The University of Redlands men's basketball team opened its season at home in the Lee Fulmer Memorial Tip-Off Classic against George Fox University (OR), stumbling to the Bruins on Friday evening, 78-98. After falling in an early hole, the Bulldogs could not recover despite a strong second half, resulting in the 20-point defeat.
The Bruins opened the contest on a 19-4 run, draining four shots from downtown inside of the first four minutes. Sophomore forward Aljosa Bjekovic (Maribor, Slovenia) came off the bench for Redlands and converted a couple of free-throw attempts to go along with a jump shot, cutting into the George Fox lead, but the Bruins immediately answered with another shot from deep to push the advantage back to 13.
The hot three-point shooting from the Bruins took them into the half with a 68-36 advantage, as they shot 13-of-24 from downtown during the first 20 minutes.
Redlands tried to begin a comeback during the second stanza, and with 15:13 remaining, senior forward Eric Radford (Federal Way, WA) nailed a shot from downtown, making it a 45-72 game. The deficit was ultimately too great to come back from, however, as despite outscoring the Bruins by 12 during the second half, the Bulldogs still fell on the night by 20 points.
The Maroon and Gray used everyone available during the second half, and got some strong efforts from freshman guards Sean Milligan (Portland, OR) and Zack Whittet (Palm Desert, CA), each tallying a bucket, while Milligan also nabbed a steal.
Leading the way offensively for the U of R was Bjekovic with 16 points on a 6-for-11 effort from the field, including two long-range shots. Junior guards Connor Griffin (San Ramon, CA) and Marco Kengott (San Diego, CA) also provided solid shooting efforts, with Griffin racking up 12 points and Kengott notching 11 points and seven rebounds.
For the game, Redlands shot 36.4% from the field while registering an 18.5% mark from beyond the arc. George Fox hit 18-of-37 three-pointers on the night, ultimately proving to be the difference.
Jonny Howard led the way for the Bruins with 22 points on 5-for-7 shooting from deep, while A.J. Grant recorded 18 points on the evening.
Earlier in the day, the SUNY New Paltz men came from behind to take down the Whittier College Poets, 69-66. Despite trailing 32-35 at the halftime break, the Hawks battled back and eventually nabbed a 66-61 lead with 2:07 remaining in the second half.
While the Poets pulled to within two after a clutch long-range effort, the Hawks converted some key free throws over the course of the final two minutes and played solid defense on the final two possessions, earning the exciting three-point triumph.
For the Hawks, Taylor Sowah provided a team-high 15 points on an impressive 7-of-10 shooting effort from the field. In addition, Nick Taldi chipped in with 13 points and three boards. For the Poets, Nick Demusis scored a team-best 14 points, while Dylan Irwin came off the bench and tallied 13 points on top of grabbing seven rebounds.
The action continues tomorrow in the Lee Fulmer Memorial Tip-Off Classic with George Fox matching up against Whittier College at 3 p.m. Redlands then returns to the court in the nightcap of the tournament at 7 p.m. when it faces off against SUNY New Paltz. Live stats are available for all games, and the 7 p.m. tilt will have a live video stream. For more information, please visit the tournament page.