By Mike DeVader, Reinhardt Director of Athletic Communications & Media
WALESKA, Ga. – An eight-point halftime lead for Reinhardt evaporated in the second half after the Bears of Truett-McConnell (Ga.) exploded for 49 points in the final period to run away with an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) decision on the road, 69-54, in Waleska on Wednesday night.
The loss drops the Eagles to 2-3 overall and 1-2 inside the AAC.
"We are not very good right now, but we can be," head coach Justin Newton said. "Have a lot of good guys that play hard. Everyone will look at the offensive end which has to improve, however, we gave up 49 points and they shot 73 percent from the field the second half; that will not win you games. Second conference game we have allowed someone to shoot 50 percent from the floor. We just can't put 40 minutes together and sustain runs in the game. I've got to do a better job of keeping us together through that. Tough road contest now, and we have to improve a lot this week in a short amount of time."
After finding themselves down, 28-20 at intermission, the Bears got on a roll offensively that seemingly no one on the court could stop. Truett-McConnell more than doubled its output in the final 20 minutes while nearly putting up 50 points after sliding by with 20 before heading to the locker room at the break.
In total, the visitors flew away from the Eagles thanks to 17 made baskets in 23 tries in the second half (73.91 percent) and 5-for-8 from 3-point land. Conversely, Reinhardt went 8-of-26 during the same time frame (31.5 percent) and couldn't keep up with the Bears' hot shooting.
Reinhardt actually led by 10 points early in the second half, 30-20, but in a matter of three-plus minutes the score was tied at 31. The Eagles would regain another small lead, but Truett-McConnell (Ga.) would again erase the deficit in a hurry.
The Bears would get sharper as the contest wore on and they would never look back – eventually building a double-digit lead with just under six minutes remaining that they wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way.
Josh Daniels and Blake MacIntyre paced the offense with double-digit scoring with 17 and 15 points, respectively.
Daniels also added 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, while a trio of teammates registered three thefts each.
Reinhardt forced 34 turnovers, resulting directly in 21 points.
The Cavaliers of Montreat (N.C.) welcome Reinhardt to town on Saturday in an afternoon conference clash at 4 p.m.
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