Berea, KY – The Berea College men's basketball returned to their home court today for their final game in the Berea College Holiday Inn Express Classic. In the first game of the classic they faced the Union College Bulldogs and today they took on the Rams of Ohio Mid-Western.
Berea jumped out to an eight point lead after Richard Parker hit a three point shot with 13:36 on the clock. Shortly after, Parker found Jair Jackson for a dunk to bring the score to 20-12. Back to back three point shots for the Mountaineers gave them their largest lead of fourteen with just over 11:00 minutes remaining in the half. With 7:24 remaining in the half the Rams picked up momentum and cut the Mountaineer lead in half, 30-23. Berea responded with a 14-3 run to push their lead back out to 17 with 1:17 minutes left in the half. The Mountaineers closed the half with Stephen Butts going 2-3 from the free throw line after getting fouled on a three point buzzer attempt. Berea headed to the locker room with a 48-29 point advantage.
Stephen Butts lead the Mountaineers with 23 points going 6-9 from behind the arc and 7-10 from the field. The Mountaineers shot 51.6% from the field and 60% from the three compared to the Rams 28.2% from the field and 23.5% from behind the arc.
Parker and Dominique Garmon hit back to back three point shots to start an 11-0 run for the Mountaineers to increase their lead to 59-29. With right under 15:00 left in the game, Ethan Harris hit a lay-up after receiving an assist from Anthony Myrks to increase the Mountaineer lead to 27. Shots continued to fall for the Mountaineers and with under ten minutes to play in the game they found themselves up 77-44. Berea saw their largest lead of 40 when Ethan Harris went 1-2 at the free throw line after being fouled on a drive to the basket. Berea went on to win 97-59 over the Rams.
Butts finished with a career high 30 points going 10-17 from the field and 7-14 from behind the arc. Three other Mountaineers finished in the double digits with Parker adding 16 and Garmon with 13. Jackson, the fourth double digit Mountaineer, finished with a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Myrks finished with a team high 9 assists on the night. The Mountianeers shot 58.8% from the field and 55.2% from the three compared to the Rams 24.7% from the field and 29% from behind the arc.
The Mountaineers head south to Birmingham, AL to play in the Black Tie Classic hosted by Birmingham Southern on December 18 and 19th. In their first game Berea will take on Belhaven University at 6:00 PM.