By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In its second trip to Nashville in three days, the Tennessee Tech men's basketball seemed to experience a fare share of deja vu Saturday afternoon, as the Golden Eagles (10-13, 2-8) fell at the hand of the hot-shooting Belmont Bruins (15-7, 7-2) in Nashville, 71-53.
Just like in Thursday's contest where the Golden Eagles saw a Tennessee State team make a late run to seal the deal, Tech experienced another late run to put the game out of reach, this time by Belmont. A seven-point game at halftime and for roughly the first seven minutes of the second half, the Golden Eagles seemed to be just one or two defensive stops away from grabbing a lead.
All in all, the game simply came down to shooting. And after hitting an eye-opening 17-of-24 3-point attempts against Jacksonville State on Thursday, the Bruins stayed hot from beyond the arc and the entire court as a whole.
Belmont finished the contest shooting 50 percent, including 42.3 percent from 3-point range. As for the Golden Eagles, the shots struggled to fall. Tech connected on 36.2 percent of its field goal attempts with a mark of 35.3 percent from 3-point range.
The biggest contributors for the Bruins were guards Taylor Barnette and Craig Bradshaw, and forward Evan Bradds. Barnette led all scorers with 21 points after hitting on five 3-pointers, and added three assists and four steals to the mix.
Bradshaw tallied 16 points, thanks to four treys, and chipped in on the boards with five rebounds. Bradds connected on eight of his nine field goal attempts, finishing with 18 points and five rebounds.
The Golden Eagles were led by senior Javon McKay, who racked up a career-high 16 points behind 7-of-11 shooting. He also tied for the game-high with six boards. Torrance Rowe put together a 13-point contest, drilling four 3-pointers of his own.
The Tech squad will return to the hardwood on Saturday, Feb. 7 when the team plays host to Jacksonville State in a 7:30 p.m. CST contest. The game will the mark the second game of a doubleheader with the Golden Eagle women's team.
Photo by Tony Marable
