December 14, 2007

 

     Dayton, TN—Bryan’s Men’s Basketball Team has had an up and down year to this point, playing extremely well at times and struggling at others. Friday night they were hoping to get on the right track heading into the Christmas Holidays with a win against the Berry College Vikings from Rome, GA. Having lost to Berry earlier in the year at the Berry College Classic, Lions’ Head Coach Don Rekoske was hoping to have a better showing at home, and to grab some momentum heading into the layoff.

    The Lions came out playing extremely well offensively in the first half, led by Kyle Terry who hit three big “3’s” to pace the home team early. In addition to Terry, Mike Lytle got hot from deep and knocked down two early treys while Freshman Scott Newton came off the bench to contribute 5 points in the first half. After losing by 15 to Berry on the road earlier in the year, the Lions appeared determined to hang with the Vikings this time around. As the two teams headed to the locker room, Berry held a 43-38 lead.

     The Lions approach to the second half was to dominate the game on the defensive end of the floor. After a week of Rekoske preaching defense in practice, it seemed the Lions have finally begun to understand the concepts of what it takes to win with defense. Bryan held the Vikings to an unbelievable 24% shooting in the second half while clawing back into the game and putting themselves in position to win. Rekoske was pleased with his team’s defense: “We’re back to defending well, and I thought we really did what it takes to win.” The Lions held the Vikings without a field goal for the last 5 minutes of the ballgame, playing their stingiest defense of the year, but Berry took 25 trips to the free throw line to the Lions’ 12, keeping the game close. A couple questionable calls down the stretch cost the Lions the win, and as time expired the Vikings escaped Summers Gymnasium with a 75-73 win.

     For the Lions, Terry continued to shoot the ball extremely well, finishing the night with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc (52% 3PT% on the year). Charlie Lytle again finished in double digits in the scoring column, while brother Mike Lytle ended up with 10 points on the night. In the end, the Lions were undone by a -16 rebounding margin to the Vikings, especially on the offensive glass where they were outrebounded 20-5. Despite the shortcomings, the Lions’ positioned themselves with a chance to win late in the ballgame and Rekoske had mixed emotions about the loss. “We really played well, especially on the defensive end of the floor. We got back to what we’ve been trying to do all year. One thing we must get better at is crashing the offensive glass. We just are not rebounding like we need to in order to win. It’s frustrating to lose a game like this one when you play so well and do so many things right, but have just one or two things not go your way and end up with a loss.”

     The Lions are off until December 30-31 when they head to Florida to take on Webber International University and Warner Southern University over the break. The Lions will resume conference play on January 8 when they head to Milligan to take on the Buffs in a big conference matchup which will set the tone for the second half of the season.