Bobcats Win Finale Regular Season Game on the Road, Eclipse Best Record in Program History 23-6
The Bryant & Stratton Bobcats closed out the season Saturday with a win on the road against the Johnston Community College Jaguars, finishing (23-6) overall & (17-5) in conference.
New to Region 10 D2 in 2021-2022, the series going into Saturday's matchup was 2-1 in favor of the Bobcats. In the previous matchup the Bobcats hosted the Jaguars and came out victorious 84-53.
Looking to pick up where the left off in their previous matchup the Bobcats jumped out on the Jaguars 14-0 early. The Jaguars called a timeout to regroup and made a run of their own, closing the gap to 5 with just under 8 minutes remaining in the half. The Jaguars made it interesting the rest of the half eventually took a 2 point lead with 3.5 minutes remaining. A pair of free-throws in the closing seconds of the half gave the Bobcats a 28-27 lead.
A game that began to look like a re-creation of the previous matchup proved to take an all out effort from the Bobcats to secure the win. Every small run made by the Bobcats was answered by the Jaguars in the second half. The largest lead the Bobcats were able to obtain in the second half was 9 and it was met by a run from the Jaguars, which closed it to 4. The key to victory for the Bobcats in this matchup was free throws, as they connected on almost 81% of them throughout the course of the game, including 4 consecutive makes to close out the game. The Bobcats were victorious 66-62 over the Jaguars.
Josiah Dow and Jefferson Youngblood led the way for the Bobcats with 14 pts apiece. Kendall Bynum added in 13 pts and Logan Blair had another near double-double with 12 pts and 9 rebs.
This victory sealed the best record in program history, going 23-6 in the regular season and securing a bye, along with the #2 seed in the D2 Region 10 tournament. Up next the Bobcats travel to Wilmington, NC to take on Lenoir Community College in a quarterfinal matchup in the D2 Region 10 tournament Friday, March 3, 2023 at 5:00PM.