MARSHALL, Texas – The University of Redlands Men's Basketball team nearly pulled off a miracle comeback Thursday night across the final fifteen minutes to give East Texas Baptist University (ETBU) a scare.  The late surge though would come up short as the Bulldogs would fall 97-91 wrapping up their trip to Texas.

Redlands sees their winning streak end at six games as they move to 6-2, 1-0 SCIAC, while ETBU improves to 8-1, 4-0 ASC.     

Chozen Amadi (Dallas, TX) led the Maroon and Grey with 25 points on 8-of-19 shooting and was joined by Khyree Armstead (Mountlake Terrace, WA) who added 20 points on 9-of-18 shooting along with four boards, three assists and five steals.  Cameron Brown (Bakersfield, CA) found double digits as well with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting in just 13 minutes of action off the bench.  He also provided a quick burst on defense totaling three steals.  Nathaniel Johnson (Seattle, WA) was the last Bulldog to reach double figures posting 10 points, six of which came from the free-throw line along with seven boards.      

"I am super proud of our guys and how they played tonight," explained Head Coach Eric Bridgeland.  "With the majority of our mainstream players saddled in foul trouble or fouled out, to mount a comeback like we did tonight on the road against a caliber team like ETBU is nothing short of amazing.  A lot of growth for our group." 

Redlands fell behind early finding themselves in a 10-0 hole to start the game.  A few minutes later UR found their footing as Johnson, Brown and Sam Abere (Lake Oswego, OR) would each tally buckets cutting the deficit to five, 11-6.

Midway through the half Redlands continued to battle after Amadi and Colin McCarthy (Redwood City, CA) would connect from deep getting UR within three, 21-18.  This momentum wouldn't hold though as the Tigers would go off over the next 5:42 putting together a 23-6 run that extended their lead to twenty, 44-24. Redlands would respond with four free throws to end the run, but over the final 1:10 ETBU would get their lead up to 21, 62-41, thanks to a 7-1 run.

This run by the Tigers, which ended the first twenty minutes would continue in the first two minutes of the second half growing to 15-1 as the deficit moved to 29, 70-41.  Trailing by 32 with 15:00 minutes remaining in the game Redlands mounted a furious comeback outscoring the Tigers by two across each minute down the stretch in an attempt to tie the game.  UR did not waste any time putting together eight unanswered points over the next 1:53. Brown and McCarthy each knocked down triples and Cal Hansen (Burien, WA) converted on a jumper.  This sparked a Bulldog run where they would score 25 of the next 31 points over the course of 7:40 behind eight points from Armstead, five from Amadi, and four from Hansen.  Following this surge the U of R found themselves down only twelve, 84-72.

The Maroon and Grey got within singles digits with 3:43 left in the game and then cut the lead to three following a 10-2 run behind a pair of layins from Armstead a layin and jumper from Hansen and two free-throws from Amadi.  Khair Jackson (Canoga Park, CA) got UR within three a second time after a layup with :32 seconds left, but that's as close as the Bulldogs would get as ETBU would knock down three free-throws to secure the win.      

Redlands outscored the Tigers 44-20 across the final 15:00 minutes and 50-35 in the second half.  They shot 42.9% from the field and 25% from three-point territory.  They also were at a 76.9% clip from the charity stripe.  UR won the battle on the glass 36-31, totaled 36 points off 30 ETBU turnovers, earned 20 second chance points and added 56 points in the paint.  They also received 34 points from their bench and saw ten different players score.   

It was a physical game at times with 54 total fouls leading to 70 free throw attempts combined. One key advantage the Bulldogs held was in field goal attempts where they were plus 29. That advantage came courtesy of a plus 12 mark on the offensive glass and six fewer turnovers.  

After completing their first road trip of the season going 1-1, Redlands returns to Currier Gym for a pair of non-conference games, beginning next Tuesday, December 20 at 7:00 p.m. against Lake Forest.