Basketball Takes Control of Bears in Overtime Win

By Mike DeVader, Reinhardt Director of Athletic Communications & Media

CLEVELAND, Ga. – Reinhardt men's basketball went to overtime for the second game in three outings Tuesday night against Truett-McConnell (Ga.) – but this time – the Eagles were able to be on the winning side of the coin thanks to clutch play and key free throws to ice away the victory, 74-70.

The hometown team was able to stand its ground and make one final comeback at the charity stripe to break its four-contest losing streak to improve to 5-12 and 4-8 inside the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC).

"I'm really proud of our guys," head coach Justin Newton said. "They really played together and kept their composure through several Truett-McConnell runs. Any time you can win on the road, it's big. Hopefully this can fuel our fire for the second half of the season."

Blake McIntyre was the only player on either side to hit the 20-plus-point plateau on the evening with his 21 points (8-of-15), including an overtime spurt of five points with just a couple minutes remaining that that helped Reinhardt regain the lead at 69-68 and be in position to claim a league triumph. 

Both Jamison Syphore and Josh Daniels collected 15 points apiece in the hard-fought matchup that saw both teams go back and forth after the Eagles built an eight-point second half lead at 41-33 with just over 14 minutes left in regulation.

In a matter of minutes, the Bears would hold a brief lead on multiple occasions before Reinhardt got its advantage back up to seven. However, three minutes later, the two squads were tied again at 58-58 before McIntyre hit a trey and Chris Rogers hit a free throw in the final minute to go up by four points.

Missed free throws combined with a pair of second-chance buckets allowed Truett-McConnell to tie the contest at 62-62 before a 3-pointer by Jordan Wright at the buzzer wasn't meant to be.

The aforementioned play by McIntyre in the extra time allowed the 10^th tie of the night before the Eagles eventually put the game to bed at the line.

Rogers scored nine points and six rebounds, while Marcus Kirkland led the way in boards with nine total – to go with his six points.

Overall, Reinhardt connected on 42.9 percent of its shots in the win.

The team looks to put together back-to-back road AAC wins on Saturday at Bluefield (Va.) at 4 p.m.

For up-to-the-minute Eagles sports news, follow Reinhardt Athletics on Facebook, @RU_Eagles on Twitter and @ru_eagles on Instagram. 

For more information on Reinhardt Men's Basketball, please click here.