HAMPTON, VA. - The Apprentice School used a 10-0 run midway through the second half to pull away from Bluefield College for a 57-53 win on Friday night at Hampton University's Holland Hall.
A sluggish first half saw the teams trade the lead three times and tie five times. Bluefield started the game on a 9-4 spurt as Omar Reed tipped in a Marcus Jackson miss for a 9-4 advantage with 16:13 left. Apprentice School responded with a 13-5 run for a 17-14 lead on an Eric Joe 3-pointer with 9:26 left.
From there the Builders never trailed the rest of the half, but was tied twice. Reed's jumper tied the game 18-all with 8:33 left and a free throw with 62 seconds left sent the teams into the locker room tied at 24-all.
In the second half, the Builders jumped out 33-28 with 14:49 left on a pair of Andre Henderson free throws. Bluefield responded with an 11-4 run over the next 3:39 to take a 39-35 lead on a Brian Daniels jumper with 11:10 remaining.
Apprentice School then ripped off the 10-0 run over the next 3:07 to take a 45-39 lead on a Tevin Andrews jumper with 8:03 left. From there, the Builders never trailed and saw the lead cut to two points twice. The last being on a pair of Rob Wright free throws with 2:44 left for a 47-45 margin. The Builders hit 6-of-8 free throws in the last 2:35 to help seal the win.
Joe was the leading scorer with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Harrison added 14 points and Tim Johnson had 11 points for Apprentice School. The Builders will now travel to Washington Adventist for a 2 pm game on Sunday.