Faith Fends Off Emmaus to Win Inaugural Chaplain’s Trophy

ANKENY, Iowa—Every time Emmaus made a run, Faith had an answer. The Eagles came up clutch in key moments of the inaugural "Chaplain's Trophy" rivalry game, stealing back the momentum from Emmaus consistently throughout the 40 minutes of action with a 88-79 victory, while improving its record to 5-6 overall, 2-1 in conference play.

The Chaplain's Trophy was introduced by the Iowa National Guard as a new traveling trophy between the two Iowa schools. The idea of a traveling trophy was discussed between FBBC Alumni Coordinator Mark Felderman and the Iowa National Guard. Each year, the winner of the basketball game between the two will have a military-style dog tag inscribed with their school name and the year attached to the trophy.

The game saw eight ties and five lead changes and the largest lead for either team was 12 points, held by Faith with 18:27 left in the second half. A key stretch in the first half came in the final minute, when Faith got a three-point basket from Seth Freeman to bump the Eagles' lead from four points to seven points. Connor Parrish then stole the ball from Emmaus and passed to Josh Baucum, who hit a layup as time expired, giving Faith a nine-point cushion at halftime.

Emmaus faced an uphill battle the entire second half, but pulled as close as three points with 6:53 remaining as they continued to feed the ball inside to Tyrus Buckner. The difference down the stretch, however, was the play of Chris Barnette, who scored 12 of his team-high 19 points in the final six and a half minutes, squashing Emmaus runs numerous times. The Eagles shared the ball extremely well Tuesday night, dishing out 16 assists on 34 made baskets as Faith did a great job of moving and cutting to the basket. Despite a significant size disadvantage, Faith outscored Emmaus 40-26 in the paint.

Faith was led by Barnette's 19 points and 12 rebounds, followed by Jared Pearson's 15 points and 7 rebounds, Josh Baucum's 14 points, and Andy Hecker's 11 points. Jayce Goergen (9), Logan Fincham (7), Carson Odle (6), James Busenitz (4), and Seth Freeman (3) rounded out the scoring for the Eagles.

Faith travels to Kansas City and Joplin, Missouri, for a pair of weekend games. The Eagles face Calvary University on Friday at 6 p.m. Faith finishes the weekend against Ozark Christian College (6-2) on Saturday at 4 p.m.