Men's Basketball Drops Game One of RCU Faith Works Classic
(Rochester Hills, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar men's basketball team returned to action Friday evening, as they took on the Trinity Christian Trolls in the Faith Works Classic, hosted by Rochester Christian University.
The Trolls would start the game off strong, opening the action on an 11-2 run. Jacob Mueller would start a Cougar run, followed by a Trevor Viau tip-in, and a Derrick Miller jumper, to cut the deficit to 13-8. A Nick Ellis three-pointer would make it a two-point game at 13-11. After each team traded punches, Chaz Cobbs Jr. would hit a layup to make it an 18-16 game. The Trolls would then go on a run, and by the midway mark of the first half, held a 25-16 advantage. Brian Everhart would then score five straight points, and Nick Ellis hit his second three of the first half to cut the Troll lead to 27-24. Trinity Christian would once again expand their lead, this time to double-digits, where it would remain for the rest of the first half.
In the second half, Cleary would trade baskets with Trinity Christian, and were unable to get that key defensive stop needed to grow back into the game. With just over 11:00 to play in the game, the Trolls would go on the game deciding run, as they scored twelve points in a row to expand their lead to 66-48. The deficit would unfortunately grow for the Cougars, and though they were able to score a couple of baskets late, it would be too much to overcome, as the game ended with an 89-66 score.
Nick Ellis would lead the Cleary offense with 16 points, including 3 three-pointers, and 6 rebounds. Jacob Mueller added 12 points and 6 rebounds, while Derrick Miller had 11 points. Tim Kewley had an eventful 12 minutes of game action, with 5 rebounds and 5 blocked shots off the bench.
Cleary drops to 0-3 on the season, and will be back in action on Saturday, November 15, when they take on the Rio Grande Red Storm in game two of the Faith Works Classic. The game is scheduled to begin at 3:00 PM.
