ASKEWVILLE – Bethel Christian Academy bounced Summit Christian in the first round of the Eric Baggett Tournament here Friday.

The Eagles, however, couldn’t overcome Trinity Christian School in the finals as the visiting squad won 80-64.

In the semifinal contest, the Eagles got 21 points from Kyle Freeman and 15 from Shane Tripp as well as an even dozen from Joseph Ginn as they rolled to a 65-52 victory.

Summit actually came out on fire, outscoring the Eagles 19-10 in the first quarter. Bethel wasn’t about to go down easily, however, as they bounced back to take a 24-23 lead at the intermission. The Eagle defense held Summit to just four second quarter points.

Bethel continued to pull away in the third quarter when they outscored Summit 18-12 to take a 42-35 lead into the final quarter. BCA scored 23 points in the final quarter and held Summit to 17 to establish the final.

In addition to those in double figures, the Eagles got seven points and 12 rebounds from Daniel Feher. David Simmons added eight points and one board while Trent Davidson chipped in two points.

The finals saw Bethel square off with Trinity Christian who came into the game with a near-spotless 6-1 mark.

Bethel put three players in double figures, but Trinity matched the feat and then some with five players hitting double digits.

Freeman paced Bethel with 20 points while Feher added 14 and Tripp 13. On the other side, the visitors saw Caleb Reynolds pour in 27 while ReShon Carter had 15, Phillip Sloan 14, Ryan Campenaro 12 and Nathan Evans 10 points.

The game was close during the opening quarter with Trinity scoring 19 points, but the home team answering with 15 of their own to trail by just four.

The second quarter was much the same with Trinity edging Bethel by a 22-19 margin, letting the visiting squad take a 41-34 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Eagles couldn’t cut into the lead during the third quarter either and trailed 58-49 heading into the final quarter. Trinity outscored Bethel 22-15 in the fourth period to establish the final.

Following the event, Freeman and Tripp were named All-Tournament as was Carter for Trinity. Reynolds was named Most Valuable Player.

The loss left Bethel 6-3 early in the season.