Men Notch Road Win

Twelve hours on a bus in two days led to some sloppy play for the Eagle men this past Tuesday when they traveled to Hot Springs, AR to play host Champion Christian College. The Eagles were able to build a large enough lead and then hold on late to win 63-60. Faith is now 6-3 overall on the year. 

Behind a balanced attack in which the Eagle shared the ball and worked together in the first half, Faith was able to build a 33-23 halftime lead. Eight of the 10 Eagles who saw first half action scored as the Eagles were able to shake off a sluggish start and play solid defense to build the halftime lead. 

Faith would never trail in the second half, but a pair of runs by Champion, both fueled by multiple turnovers by the Eagles, would keep the game interesting. After the Eagles pushed the lead to 12 early in the second half, Champion took advantage of three turnovers by Faith to climb all the way back within three with fifteen minutes to play. Faith found some composure going on a 16-5 run over the next 10 minutes to lead by 14 with five minutes to play. Faith seemed to have the game in hand, but an onslaught of miscues over the next five minutes would lead to a furious Champion rally.

Faith would turn it over a total of eight times in those five minutes, capped off by a Champion three point shot, their lone made three point shot of the night, with 12 seconds left to pull the hosts within two. Faith was able to execute on the ensuing inbounds and force Champion to foul. The Eagles converted one of two free throws to lead by three. Champion got the ball to half court and called timeout. Faith's pressure on the inbounds play forced the host out of their set play, and on the inbounds was only able to get up an off balance three which hit off the back iron as time expired to allow the Eagles to escape with the win. "I give the guys credit for doing what they needed to to win the game. We've had a long couple of days on the bus and it showed, but once again we were able to get the work done defensively that we needed to in order to overcome some sloppy play on the other end," noted coach Fincham.

Faith was able to hold Champion to just 35% from the floor overall and 5% from behind the arc. The Eagles also outrebounded Champion 49-34, including 12 offensive rebounds. The Eagles will continue their southernly road trip when they will meet up with Dallas Christian College on Thursday for an 8pm tip off.