Eagles Fall to #6 Ozark

The Eagle men returned to the court this past weekend after three weeks off for winter break. Faith hosted one of the hottest teams in the NCCAA, #6 Ozark Christian College on Friday night. The game was the Eagles second MCCC game of the year. Faith could not contain Ozark as they fell 79-97. Faith is now 6-5 on the year and 1-1 in MCCC conference play.

Friday's opener with Ozark found the Eagles facing a team that had already played seven games this semester and had vaulted into the Top 10. The Eagles hung with Ozark for the first six minutes of the first half, leading 15-14. Ozark responded with a quick 6-0 run to take the lead at 20-15 after two empty possessions by the Eagles. Ozark slowly extended the lead by stringing together defensive stops and offensive success to push the lead to 34-23 with 10 minutes left in the first half. Faith would shoot just 37% for the rest of the half while allowing Ozark to shoot 52% in the half, including 53% from behind the arc as they scored 54 first half points to lead by 16 at the break.

Ozark quickly pushed the lead to 20 out of the break and the Eagles went to the bench for a spark. The Eagles bench did just that, sticking to fundamental, team basketball while working to force Ozark to take more difficult shots. The result was a run that cut the Ozark lead to 14 with eight minutes to play in the game. Faith continued to battle, eventually getting the lead back to single digits at eight with three and a half minutes to play. However, turnovers and missed shots again plagued the Eagles as they missed a three and turned it over on two consecutive possessions. Forced to foul on both possessions, Ozark converted all four free throws to push the lead back to 12. Faith came up empty on every shot they took over the final three minutes until a layup with under 10 seconds to play gave them their final bucket.

Faith faces Calvary Bible on Saturday.