The Trinity Bible College Lions headed back out on the road for their 5^th and 6^th road games out their first 7 games of the season. They headed to Wahpeton, ND for the Baymont Inn Classic which featured four teams, the host school North Dakota State College of Science (Wahpeton, ND), Northeastern Community College (Norfolk, NE), Dakota College Bottineau (Bottineau, ND) and Trinity Bible College. The Lions were matched up against Dakota College Bottineau on Saturday afternoon for their first game and North Dakota State College of Science on Sunday for game two.

            The Lions and Lumberjacks battled for the first 5 minutes of the game trading leads until the 15 minute mark when the Lions took a lead for good at 9 to 7. The Lions would then go on a 21 to 13 run over the next 10 minutes taking a ten point lead at 30 to 20 with 5:45 to play in the first half. The Lions biggest lead of the first half (14 points) was with just under a minute to play at 43 to 29. They would take a 45 to 31 halftime lead. At the half the Lions were being paced by junior guard AJ Anthony who had 14 points and 4 steals while Mikey Rosario added 12 first half points on 4 for 9 shooting. The Lions were shooting 44% (16 for 36) from the field at halftime and forced 24 Lumberjack turnovers.

            The Lions matched their first half intensity to start the second half going on a 13 to 6 run to open taking a 58 to 37 lead. Both teams’ offenses found a rhythm scoring 46 points each in the second half. The Lions biggest lead of the game came with just over 4 minutes to play in the game with the Lions leading the Lumberjacks by 27 points, 84 to 57. The Lumberjacks would not give up, but the Lions offense was too much as the Lions would go on to win 91 to 77.

            In the win the Lions were led by Mikey Rosario who led all scorers with 27, going 10 for 19 from field. AJ Anthony added 22 points on 8 for 20 from the field. AJ added 6 steals and 5 assists. Pete Enos added 13 points (3 of 3 on 3 pointers) and Cameron Martell had 11 points. The Lions went 35 for 72 (48%) from the field and 11 for 26 on 3 pointers (42%). They also forced 36 Lumberjack turnovers, but the Lumberjacks out rebounded the Lions 41 to 33. The win put an end to the Lions 3 game losing streak and moves the Lions to 3-3 on the season.

            The Lions faced off against the host school in their second game and found themselves up early in the game. They raced out to an early one point lead 5 minutes into the game 9 to 8 over the Wildcats. The two teams then traded the leads with 4 lead changes and 7 ties all in the first half. The two teams were tied at 27 apiece with 5 minutes left when the Wildcats would end the half on a 13 to 5 run taking a 40 to 32 lead over the Lions into halftime.  The Lions were paced at halftime by Pete Enos who had 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting. The Wildcats had a big rebounding lead at the break with 25 rebound to the Lions 12. The Wildcats were also torching the nets early shooting 50 percent from the field going 16 for 32.

            In the second half the Lions would continue to fight to stay in the game, there was several time where the Lions closed the lead to just one point. However, that’s as close as they would get and with 13 minutes left they trailed 48 to 49. The Wildcats then put together a 20 to 11 run to take back control of the game and with 6 minutes to go they held a ten point lead 69 to 59 over the Lions. The Lions never let the Wildcats lead get to more than ten until the end when the Lions had to foul, but the Wildcats made their free throws down the stretch to hold off the Lions 74 to 85.

            In the loss the Lions had four players in double digits, Pete Enos had 19 points on 8 for 12 shooting with 3 steals, AJ Anthony added 14 points on 7 for 13 shooting, with 4 assists and2 steals, Mikey Rosario and Barry Bighorn both pitched in 13 points apiece.  Nick Lentz also added 8 points and 9 rebounds for the Lions. The Lions shot 49 percent (32 for 65) from the field for the game with 11 steals and forcing 18 Wildcat turnovers.  The Wildcats out rebounded the Lions 47 to 30 and outscored the Lions bench 22 to 7.

            The loss drops the Lions to 3-4 on the season. The Lions have one game before taking a break for Thanksgiving. The Lions host NIAC conference foe Turtle Mountain Community College Tuesday, November 20^th at 6pm and 8pm. The Lions then take a week off before heading up highway 281 to face off against Jamestown College on Tuesday November 27^th in the Jamestown Civic Arena. The women’s game is at 5:30 pm and the men play 7:30 pm.

            Stay connected with Trinity Bible College Basketball all season long at http://trinitybiblecollege.edu/athletics, on facebook http://www.facebook.com/tbcathletics, and on twitter @tbcathletics.