LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)–In their first-ever home game, the Boyce College men’s basketball team out-rebounded Johnson Bible College — and Greg Gibson tallied 30 points — but it wasn’t quite enough as the Bulldogs fell to the Preachers, 88-78.
Johnson Bible College, which finished sixth in the National Christian College Athletic Association’s Division II last season, left Boyce 0-2 in their inaugural season as Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s representative in the NCCAA Division II Mid-East region. Boyce is located in Louisville, Ky.; Johnson is in Knoxville, Tenn.
“What a great scene of seeing people here,” Boyce coach Bryce Hibbard said. “The crowd was great. Johnson was number one last year in this region, and we just played them to [within] 10 [points]. And we’re going to get better. So I’m really proud of the guys.”
Johnson jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the first half before Boyce went on a 7-2 run to pull within two. After falling behind 38-23 at halftime, the Bulldogs trailed by more than 20 in the second half and were never able to cut the lead to less than 10.
Gibson, who scored all of his points in the second half, attributed the Bulldogs’ first-half difficulties to nerves.
“With the first-game jitters at home we were kind of dead,” Gibson said. “We had the intensity in the first half, but when we came out in the second half we were a little more calm, and we were in a hole. We knew we had to get out of that hole, so we gave the intensity that much more.”
John Cabal scored 21 for Boyce and Alex Lamberth added 15, including 11 in the first half.
Boyce shot 39 percent (32-of-82) for the game compared with 62 percent (36-of-58) for Johnson. The Bulldogs shot 49 percent in the second half after a cool 26 percent in the first half. They went 4 of 24 (17 percent) from the three-point line and 10 of 13 (77 percent) from the foul line.
Johnson’s Josh Halton led all scorers with 37, and four Preachers — Halton, Joel Cogdell, Luke Linville and Justin Hayse — reached double figures.
The Bulldogs committed just nine turnovers in the final 20 minutes compared with 17 for Johnson.
“Unfortunately we’ve gone through spots where we don’t play as hard,” said Hibbard, who has 20 years of high school coaching experience including a Kentucky state championship in 1997 and a state coach of the year award in 2001. “Then we show how hard we can play. So if we can sustain that at the end of the year, we’ll be in good shape.”
The Bulldogs play three more home games before going on the road to a tournament at Milligan College Nov. 17.
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Future reports on the inaugural season of Boyce College’s Bulldogs will appear in BPSports, on the Web at www.bpsports.net.
