Salisbury, MD – After a Friday night win over Mary Baldwin, the Apprentice Men's Basketball team hopped on their bus for a 5 hour drive up to Maryland.  Waiting for them on Saturday afternoon was Salisbury University.  This would be the second day in a row that the Builders would face an NCAA Division III team and they were hoping for the same outcome as last night.  However, they knew they were in for another difficult test, but would look to rely on their defense that was able to open up the opportunities for their offensive scorers. 

Wearing their Home Whites, the Builders went toe to toe with the Seagulls for the first few minutes of the first half.  At the 11:13 mark of the half, a Jayden Eason layup gave Apprentice their first lead of the game 9-8.  The Builders would fall behind again, but Avin Hawkins found Eason for another layup to put the Builders back in front, 12-11.  However, Salisbury settled into their offensive set and was able to drain a 3-pointer, followed by another basket to go ahead by a score of 17-14, with 7:29 remaining in the half.  Both teams continued to step it up on the defensive end and were able to create scoring opportunities, but eventually the Seagulls would go on a run and take their largest lead of the game, 31-21.  The Builders were able to trim the lead to eight and as both teams headed to the locker rooms, Salisbury would have the advantage, 33-25. 

The second half saw the Seagulls take a 12-point lead, but baskets by Karree Smith and Marion Moore cut it back to eight, 39-31.  Jayden Eason and Clifton Goode followed suit and, all of the sudden, Apprentice had pulled within five, 41-36.  Goode keep the momentum going by making two more baskets to trim the lead to only two points.  Unfortunately, for the next 7 minutes, Salisbury would regain control of the game and increase their lead back up to 12 points, 55-43.  A Corey Joyner layup got the game back to single digits, but that was as close as the Builders would get as they fell to the Seagulls by a final score of 75-61.

For the second night in a row, Jayden Eason led Apprentice in scoring.  He finished with 18 points and also grabbed 11 rebounds.  Karree Smith was one behind with 17 points, while Clifton Goode added 9 points of his own.  The Builders will have a week off before they return to action next Saturday up in Northern Virginia as they jump back into USCAA action to face Washington Adventist.  Stay tuned to www.gobuilders.com for updates on that game.