Men Split at Region Tip off

The Eagle men travelled to Minneapolis, MN, to open up NCCAA North Central regional play at the annual regional tip off tournament hosted by North Central University. The Eagles came away with a split, dropping their opening game to Trinity Bible College, but rebounding for a win versus Providence University College. The Eagles are now 4-5 on the year, and 1-1 in regional play.

Friday afternoon's game against Trinity Bible saw the Eagles have probably their worst half of basketball to open the tournament. The Eagles were without second leading scorer Cody Chaffin, and it showed on the offensive end, as the Eagles were held to just 27 first half points. Much of their offensive struggle came from an inability to take care of the ball. Faith turned it over a total of 16 times in the first half. Neither team shot well during the half, allowing the Eagles to stay within striking distance at 27-36 going into the halftime break.

Unfortunately, Faith opened the second half with four more turnovers in the first two and a half minutes, allowing Trinity to increase their lead to 17 points. After playing the first 23 minutes of the game completely out of character, the Eagles were finally able to get things under control for the remainder of the game. Faith put together a 9-0 run over the next four minutes to pull within eight, but then turned it over two more times in a row to allow Trinity to jump back up by 15, 47-62, with eight minutes to play. The Eagles then made a ferocious offensive push over the next four minutes, as they rallied to pull within three, 61-64, with four and a half minutes to play. One minute later, the Eagles tied it up at 66 apiece, then battled back and forth with Trinity to trail by two, 70-72 with one minute to play. On the ensuing possession, the Eagles forced a contested three point shot, but unfortunately the shot banked in to give Trinity a five point lead with 45 seconds to play. Trinity made enough free throws in the final seconds to hold off the Eagles for the 80-73 victory. "Recently, we've really been struggling to value the ball. That was the difference in today's game. We gave Trinity 36 points off of turnovers, nearly half of their point total. Despite that, we hung in their and gave ourselves a chance to win. This young team never gives up," noted coach Fincham.

Aaron Leistikow led the Eagles with 27 points. Timothy O'Tool added 25. Jordan Marshall had nine rebounds and six assists.

On Saturday, the Eagles looked to rebound against Providence University College. After a slow start by both teams, the Eagles clamped down defensively to hold Providence below 50 points enroute to the win. Faith used a trapping defense to control the Pilots dangerous Jonathan Thompson and Ryan Perpall. The result was a 42-25 halftime lead in which the Eagles limited Thompson to two first half points. The Eagles quickly increased the lead to 20 in the second half, maintaining that lead through the end of the game as all the Eagle men saw action. 

Leistkow led the Eagles again, this time with 24 points and 10 rebounds. O'Tool added 12 points, while Jon Luke Talton handed out five assists in limited minutes. 

Faith hits the road again on Tuesday, when they will travel to Dubuque, IA, to face off against a much improved Emmaus Bible College team. The game will tip at 7:00 PM.