By: Colton Steiner
NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. - The Bluffton Beavers would close out a 4-game road trip as they traveled to Manchester University for their final regular season contest against the Spartans. Despite a late comeback from the Spartans, the Beavers would come away with a 73-68 win and pick up their first season sweep of Manchester since the 2020-21 season. Bluffton now sits at a record of 9-14 on the year, with a 7-9 mark in the HCAC, while the Spartans drop to 3-20 overall and fall to 3-13 in conference play. With the victory, Bluffton has secured a berth in the upcoming HCAC Tournament for the first time since 2021!
After Manchester would hit a three in the first fifteen seconds, Jaxon Foster (Lima/Bath) would get the Beavers on the board after drilling a triple off a pass from William Layfield (West Chester/Lakota West). Following another Jaxon Foster three and a Nevin Robson (Kenton/Hardin Northern) lay in, Bluffton found themselves up 10-3 going into the first media timeout. The Spartans would gather themselves and go on a 10-0 spurt to take a 13-10 lead before the Beavers found themselves on the other side of a 10-0 run as they led 20-13 with 7:03 left in the half. Manchester managed to cut the Bluffton lead to two, but the Beavers would outscore the Spartans 11-3 in the final four minutes, with the visitors leading 36-26 at the break.
The hosts would claw their way back into the contest to start the second half, cutting Bluffton's double digit lead to one, before Nevin Robson would score five straight points to put the Beavers back up two 53-47 with 9:30 left to play. The Spartans would get a layup, but another bucket from Nevin Robson and a William Layfield triple, Bluffton found themselves up nine heading into the eight minute media timeout. Manchester managed to pull within four, but Andre Irvin (Lewis Center/Olentangy Orange) would nail a layup and a pair of free throws to put the Beavers up 63-55. While the visitors would hold a 65-58 lead with 4:35 left in regulation, the Spartans would go on a 10-3 run, and after they connected on a shot from behind the arc, the game would be tied up at 68-68 with 1:20 left. JD Stokes (West Harrison, Ind./Franklin County) would draw a foul with 37 seconds left and go a perfect 2-for-2 to put the visitors up two. Manchester would be unable to score on the offensive side as Bluffton would sneak away with a 73-68 win on the road, sealing the season sweep of the Spartans.
Pacing the Beavers with 21 points and six boards was Nevin Robson who eclipsed 1,000 career points in the victory! William Layfield would add 12, with three assists and four boards, while Andre Irvin would add 11. Rounding out the double-digit scoring was Jaxon Foster and JD Stokes, who each scored 10 points apiece.
Bluffton would finish the contest going 24-of-53 (45.3 percent) from the floor, while holding the Spartans to 32.8 percent (20-of-61) in the outing. While Manchester would hit 10-of-29 (34.5 percent) of their shots from deep compared to the Beaver's 26.3 percent (5-of-19) mark from behind the arc, Bluffton did edge out the rebounding battle, 36-35. The visitors dominated the paint, outscoring the hosts 38-18 in the outing, while Manchester held a 11-5 edge in second chance points.
The Beavers will return to their home court on Saturday, Feb. 14, to face off against the Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers, with tipoff set for 1 p.m.
-BEAVERS-