The Asbury men’s basketball team is looking to extend their home winning streak this weekend as they take on Alice Lloyd tomorrow.
On Tuesday night, the Luce gym was electrified as the men faced off against Berea College.
In the final three minutes of the game, the momentum that the Mountaineers held throughout the game was suddenly switched to Asbury’s favor, with senior guard Caleb Wallis scoring 13 of his 22 points to secure the Eagle’s win.
“I was struggling in the first half to hit and even the second half,” Wallis said in a post-game interview for ASDN. “But I had great teammates that just encouraged me to keep shooting. They kept trusting me with it, so it felt great.”
After trailing Berea almost the entire game and going into the half down by eight points, the Eagles had to stick to how they usually play to win against the Mountaineers.
“We really just picked up our intensity,” Wallis said. “We were down, and we were letting them speed us up. So we really just tried to match their intensity, and that made all the difference.”
The win was a big deal for the men and marked their first big comeback of the 2023-2024 season.
“[Tuesday] was such a good win for us for a number of reasons. We battled adversity the whole game,” Head Coach Will Shouse said. “We were down by double figures at one time and didn’t take the lead until two minutes remaining. I was proud of the relentless push by our guys. They believed they could win and stuck with the game plan.”
During the blackout night, the student section dubbed the “Screaming Eagles” was nearly packed with Asbury students cheering on the guys.
“Not much fires me up more than seeing our students show out to support Asbury in competition,” said Colton Back, the Director of Athletic Communications & Events. “The student section was incredible, and my hope is that our athletics games create fellowship and connection across campus. The amount of students we had to work the event as well was amazing. I love seeing them come out with passion and commitment to working together for a great production.”
Asbury won with a final score of 80-70 over Berea.
“It just felt great we have such a great team. Great coaches who believe in each other no matter the circumstance. So I can’t complain it’s a great win,” Wallis said. “We’re just a spread-out team that shares the ball and shares the love, and everybody plays well.”
This extends their overall score for the season to 2-0. Their exhibition loss to Lipscomb does not impact the men’s record.
The men are taking on Alice Lloyd tomorrow at 3 pm in the Luce. This is their 41st game against the Eagles. Their last game resulted in an Asbury win 88-70.
“Saturday is a huge region opponent in Alice Lloyd College. They are typically a very physical team that will make you pay if you aren’t ready for them,” Shouse said. They have a lot of new pieces in their lineup from last year, so we will be scouting their previous games to make sure our guys are prepared.”