Walla Walla, Wash. --- After surrendering an early lead, the Bruins struggled to get back their mojo, eventually surrendering their final game of the season 98-79 to close the 2021-22 season.

How It Happened

Though energy was high, the Bruins fell behind early in Saturday's game against the Whitman Blues.  After Whitman grabbed an early lead, the Bruins battled back and kept themselves in contention throughout the half. Whitman was able to hold their lead going into the half after playing well on both ends of the floor.  Despite this, Fox still had a lot of positives to build on going into the second half.  For instance, offensively, the Bruins kept step for step with their opponents, matching the Whit's 53.8% three-point percentage with a 53.3% clip of their own. Ultimately, the defense of of Whitman took the cake in the first half, out-rebounding Fox 16-8, which gave the Blues the lead going into the second half.   

In the second half the Bruins were able to tighten up their game but the Blues managed to hold them off, out-scoring the Bruins 46-40 in the second half to snag the win. Fox won the rebounding battle, 16-15, but their offense stalled, hitting only 11-27 from the field and just 1-4 from three-point range.  However, while the Bruins' offense stalled out in the second half, they were able to limit the Blues' shooters from outside the arc and held Whitman to a lower shooting performance overall in the second half. The early lead was too much to overcome, however, and Whitman won to finish the year with a 98-79 final.

Top Performers

Though the Bruins may have struggled collectively on offensively, solid performances from multiple players kept the Bruins in the game.  Sophomore James Moore shot 4-6 from the field, with three hits from beyond the arc, while senior Zach Sly went 3-3 from the field, two of which went down for three.  Alongside these two, senior Zac Schmerber was 3-7 from the field and 2-4 from the beyond the arc, while junior Davon Walker had four rebounds to get the ball in the hands of the Bruins.  

What It Means

After their loss to Whitman, the Bruins finish their season with an overall record of 11-14 and a record of 6-10 in conference. The season didn't end as the Bruins may have hoped, but there are a lot of great things to build on for next season which will be back upon us in short order.