The 2012-13 Barclay College Men’s Basketball team concluded their season this past weekend at the ACCA National Tournament held in Joplin, MO. They were seeded 6 out of 12 colleges.

With the top four seeds receiving first-round byes, on Wednesday, February 27th the Bears faced an MCCC foe in Faith Baptist College. The Bears came out on fire. They hit their first four shots, including three threes and never looked back. They led 49-30 at the half and won 85-66. Sophomore Charles Brodhead led the Bears potent offensive attack with 31 points on 10-14 shooting while Sophomore Brandon Howarth added 19 points on 8-11 shooting and pulled down 9 rebounds. The Bears shot a blistering 62% from the field.

In the Bears Quarterfinal match-up on Thursday, they went head to head with #3 Hillsdale Free Will Baptist. The game was physical and the Saints athleticism and inside presence took its toll on the Bears as the game progressed, out-rebounding the Bears 44-26. Brodhead’s 32 points and 9 boards kept the Bears within striking distance, but they could never get over the hump as the Saints advanced to the semi-finals with a tough 81-71 victory.

On Friday afternoon, the Bears had a rematch with the Arlington Baptist College Patriots. The previous day, the #2 seeded Patriots were upset and found themselves playing in the consolation bracket. One week prior the Patriots disbanded the Bears by 30 points. This time around the Bears built an early 25-11 lead thanks to the sharp shooting Brodhead and Howarth, who went 5-8 from three in the first half. However, the Patriot defense picked up the pressure and closed the half with a flurry to take a two point lead into the locker room. Momentum remained with the Patriots in the second half as they shot an impressive 61% from the field to win 87-74. Howarth led all scorers with 25 points while Brodhead had 24 points and 10 rebounds.

In Saturday’s 7th place game, it was a defensive showdown with Champion Baptist College. Both teams made everything difficult offensively and consequently the half time score was 35-29 in favor of Champion. Champion remained in the lead throughout most of the second half even when Sophomore Spencer Huiatt scored several of his 14 points as he knifed through the defense. In the end, the Bears came up short 60-69. Senior Shane Brown, in his last game, led the Bears with 15 points and Freshman Titus Gwess went for 12 points.

The Bears finished their season 18-12 overall, one win shy of tying the school record for most wins in a season. After starting the season 7-0, the Bears finished second in the MCCC regular season with an 8-2 record, and 3rd at the MCCC tournament.

“It was no doubt a roller coaster of a year. We had a lot of adversity at the end of the year, but I am super proud of the effort my guys gave and hope the conclusion of this year can be used as fuel to motivate us to continue to grow and improve both on and off the court in the days to come,” concluded Head Coach Royce Bryan.