HUGE AAC Home Win for the Eagles Over Truett McConnell

Waleska, GA - Reinhardt Men's Basketball is just about at the midway point in their season and they have little room for error if they want to make the conference tournament.  The AAC standings have about six teams that are separated by just a game or two and if a team can string together a few wins, they can see themselves shooting up the standings.  Reinhardt helped their cause tonight knocking off the Bears of Truett McConnell, 82-73, which is a team that is currently in front of them in the standings.

It was a great team win for the Eagles as several players helped contribute to the victory.  Nate Jones led the way as he has consistently done all season long for Coach Newton's squad scoring 17 points and pulling down 5 rebounds. He was followed closely by Derrian Reed and Nate Louis both scoring 15 and 14 points respectively.  Reed had a very solid game tallying 7 assists and 5 rebounds. Jared Russo was the fourth player who scored in double figures in the game with 11 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.  Russo's presence in the paint helped the Eagles shut down the inside and made the Bears work for every point they scored.

The game started with both teams battling hard attempting to take control of the game.  It would take almost 3/4 of the first half before Reinhardt started to pull away some.  The first thirteen to fifteen minutes of the game saw each team take the lead and the points were within one to two buckets of each other.  Brasen James had a thundering dunk (which is becoming very common for him) which set the tone of the game in the first half.  The Eagles were able to finally pull away with about six minutes left in the first half and they would build up a lead around 16 points with just a minute left in the first half. Reinhardt took a 44-31 lead into the halftime break.

The second half would be a challenge for Reinhardt as Truett McConnell was not going to go down easy.  The Eagles were able to keep their lead the entire second half, however, the Bears were able to bring the lead down to just 5 points in the final moments of the game.  Reinhardt played with poise in those final minutes of the game making free throws and keeping their turnover to a minimum. Although Truett made a good run, the Eagles would hold on to pick up the win.

The team stats for the Eagles were top-notch and one could say this was their best performance of the season. Reinhardt shot 100% from the line hitting all 13 of their free throws.  They were also 50% from the field and around 52% from behind the arch.  These stats were the difference in the game - especially the 100% from the free throw line. Reed and Louis were both 5 for 5 at the charity stripe in the game.

Reinhardt will look to continue their AAC run this Saturday as the Royals of Jonhson University in Waleska.  The Women's game starts at 2 pm and the Men's team will roughly around 4 pm.