Eagles Grind Out First Win

The Eagle men overcame a poor shooting night and periods of sloppy play Tuesday night to earn their first win of the season. The Eagles approach of using the game to continue to get the men who joined from the soccer team up to speed led to periods of sloppy play and a lack of continuity, but Faith was able to finish the game down the stretch for the 72-65 victory. Faith moves to 1-1 on the year with the win.

Faith jumped out to a quick lead to open the game, attacking the basket and defending well to force a Union timeout with 15 minutes left in the first half. Out of the timeout Union put together a 9-0 run fueled by two Faith turnovers, a Faith foul on a made basket, and an offensive rebound by Union. The game then stayed close for the rest of the first half. Union briefly led at 28-26 with just under four minutes left in the half, but Faith closed the half outscoring Union by four to retake the lead 37-35.

Out of the half, Faith pushed the lead to five, but then began to struggle again offensively while failing to find any energy defensively. Union took advantage, putting together a 13-4 run to take a four point lead with 13 and a half minutes to play. Faith couldn't make any headway over the next six minutes, with Union leading 57-52 with seven minutes to play. However, over the final seven minutes, the Eagles finally decided to turn up the defensive pressure and attack the basket. Fueled by Jon Luke Talton's aggresive drives and Aaron Leistikow's crafty post work, the Eagles began to put together a run. Leistikow pulled the Eagles within three with a bucket, then Talton got to the free throw line on the next two possessions, hitting one of two free throws each time and Faith was down one. Talton got to the basket on the next offensive play for the Eagles after they strung together their third defensive stop in a row. Talton's layup gave the Eagles the lead back and forced timeout by Union. 

This time the Union timeout didn't affect the Eagles, as they continued to put defensive pressure on Union. Over the final five minutes of the game, Faith would force three more Union turnovers and hold Union to just 25% from the floor. Meanwhile, Aaron Leistikow got things going down low, scoring eight points, with Jon Luke Talton capping off the Eagles comeback with a thunderous dunk down the lane to secure the Eagles win.

Faith was able to win despite a miserable shooting night from beyond the arc and overall during the second half. Faith went just 1/16 from beyond the arc and shot 41% overall. However, Faith's defense was able to hold Union to 40% and force 20 turnovers. Aaron Leistikow led all scorers with 27 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Willie Felderman finished with 13 points, while Talton added 11. John Acree nabbed four steals, with Marcus Denham and Cody Chaffin handing out three assists each. 

The task gets infinitely more difficult for the Eagles this weekend when they will host their Faith Classic tournament. Faith will play two teams who went to last year's NCCAA National Tournament in Manhattan Christian College and Grace Bible College (MI). Both teams have already earned solid wins over NAIA schools to start the year and will pose a strong challenge for the young Eagles team.