Men Go 4-3 in Postseason, Finish 9th at National Tournament

The Eagle men closed out their season of play with a 4-3 record in post season tournaments. Faith finished in 5th place in the MCCC Tournament, advanced to the semifinal game in the NCCAA North Central Regional Tournament, and pulled an upset in the consolation game of the NCCAA II Men's Basketball National Tournament, which the Eagles hosted. 

In the MCCC conference tournament game, the Eagles came in as the #5 seed and faced off against host Ozark Christian College. Faith was without two starters (violation of team rules), but still put a scare into the higher seeded Ambassadors. Senior Jason Scheps and freshmen Chase Clark got the start for the Eagles, and both had great games. Clark had a career night, scoring 19 points to keep the Eagles within reach. Jon Luke Talton and Cody Chaffin added 20 and 21 respectively, with Chaffin also handing out 8 assists, but the Eagles didn't quite have enough to pull the upset, falling 79-89. With a full squad the next day, the Eagles dispatched St. Louis Christian College to advance to the 5th place game. Faith faced Emmaus Bible College, controlling the game throughout until a lull on both ends of the court allowed Emmaus to get back into the game after trailing by as much as 20. Faith was able to do enough to finish the game, securing the win and the 5th place finish. During Friday evening's awards ceremony, Jon Luke Talton was recognized as a Second Team All Conference player. As a team, the Eagles were selected as the conference Sportsmanship Award recipients.

Faith entered the regional tournament as the #3 seed and faced Oak Hills Christian College in the quarterfinals. Faith and Oak Hills had met early in the season, but an injury during the game caused the cancellation of the game resulting in a no contest for both teams. The teams played even during the first half, with a 43-43 tie going into the break. Faith gained some momentum in the second half, taking an 11 point lead with just under 10 minutes to play and then pushing the lead to as much as 16 before earning the 11 point win. The win put Faith in the semifinal with host North Central University. NCU came out hot from everywhere and Faith had no answer as NCU jumped on the Eagles for a 24 point halftime lead. The Eagles never threatened as NCU earned the win, continuing their hot play the next day when they earned the regional championship with a 22 point win over #1 seed Crossroads College. At the regional awards luncheon, Aaron Leistikow was recognized as a second team all region player, and Jon Luke Talton was selected to the all region first team.

As the host for this year's national tournament, the Eagles earned an automatic berth into the field of 10. Faith was the #10 seed and drew #7 seed Pensacola Christian College in their first round game. Pensacola came out of the South Region, having upset the #1 seed to earn the right to advance to the tournament. Pensacola had a sigfinifcant size advantage over the Eagles and executed well on both ends of the court, resulting in a 16 point halftime deficit for Faith. The second half was better for Faith, but the 16 point halftime advantage proved to large as the Eagles fell.

The loss sent the Eagles to the consolation game, where they faced conference opponent and tournament #9 seed Central Christian College of the Bible. The teams had met twice during the regular season, with CCCB coming out on top both times. Round three found the Eagles in control for the first 30 minutes of the game, holding an 8 point lead with 10 to play. Two turnovers and two missed shots saw the lead evaporate, as CCCB pulled within 1 and the game was on. With two minutes to play, CCCB had managed to muster a three point lead. Faith's John Acree got a bucket for the Eagles, then Faith earned a defensive stop and called a timeout with a minute to play. The Eagles executed out of the timeout and Acree finished the play to put the Eagles up by one. CCCB's Labarin Eaton was able to make a driving, off balance shot on the other end to put CCCB back up by one with 14 seconds remaining and Faith took another timeout.  This time the Eagle's set play wasn't succesful, but Cody Chaffin created his own shot to put Faith back up by 1 with 8 seconds left. On the other end DuJuan Henderson's shot rolled out and Aaron Leistikow secured the rebound with 1 second left and was fouled. Leistikow sank both free throws to give Faith a 3 point lead and CCCB's desperation heave hit the ceiling, giving Faith the upset win and an 9th place finish.

Nationally, Jon Luke Talton was selected as an ACCA 1st Team All American and David Levy was an ACCA and NCCAA Scholar Athlete.

Faith finished their season with an overall record of 15-14, a conference record of 7-6, and a region record of 3-3. Both the men's and women's teams will be recognized at the annual Winter Sport's Athletic Awards Fellowship on Tuesday, March 22 at 6pm. The public is invited to attend.