The Briar Cliff men’s basketball team extended their win streak to five games Saturday, with an 83-70 win over Doane in the Newman Flanagan Center. BC moves to 10-7 overall and 7-5 in GPAC play.
Quinn Vesey put the Chargers on the board first with a basket in the paint, but Tyler Sullivan answered with a 3-pointer for Doane to take a 3-2 lead. A pair of free throws from Jaden Kleinhesselink put the Chargers back ahead 4-3, and BC would hold onto the lead the rest of the way.
BC extended their lead to 15 (31-16) after a 9-0 run with 10:58 left in the first half. Nick Hoyt found Vesey for a 3-pointer to give the Chargers their largest lead of the half, 44-24 with 4:21 remaining. Doane responded with a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to 11, but BC finished on an 8-0 run in the final minute to take a 52-33 lead at halftime.
Kleinhesselink knocked down a trey three minutes into the second half, to give BC their largest lead of the night 59-35. With just under eight minutes to play, the Tigers and their full court pressure began to claw back into the game. Zach Witters hit a jumper in the paint to cut the Charger lead to eight points with 4:47 on the clock. BC was able to ice the game at the free throw line, knocking down 11-of-15 attempts in the final five minutes.
For the second game in a row, Quinn Vesey finished with a shooting percentage over 75 percent (6-8) and knocked down three 3-pointers in route to his game high 21 points. He also converted 6-of-8 attempts from the charity stripe and grabbed a game high eight rebounds. Kleinhesselink (17), Freidel (15), Hoyt (10), and Groves (10) also hit double-digit points scored.
Doane held an advantage in several categories, including points off turnovers (21-13), points in the paint (42-30), and bench points (33-17). Anthony Laravie and Zach Witters both scored 16 points to lead the Tigers.
The Chargers were more efficient connecting on 54 percent of their shots, compared to Doane’s 43 percent shooting. BC knocked down 11-of-28 3-point attempts (39%), while Doane hit on just 5-of-26 from deep (19%).
The Cliff will look to extend their win streak Wednesday, as they take on crosstown rival Morningisde at Allee Gymnasium. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.
