Brescia University has been looking for consistency at the start of its men’s basketball season.
Brescia went 1-1 into a Sunday exhibition game in Western Carolina on Sunday. Brescia has lost exhibitions to IUPU Indianapolis, Murray State and Middle Tennessee, all on the road and to NCAA Division 1 competition.
“The boys love playing against the D-1,” said Brescia’s men’s coach Sarah Gayler. “They get a big arena experience, they’re on TV, people can see them play. As for basketball, we were down 12 at halftime in Murray and we told the team they’re really good and they’re going to run, we have to learn to contain that and turn it around. We have six shows planned, we have three more, and we’re getting better at each one. Middle Tennessee in Spurts we played pretty well.
Brescia was in Western Carolina and will also play in Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee State. Brescia has two NAIA games in the River States Conference this week, at Indiana Southeast on Tuesday, then back at Moore Center to host Midway on Saturday.
The Brescia men’s basketball team made it big in the recent season opener at Lindsey Wilson with an 85-71 win.
Brescia ended the first half with a 22-1 run in the final seven minutes. The Blue Raiders’ goal drought proved too much to overcome in the second half.
Brescia ended the game with four players scoring in double figures, including Nevin Graves, who shot 5 of 8 from 3-point range en route to a team-best 20 points.
Mike Caswell and Tay Smith each had 17 points.
Perhaps the most impressive performance of the game came from Carrieun Mathis, who had a double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds. Mathis is a 6-foot-7 sophomore.
“A lot of those were my teammates playing good defense and we converted that into shots and rebounds,” Mathis said. “It was definitely surprising to see my numbers. We will score a lot in the transition phase. Many of us can get it and go.”
Graves scored 17 points at the Moore Center last week to lead Brescia in a 71-64 loss to Bethel (Tennessee). Newcomer Javion Johnson scored 13 points and reached the free throw line to make it 7/10. John Saenz scored 11 points for Brescia.
Smith, a Warren Central sophomore, averaged 17 points per game last season when Brescia finished 7-22.
BRESCIA WOMEN
Brescia went 4-0 into a Tuesday game at Indiana University Southeast.
Lindsey Peyton had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds in an 85-70 loss at Bethel, Tennessee.
Marquia White scored 11 points for Brescia and Alexis Williams added 10 in the game.
Michael Gray is in his sixth season as head coach of the Brescia women’s program.
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