels of a 41-26 first half. Central Carolina would battle back with a strong second half, but BSC kept pace with their opponents and largely held the wide lead they took to the locker room at halftime. Ten different players saw 15 minutes or more with Heckstall and Burnell again led the way for the Bobcats as Burnell added 16 points off the bench while Heckstall added 17 of his own in another start. Heckstall and Burnell were monsters on the boards, combining for 22 of BSC’s 54 rebounds on the day.

The Bobcats tournament tour won’t be ending anytime soon as they’ll play in the Pitt Classic after the Thanksgiving Break and then they head to the Brunswick Holiday Classic in mid-December. The six games at the two events make up a majority of the December schedule, but two key conference games await as well as BSC will look to build on their 2-0 conference record.

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Entering their date with ASA College, the BSC Lady Bobcats hadn’t had a margin of victory lower than 11 points through their first five games. They found themselves on the wrong side of a lopsided result as they fell 75-50 on Sunday. Trailing by two after the first half, the Bobcats sputtered to the finish, being outscored 41-18 in the final frame. Part of BSc’s struggles came from secondary scoring. While Breona Cowan and Khala Downing put up 15 and 14 points, respectively, the rest of the Bobcats roster could only muster 21. BSC only managed to shoot 34% from the field, a number brought down by a 6-20 day from beyond the arc.

The Bobcats were soundly beat on the boards as well as they were outrebounded 79-25 by ASA. A chance at redemption is only a few days away as the Bobcats get back in action this weekend against Central Carolina Community College at home.