Pearson’s Free Throws Seize the Day for the Eagles

By Andrew Gogerty

ANKENY, Iowa—One for all and all for one. A nearly disastrous second-half collapse by the Eagles was salvaged by two clutch free throws from freshman Jared Pearson with 1 second remaining on the clock to save the day for Faith, who defeated Emmaus Bible College, 74-73.

The Eagles had relinquished a 15-point second half lead and trailed by one when Pearson went to the free throw line with the game on the line, but all wrongs were righted when Pearson calmly swished the tying and game-winning points.

It was a tale of two halves for the Eagles. After torching the nets at a clip of 61.1% in the first half (7 of 17 from three-point distance), Faith shot a dismal 22.2% in the second half (8 of 36; 2 of 13 from three), as Emmaus (0-14) turned the tide and rallied from 15 down to take its first lead with 6:38 remaining. Faith had a horrific stretch of scoring only two points in an eight-minute span.

Emmaus led by as many as four with just 1:27 to play, and it looked like Faith was going to hand Emmaus its first win of the season. But a key three-pointer by Jayce Goergen with 1:20 to play put the Eagles right back in it. Trailing by one, with 21 seconds left, Faith sent Emmaus to the free throw line, where they missed the front end of a one-and-one.

After a timeout by Coach Brian Fincham to draw up the winning play, Emmaus had fouls to give before Faith went to the free throw line, so their strategy was to foul and make Faith take time off the clock. That strategy was effective, until they fouled one too many times, sending Jayce Goergen to the free throw line with the chance to tie the game or take the lead with five seconds left.

Goergen missed the front end of his one-and-one, but Jared Pearson grabbed the rebound and was fouled with one second to play. Pearson made the first to tie it, and Emmaus called a timeout to attempt to ice Faith's shooter, but nothing can break the freshman's confidence, as he swished the game-winning free throw with one second to play. Emmaus was unable to get the ball inbounds, and the Eagles' bench joined the fray of jubilation as time expired. One for all, and all for one.

Kalab Sidlinger led a balanced scoring attack with 18 points, followed by Jared Pearson with 17, Jayce Goergen with 11, Noah Boyer with 10, Carson Odle with 10, Christian Brown with 4, and Jason Conable with 4.

With the win, the Eagles improved to 9-9. They have a pair of games this weekend on the road, beginning with a 6 p.m. tilt at Calvary University on Friday night. The Eagles defeated Calvary 91-81 earlier this season.