February Woes Continue for Eagles on the Road at CIU

Columbia, SC - February has been a tough month for the Eagles after they had such a terrific January, winning seven out of nine games.  February has been the exact opposite when Reinhardt must put checks in the win column to secure their spot in the AAC Tournament.  So far, what they did in January is pulling them through, but a loss tonight to CIU, 95 to 87, puts a lot on the final game of the regular season this Saturday.  That game is on the road at Tennessee Wesleyan and the Eagles need to win to make their path clear to the postseason tournament.

Nate Jones and Tyler Smith both had outstanding games scoring 30 points and 26 points respectively.  Jones was 11-19 from the field, 3 of 8 from the three-point line, and 5 for 5 free throws. Besides a few games this season, Jones has been the most consistent player for Coach Newton always finding ways to help the team stay in games and lead them to victory.

Smith was 11 of 18 from the field and 2 for 5 from behind the arch giving the Eagles another scorer to take pressure off of Jones.  Shooting guard Derrian Reed who has played great in February struggled to get his shot going tonight where he only scored 7 points and was 1 for 11 from the field. The Eagles were missing this third scorer in the game which they usually get from Reed or Nate Louis. Louis was off his mark as well in this game only scoring 5 points on 2 of 3 shooting.  Foul trouble limited his minutes in this game.

Reinhardt and CIU shot about the same from the field with Reinhart around 45% and CIU right at 49%.  The Rams were slightly better from three-point land shooting 43% compared to the Eagles 30% and this was most likely the cause of the eight-point defeat.

The Eagles had the slight, one-point lead at the halftime break 44 to 43, but the second half had the Rams catching them and pulling away outscoring the Eagles 52 to 47.  The two teams traded the lead a few times in the first ten to fifteen minutes of the second half with neither team gaining more than a five to six-point lead at most,  CIU was not able to get the larger lead until about four minutes left in the game when they went up by nine points.  The Eagles chipped away at this lead getting it down to just three points on a Nate Luouis dunk with about two minutes left, but CIU would answer back and push the lead just out of reach of the Eagles in the final minutes.  Reinhardt was not able to get any closer and the Rams pulled away with the eight-point win.

Reinhardt still holds the seventh spot in the AAC standings, but things are very tight with Montreat and Tennessee Wesleyan for the final tournament spots.  The Eagles can win on Saturday evening at Tennessee Wesleyan and punch their card to the tournament, but a loss puts everything into question and things will have to be sorted out.  The game is scheduled for 4 pm this Saturday.