DAYTON, Tenn.— The Montreat men's basketball team went on the road to Tennessee Tuesday night to face the Bryan College Lions. After struggling with turnovers in the first half and shooting woes overall, the Cavaliers fell to the Lions in an 89-77 ballgame. With the result, the Cavs moved to 12-9 on the season and 10-8 in Appalachian Athletic Conference action.
 
Early 3-point shooting by the home team allowed the Lions to go up 6-2, but Montreat responded with five straight points thanks to a Darius Bryant triple and a slam by Elochukwu Eze as the Cavaliers led 7-6 3:32 into the game.
 
Three quick lead changes put Bryan back in front, and the Lions extended a run out to 17-5 due to another pair of makes from deep and several turnovers by the Cavs. Miscues hampered the visitors in the opening part of the first half as the Cavaliers committed the initial nine turnovers of the contest, which BC turned into eight points.
 
Toward the middle of the period, Montreat utilized scoring from five different players and rebounds from CamRon Sias to pull closer. An 11-2 stretch sparked the offense for the Cavs, and Tyler Murray splashed home a three to cap off the run that put the visiting team within a possession (25-23) with 6:43 left before the break.
 
After the Cavaliers hit important shots, Bryan answered. The teams combined to score on five consecutive possessions, but a late scoring drought by Montreat allowed the Lions to hold a double-digit edge (43-33) with 1:04 remaining. Ultimately, Bryan led 44-35 at the intermission.
 
Murray captained the team with 10 points off the bench in the first half as 10 different Cavs scored. As well as Bryan started from beyond the arc, the Cavaliers (6-16 3-pt FG; 37.5 percent) led their counterparts (7-19 3-pt FG; 36.8 percent) from three. The Lions converted much better from the field, making 53.1 percent (17-32 FG) of their tries, while Montreat connected on 34.3 percent (12-35 FG) of its attempts. Jarden Maze led the squad with six rebounds as the Cavs outrebounded BC 22-16; however, a 16-6 points off turnovers deficit had the team in a 9-point hole with 20 minutes to play.
 
Bryan expanded its advantage out to 11 in the opening moments of the final period, and, despite a 3-point make from Gabriel Rivera that pulled the Cavs within eight, the Lions tallied 10 of the ensuing 12 points to go up 56-40 just 3:27 into the second half.
 
Five points from Jamiel Wright helped temporarily; however, the home side stretched its largest edge once more, leading by 19 with 8:57 to go in the competition. Back-to-back layups by Murray and Sias then trimmed the deficit to 15 with eight minutes on the clock.
 
In a back-and-forth high-scoring second period that saw the Lions outscore the Cavs 45-42, Bryan led by double digits for the remainder of the game, while Montreat used fouling to extend the matchup. Although the Cavaliers knocked down baskets late to close the gap to 11, that's as close as the visitors would come as BC triumphed by an 89-77 scoreline in a contest it led by 20 down the stretch.
 
Murray collected a season-high 17 points to lead the Cavs, while Wright (15) was the only other Montreat player in double figures in scoring. The Atlanta native notched a career-high 10 helpers to complete a double-double, and Maze secured a team-best nine rebounds. Eleven separate Cavaliers scored in the game; 10 secured at least one rebound.
 
Bryan (11-11, 11-7 AAC) held substantial shooting advantages, draining 31 of its 56 looks (55.4 percent) to the Cavs' 38.2 percent (26-68 FG). The Lions also converted on 12 of 31 3-pointers (38.7 percent), while Montreat hit 11 of 31 3's (35.5 percent) and connected on 15 of 22 free throws (68.2 percent) to the visitors' mere 58.3 percent (14-24 FT) at the charity stripe. Despite the early deficit, the Cavaliers only committed one more turnover than the Lions (20-19).
 
"Tip our cap to Bryan. We wanted to take them out of their stuff and make them play at our pace and they did that," mentioned head coach Anthony Barringer. "They made shots at a high rate. We got them down to situations late in the shot clock multiple times and they made shots. I thought our guys executed the gameplan well. Bryan accepted the challenge and came out victorious," Barringer ended.
 
Men's basketball now hosts Kentucky Christian on Saturday. Tipoff in Montreat is expected at 4:00 p.m.