By: Colton Steiner

BLUFFTON, Ohio - As winter break begins for the students, the Beavers would play host to the Transylvania Pioneers in a men's-women's double header. The contest would be close for all forty minutes as Transylvania would force a late turnover in the final seconds as a fast break layup would give the visitors a 67-65 win over Bluffton. With the defeat, the Beavers fall to an overall record of 1-7 and start conference play at 0-3, while the Pioneers improve to 4-3 on the season and stay undefeated in the HCAC at 3-0. 

Bluffton would get the scoring rolling in the first minute as a Jaxon Foster (Lima, Ohio / Bath) triple would put the Beavers up 3-0 to start the contest. Transylvania would answer with an 11-3 run before a layup from Ian Snelling (Erlanger, Ky. / Dixie Heights) cut the deficit to three at the first media timeout. The teams would exchange buckets and with 11:59 left to play in the half, Matt Ray (Indianapolis, Ind. / Herron) would connect on a corner three to put Bluffton up 19-18. Both teams would keep the scoring going and after trailing 28-25, the Beavers would close out the half on a 6-0 run to take a 31-28 lead at the break. 

After JD Stokes (West Harrison, Ind. / Franklin County) would hit a shot from deep to put the home team up 34-30 to start second half, the Pioneers would outscore Bluffton 15-4 to lead 45-38 with just under 14 minutes to play. Transylvania was able to stretch their lead to 52-41 after the second media timeout at the 10:51 mark of the second half. Down double-digits, the Beavers would fight back and after an Ian Snelling three, they would trail 54-51 with seven minutes to play. The teams would exchange points, but Bluffton was able to tie the game up at 59-59 after Jaxon Foster found the bottom of the net from deep with 4:12 remaining in regulation. Following a layup from the Pioneers to put the visitors up 62-60, Ian Snelling connected on a triple, giving the Beavers a one-point lead with 1:29 left on the clock. Transylvania evened up the score at 65 a piece after a free throw and after a Bluffton timeout, the Beavers had a chance to take the lead. The Pioneers would pick off a pass with less than seven seconds to go and score a layup with just three seconds remaining as that would be enough to knock off Bluffton 67-65. 

The Beavers connected on 42.1 percent (24-of-57) of their shots from the floor, including 9-of-24 (37.5 percent) from behind the arc, while holding Transylvania to 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from three with a 48.2 percent (27-of-56) mark from the field. Bluffton won the battle of the boards with a slim 39-38 advantage, but would allow 18 points off 10 miscues . 

Filling up the stat sheet for the Beavers with 20 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals, was Ian Snelling, with Nevin Robson (Kenton, Ohio / Hardin Northern) securing another double-double on the season, scoring 11 and snagging 11 rebounds. Jaxon Foster would tally nine to go along with five boards, while JD Stokes added eight with six rebounds and swatting four blocks. 

Bluffton will look to put this loss in their rearview mirror as they hit the road and head to Kentucky on Wednesday to face off against the Berea Mountaineers, with tipoff starting at 12:00 p.m. 

-Beavers-