MBB drops three in the Sunshine State

MIAMI, Fla. - The Men's Basketball team traveled to Florida to continue their guantlet of a non-conference schedule taking on three very strong NAIAs out of the Sun Conference.

MBB vs St. Thomas 99-73 loss

MBB kicked off their Florida trip taking on St. Thomas who has been recieving votes in the NAIA poll. The Crusaders had sluggish start after the long travel day. The Bobcats jumped on the Crusaders with a 52-29 lead in the first half and never looked back. The Bobcats would cruise to a 99-73 loss. Kylan Shipp would lead the Crusaders with 21 points in the loss.

MBB vs Florida Memorial 96-75 loss

MBB would take on Florida Memorial in the second day of the trip. FloMo was fresh off an NAIA national tournament run the season before but the Crusaders came to play. GLCC would be in a back and forth affair with FMU as both teams would go on runs of their own. The score would be tied at the half 47-47. In the second half the Crusaders gained control with GLCC building a lead of 11 points multiples as late as 9 to go in the second half. Unfortunately foul trouble plaqued the Crusaders as both Christian Matthews and Kevin Wright Jr. fouled out which tested the GLCC depth. The Crusaders would see their 11 point lead shrink late as Florida Memorial was able to take control late. GLCC would never go away with multiple opportunities late but fell just short by 1. The Crusaders would have good scoring balance with TQ Belcher, Christian Matthews and Trae Ruggles all pouring in over 20 points. The difference in the game would be the offensive rebounding and physicality of Florida Memorial. The loss would be GLCC 6th loss of less than five points this season.

MBB vs Keiser University 91-71 loss

MBB would wrap their trip up against another team who has been receiving votes in the top 25 poll of NAIA. The Crusaders would show resilience with their third game in four days as they battled the bigger Keiser team in the first half. TQ Belcher carried the load for the Crusaders catching fire scoring 18 first points on 6/7 from three. The Crusaders would go down at the half 47-41. In the second half it was back and forth game until final 6 minutes where the fatigue of the Crusaders started to catch up with them after a long week of basketball. Keiser would end up pushing its lead to 20 over the short handed Crusaders. TQ Belcher would have a season high 26 points on 8/14 shooting including 8/10 from three. Kevin Wright chipped in 16 points 6 rebounds and 4 assists in the loss.

After the Florida trip the Crusaders stand 6-11 heading into NCCAA play. Coach Rich Westerlund had this to say about the trip and non conference schedule, "Obviously we would have liked to get a couple of games down here in Florida. I think we had some really good moments here and also some moments where we just flat out need to be better. We need to develop consistency and we are not there yet. We have been short handed coming back from the break and piecing things together. I think this non-confernece schedule we have taken our lumps. We have had a lot of close games losing 6 by less than five points. Those all have been growth moments for us. This schedule has helped us get better. I think we are better prepared for our conference schedule now. No one has played a tougher schedule than us and I really believe it will pay off. Our goal is to have progress and continuing to strive to be best version of ourselves. We aren't where we want to be yet but we will get there.

What's Next:

MBB will travel to Nashville to take on Welch College in a big NCCAA Mideast matchup January 12th at 8:00p