Eagles Sharp in Regular Season Finale

ANKENY, Iowa—Coach Brian Fincham couldn't have asked for a much better performance from his team to close out the regular season schedule. The Eagles were sharp in most phases of Monday night's impressive 89-71 victory over Spurgeon College, a team they lost to earlier this season.

After falling behind on a quick three-point basket, the Eagles responded with an 8-0 run and never looked back. Jayce Goergen, Christian Brown, and Jared Pearson each had big first halves as the Eagles built a 46-38 lead. Goergen had 15 points in the first 20 minutes, while Brown and Pearson added 12 and 9 each. Brown had a thunderous breakaway dunk midway through the half that sparked the Eagles to a 15-6 run over a five-minute stretch.

The Eagles really got things going defensively in the second half, holding Spurgeon to 25.6% shooting (11-43; 2-13 from three). Faith dominated the defensive rebounding with 24 second half rebounds to Spurgeon's 11.

Faith got solid contributions from eight players. Goergen led the way with 22 points. Noah Boyer's 12 rebounds were a game-high. Alex Owens had 10 rebounds off the bench. Carson Odle put in a fine performance off the bench with 9 points and 7 rebounds. Jared Pearson contributed 14 points in his sixth-man role in which he is averaging 15.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game for the season. For the starters, Christian Brown had one of his finest performances of the year with 16 points and 4 rebounds, while Kalab Sidlinger added 14 points, and Jason Conable contributed 4 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists.

The win put the Eagles back over the .500 mark for the season at 12-11. The conference tournament begins in Dubuque on Thursday. Brackets and game times have yet to be announced.