Men Wrap up Regular Season with Road Victory
With six men finishing in double figures, the Eagle men used a complete game from start to finish to close out their regular season with a Midwest Christian College Conference road win over Calvary Bible College. The Eagles finish the regular season at 18-5, the best regular season record since the 2010-2011 season. With the win, the Eagles finished MCC Conference play at 7-1.
Unlike the night before, the Eagles started the game with emotion and intensity and carried that through to the final buzzer. Faith jumped out to a 12-3 lead in the first two and a half minutes and never looked back, stretching the lead to as much as 24 in the first half. Faith scored a season high 61 points in the half to lead 61-42 at the break. Both teams shot the ball extremely well in the first half. Faith shot it at a 61% clip, while Calvary shot 63%, mostly layups when they broke the press. Faith stretched the lead to as much as 34 during the second half, en route to a 98-71 final score as all players dressed saw action.
The Eagles forced 28 Calvary turnovers on 23 steals by the Eagles, and out rebounded the Warriors 37-22, including 17 offensive rebounds. It was the second night in a row the Eagles were able to grab at least 16 offensive boards. Unlike the night before in which the Eagles only recorded 13 assists, the Eagles passed the ball extremely well, recording 26 assists on 39 made field goals.
Six men finished in double figures, with Jon Luke Talton scoring 17 while grabbing 8 rebounds. John Acree was efficient, scoring 16 points on 7/10 shooting. Aaron Leistikow finished with 15 points and was one of 3 Eagles to finish with 4 steals. Josh Bray also recorded 4 steals while contributing 14 points. Cody Chaffin was the 3rd Eagle to finish with 4 steals, while scoring 12 points. Ryan Kupferschmid finished with 10 points. Eric Young was impressive from the point guard position, handing out 8 assists on the night.
With the regular season complete, the Eagles now turn their sights to tournament play. First up is the MCC Conference tournament, beginning next Thursday down in Haviland, KS. Barclay College is this year's host. The Eagles enter the tournament as the #1 seed and will face #8 seed St. Louis Christian College in the opening round. Game times will be announced in the next couple days, and all games will be broadcast, with links to the video available on the Eagles website. Live stats will also be available for all of Faith's games.