Shooting Woes Plague Eagles in Loss to Central Christian

MOBERLY, Missouri—The Faith Eagles dug themselves an early hole against Central Christian College of the Bible on Monday and were never able to recover as they lost their second consecutive game, 88-77.

Faith (3-2) trailed for all but eight seconds against the Saints (3-3). That lead came in the first minute of the game, and it was an uphill struggle from there as the Eagles battled foul trouble and a second straight game of cold shooting from three-point distance (7-21).

The Eagles got a great first half from Jayce Goergen (15 points) and Jared Pearson (14 points), but trailed by as many as 15 points as Central Christian caught fire shooting the ball. Faith cut the lead to five with less than two minutes remaining in the half, but a late three-pointer gave the momentum back to the Saints as they headed for the locker room.

Every time the Eagles looked like they may go on one of their patented rallies in the second half, the Saints answered. Faith was never able to get within seven points, and it was a three-pointer by Central Christian's Trey Black with 2:33 remaining that really put the dagger in the comeback hopes of the Eagles, stretching the lead from 11 to 14.

Jayce Goergen played all 40 minutes and led the Eagles with 19 points. Jared Pearson added 17, and was followed by Noah Boyer (14) and Kalab Sidlinger (12) as Eagles who scored in double digits. Faith got some solid rebounding off its bench as Carson Odle led the team with eight rebounds, while Luke Owensby added seven.

Faith returns to action with a pair of home games this weekend at the Faith Christmas Classic. The Eagles face Trinity Bible College at 6 p.m. on Friday and Maranatha at 4 p.m. on Saturday.