HAVILAND, KS – With two exhibition games already under their belt, the Barclay College Bears Men’s Basketball team kicked off the 2012-13 regular season Tuesday, November 13^th against the Eagles of Rhema Bible Training College (Tulsa, OK). The last time the Bears faced off against the Eagles was in the semi-finals of the ACCA National Tournament last spring and the Eagles came away victorious. This time around it was a different story as the Bears squeked out a 118-117 win. 

The Bears opened up with full court pressure and it was back and forth action all through the first half with the Eagles going into break with a narrow 60-57 lead. In the second half the Bears began to flex their muscles in the interior to stretch the lead mid-way through the half.  The Eagles kept it close by capitalizing on 15-29 (51.7%) from three point range on the game.

Down the stretch the Bears built a three point lead with less than 35 seconds left in the game, only to see an improbable four point play put the Eagles up one. After the Bears advanced the ball to half court, the Eagle defense flocked to Senior Toney Hatton (Irving, TX) and Sophomore Spencer Huiatt (Hydro, OK) was able to find Junior Austin Zamarripa (Great Bend, KS) wide open under the hoop for the game winning basket as time expired.  Sophomore Charles Brodhead (Lompoc, CA) and Freshman Caleb Stagner-Hundley (Savannah, MO) led the way for the Bears with 50 combined points and 24 boards.

Next up, the Bears (1-0, 0-0) will be traveling to Omaha, NE to begin their MCCC schedule against Nebraska Christian College on Friday, November 16^th at 7:00 PM CST. On Saturday, November 17^th they will face Faith Baptist Bible College (Ankeny, IA) at 3:00 PM CST.