BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – Blue Mountain Christian Men snapped a four-game losing streak here Friday night, winning the opener of the Johnnie Armstrong Classic over Arkansas Baptist 67-59.
The Toppers would wake up in the second half after being up just 31-27 at the break.
Naysean Clemente saw his first action of the season off the bench for Blue Mountain, leading his team with 18 poinst and five rebounds.
Blue Mountain's second half opened with a 9-0 run to jump out 40-30 thanks to a three and a layup from
Ty Pickron.
Clemente did the damage for the Toppers later in the half, hitting a layup and draining a three to help finish off the Buffaloes.
Pickron would finish with nine points for Blue Mountain, while
Trae Jones also had nine.
Jalen Boyd-Savage would chip in eight points and
Manny Patrick and
Keevin Etienne both had six rebounds apiece in the victory.
"We started off slow and just couldn't get much to fall in the first," BMCU head coach
Jermael Bingham said. "We picked up the pace in the second, moved the ball much better and hit the open shots. We didn't have to rely on the three ball as much, because our guys did a good job of penetrating the defense late in the game. We needed this win to get back on track."
Arkansas Baptist's Antonio Howard led all scorers with 21 points while pulling down nine rebounds in the loss.
BMCU (5-5, 0-3 SSAC) returns to action Saturday at the Johnnie Armstrong Classic, taking on Central Baptist at 3 p.m. CT in Blue Mountain.
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