A strong showing from the Briar Cliff bench in the first half, helped the Briar Cliff men’s basketball team take down Mount Marty 94-75 Saturday in the Newman Flanagan Center.
It was a back-and-forth battle to start, with the score tying twice and four lead changes in the first eight minutes of action. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Nick Hoyt jumpstarted a 10-0 Charger run to go up 25-16, with 9:43 remaining.
Over the final 6:44 of the first half, the Briar Cliff bench scored 20 of the team’s 23 points to take a 53-35 lead to the locker rooms. Andrew Gibb led all scorers in the first 20 minutes with 14 points off the Charger bench. Codey Hicks (8), Ethan Freidel (6), and Chris Morales (2) also scored for the BC reserves.
The Charger offense was efficient in the first half, knocking down 52.9 percent from the floor, 45 percent from the 3-point line, and went 8-for-8 from the free throw line.
Mount Marty outscored the Cliff 12-4 in the first four minutes of the second half, to cut the Charger lead to 10 points. Ethan Freidel connected on a trey to end the Lancer run, giving BC a 62-49 lead with 14:22 left. The Cliff held a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game, extending their lead to 20 points with 6:22 remaining off a Quinn Vesey basket.
Andrew Gibb had a team-high 17 points, on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting, including three 3-pointers, and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. Kleinhesselink and Hoyt added 15 and 14 points, respectively. Freidel (11) and Hicks (10) were the other Chargers to reach double-figures.
Quinn Vesey led BC with eight rebounds and three assists, while Vasa grabbed seven boards. Wil Johnson and Groves also dished out three assists and Hicks had two blocks.
Jalen Billings led all players with 23 points for Mount Marty. Jonah Larson recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Elijah Pappas added 10 points and grabbed eight boards.
BC held advantages in points off turnovers (14-7), bench points (43-38), and points in the paint (34-30). Mount Marty held the edge in second chance points with 19.
The Chargers move to 8-7 on the season and 5-5 in GPAC play. BC is back on the road Wednesday, traveling to Hastings, Nebraska for a GPAC matchup with the Hastings Broncos.
