Men Victorious in Home Opener

The Eagle men won their home opener this past weekend, defeating visiting Barclay College on Friday night. The win put the Eagles at 2-0 overall, with an early 1-0 conference record.

Faith's home opener featured a much improved Barclay College. The Bears jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but Faith responded with their own 9-2 run to take an early two point lead. The game then stayed close, with the teams knotted at 20 after the first 10 minutes of play. Faith then strung together an 8-3 run to lead by five with just under seven to play in the half. Barclay responded behind solid post play to take a 31-30 lead, and the scoring opened up over the final five minutes of the half. The two teams combined for 30 points during that stretch, culminating with an at the buzzer shot by John Acree to give Faith a 48-43 lead at the break.

Faith maintained their lead through the first 10 minutes of the second half, eventually building to a 10 point margin at 65-55. The lead would remain double digits over the next four minutes, with Faith holding a 64-77 lead with six to play. Barclay would cut it to six with just over two minutes to play, but a timely jumper by Cody Chaffin pushed the lead back to eight. The Eagles would then make enough free throws despite Barclay hitting some deep and contested threes to win the game 92-86.

The Eagles once again had a balanced scoring attack, with five men finishing in double digits. Jon Luke Talton led the Eagles with 23 points. Josh Bray gave the Eagles a spark off the bench, chipping in 16 points including 4/4 from behind the arc. Ryan Kupferschmid added 15 points, while Cody Chaffin netted 14. Aaron Leistkow led the Eagles in rebounding with 8 while scoring 11 points. Willie Felderman did a great job defensively, grabbing three steals for the Eagles. Felderman helped set a tone for the Eagles which allowed them to hold Barclay to 44% from the floor, while the Eagles shot 53%. Faith also outrebounded Barclay by one.

Faith will face defending conference champion Manhattan Christian on Saturday.