Eagles Pick Up Road Win at Bluefield

Bluefield, VA - The end-of-season road trip tour for Reinhardt Basketball continued on a rare Sunday AAC basketball game between the Eagles and the Rams of Bluefield University. Coach Newton had to rearrange his schedule some for a rescheduled game with Pikeville, which will be played on Monday, leaving the best option to move the Bluefield game to Sunday for travel purposes.  Reinhardt was able to secure a solid win against Bluefield for the second time this season winning, 83-76 this time.  The previous meeting had the Eagles winning at home by almost thirty just three games ago.

Today, the Eagles would trail Bluefield most of the first half as they struggled to find ways to get the ball in the basket, however, the Eagles never were down by much and were able to pull the lead to just three points going into the half, 42-39 Bluefield.  The second half was all Reinhardt and the Eagles were able to get to almost a twenty-point lead with ten minutes left in the game.  Three-pointers were falling for Brasen James, Nate Jones, and Derrian Reed. Nate Louis was most effective today with points in the paint and free throws. These four have been the catalysts for the Eagles in this stretch of January where they are currently 6 wins against 2 losses.  Jones has still been the consistent leader the entire season and continues to find a way to push the Eagles through in every game. Today he led the Eagles in scoring with 19 points. Jones also pulled down 10 rebounds in the game to give himself a double-double to lead the Eagles.

The high-flyer James did a lot of his damage to the Rams from behind the three-point line in those final ten minutes of the second half. He ended the game with 16 points, which equaled the output of Louis. Reed has become the solid six-man for Coach Newton's squad and consistently scored in double-figures. He ended this game with 15 points.

Overall, the Eagles shot incredibly well in the game.  The three-point percentage was almost 46% and they were exactly 50% from the field overall.  The free-throw percentage was an incredible 92.3% - where the team only missed one free-throw in the game and was probably the difference between a win and a loss.  Jones (4-4), Louis (3-3), Mitchell Kennedy (3-3), and Nekhi Fisher (1-1) all shot 100% in the game.

Reinhardt will have to get settled in their hotel tonight and rest up before playing again tomorrow afternoon at UPike. The game is scheduled for 5:30 pm start and this will be tough one for the Eagles.  UPike currently leads the AAC and has been in the top-2 spots all season. A win for Reinhardt in this one could really make a statement on where the Eagles are heading.  The Eagles have six games remaining after Pikeville with only two of those being at home. February results will be the determining factor on how the postseason goes for the Eagles, but January has been a good one.