Pensacola, FL — Our Eagles Basketball team survived a late rally by Johnson University and hung on to secure an 80-72 victory in the 1st round of the NCCAA Men's South Region tournament. The fifth seeded Eagles will now advance to play Bob Jones University on Friday night at 7:00 p.m.

"In the 1^st half, we were able to hold Johnson University to 23% from the field." Head Coach Mark Goetsch continued, "We played some stellar defense and were able to lock down Phil Legrier."

The Eagles struggled to score the ball early on in tonight's ball game against the Suns. Despite coming out of the gate slowly, Deont'e Hallums would get the Eagles going. His three-pointer with 11:48 remaining in the first half would give the Eagles an advantage. The Eagles would slowly begin to take advantage of the mistakes that the Suns were making.

Juniors Ian Johnson and Andrew Thomas helped keep the Eagles in the game in the 1st half. The pair combined for 21 of the Eagles 37 in the half. The team began to pull away late in the quarter thanks to another huge three-pointer by senior guard Deont'e Hallums. The three-pointer brought the fans to their feet and gave the Eagles a 15-point advantage. The Eagles would head to the half leading 38-25 against Johnson University of Florida.

"We did the little things right tonight," Head Coach Mark Goetsch said after the game. "Our offensive rebounding really helped kick start us tonight when we were struggling."

Heading into the 2nd half, the Eagles hoped to ride their 13-point halftime advantage to an easy victory, but the Suns had other plans. Led by the play of guard Kendall Oliver, who finished the game with 24 points, the Suns mounted a strong comeback bid. The Suns would come all the way back and tie up the ball game with 10 minutes remaining, but the Eagles would quickly answer.

Dakota Pratt, who had struggled through some early foul trouble, began to make a difference late in the 2nd half. Despite being held to just 2 points in the 1st half, Dakota made his mark on the game by scoring eight crucial points down the stretch. Deont'e Hallums proved to be the man of the hour for an Eagles team that was searching for a spark. His season high 17-point and 8-rebound performance helped the Eagles pull away.

Coach Goetsch was asked about Deont'e's performance after the game. He said, "17 points. Eight rebounds, 4 of them offensive rebounds. It was a great performance by him and definitely was the key to victory for us tonight.

The Eagles would distance themselves late and went on to secure a well-deserved 80-72 victory over Johnson University of Florida to advance to the next round of South Region tournament. Deont'e Hallums led the Eagles with 17 points and was one of four Eagles that scored in double-digits–Hallums (17), Thomas (14), Johnson (14), and Pratt (10).

With the win, the Eagles advanced to face Bob Jones University on Friday night in the South Region Semifinal with a trip to Saturday's championship game on the line. For an Eagles team that has struggled all season, they now have the opportunity to erase those bad memories and continue their quest to earn a berth in the National Tournament.