The Trinity Bible College Lions welcomed Dakota College Bottineau to the friendly confines of Ray Ulmer Fieldhouse house Friday, January 18^th. The Lions and Lumberjacks had already squared off once this season on a neutral court and the Lions came out on top 91 to 77. The Lions were ready for another battle with the Lumberjacks.

            The Lions came out quick using a 7 to 2 run to open the game in the first five minutes. They would then push their lead to 16 to 8 with 12 minutes left in the first half. The Lumberjacks responded going on a 13 to 6 run to trim the Lions lead to just one point 22 to 21 with 8 minutes to go in the first quarter. The Lumberjacks then used another run of 12 to 2 to take their first lead of the game and held a 9 point advantaged 33 to 24 with 4 minutes left. However basketball is a game of runs and the Lions put together a good run at the right time as they went on a 14 to 5 run to close the half and tie the game at 38 all going in to halftime thanks to a David Rohrbach layup as time expired.

            The second half played just like the first half’s theme of runs as Bottineau would open the second half on a 10 to 6 run to take the lead back with 13 minutes to play in the game. The Lions then used a 15 to 8 run over the next 4 minutes to take the lead back at 59 to 56 with nine minutes to play. The two teams would then stay close as they would trade leads and ties. The Lions with three minutes to play were down just one as AJ Anthony hit a three pointer to go up two and the Lions saw themselves up three points with just one minute to play. After David Rohrbach’s two free throws the Lions were up five but Bottineau would not quit as they raced down the court and hit a three pointer to bring the lead to two points. Following the Lumberjacks timeout the Lions made a critical error as the Lumberjacks would steal the inbounds with fewer than 20 seconds to play and made the layup to tie the game. The Lions failed to convert to win and the two teams went into overtime.

            In OT the Bottineau would strike first going up by four points quickly, but the Lions then would tie the game back up and once again with 1 minute to play the Lions held the lead 82 to 81. The Lumberjacks once again responded to the challenge and in the final minute went on a 4-0 run to win the game 85 to 82 over the Lions.

            In the loss the Lions had 5 players reach double figures led by three players all with 14 points apiece. Pete Enos had 14 points and 9 rebounds while Nick Lentz added 14 points, 5 rebounds and 5 fouls, AJ Anthony pitched in 14 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists. Michael Rohrbach scored 12 points and had 6 rebounds off the bench for the Lions while his brother David Rohrbach finished with11 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. The Lions played most of the game without leading scorer Mikey Rosario who was injured on a play 7 minutes into the game. The Lions shot 32 of 87 (36 percent) from the field and 6 for 32 (18 percent) on threes. The Lions had 16 steals and 15 offensive boards in the game.

            The loss moves the Lions to 7-11 and puts them on a four game losing streak. The Lions have lost their last two games by a combined five points. The Lions travel to University of Minnesota- Morris Tuesday night and then are back home Friday night to face rival Presentation College at 8pm. The Lions finish their week by heading to Madison, SD to take on Dakota State University at 6pm on Saturday, January 26^th.

Stay connected with Trinity Bible College Basketball all season long at http://trinitybiblecollege.edu/athletics, on facebook http://www.facebook.com/tbcathletics, and on twitter @tbcathletics.

(Mikey Rosario being honored for his 2000 career points)