Pearson Scores 1,000th Career Point in Overtime Loss to Spurgeon

ANKENY, Iowa—It was a bittersweet night for the Eagles as Jared Pearson scored his 1,000^th career point, but the team fell in overtime to the Spurgeon College Knights, 89-86.

Pearson, a forward from Aberdeen, South Dakota (Northern Plains Christian Academy) scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds in the game which saw 11 ties and 16 lead changes. Faith's largest lead was 10 points, which they held with less than two minutes left in the first half. A pair of three-pointers by Spurgeon's Evan Deleon cut the lead to three by halftime, and the momentum was in favor of the Knights.

The second half was a barnburner with both teams staying within a possession of each other all the way until the 6:35 mark when Spurgeon stretched the lead to five off another Deleon three-pointer. Jayce Goergen answered with a three-ball of his own and Chris Barnette scored two of his game-high 35 points to tie the game at 65 with 4:16 remaining.

Pearson hit a pair of free throws with 1:27 left in the game to give the Eagles a two-point lead. Following a steal by Carson Odle, Barnette went to the free throw line and sank two more to give Faith a four-point lead with just 31 seconds remaining. A foul by the Eagles with 17 seconds left sent Spurgeon to the line where they made the first but missed the second. Spurgeon got the offensive rebound, but missed a three-pointer that would have tied the game. The Eagles were unable to convert on a free throw attempt with less than 10 seconds remaining and Spurgeon hit the game-tying three-point basket at the buzzer to send it to overtime.

The overtime frame featured one tie and eight lead changes. The Eagles' last lead came with 3:24 remaining as Spurgeon finished the game on an 11-7 run to complete the overtime victory.

With the loss, the Eagles fell to 6-8 on the season. Faith returns to action for two home games this weekend, beginning with a 7:30 p.m. matchup against Barclay on Friday night. The Eagles finish the weekend with another difficult matchup against Manhattan Christian College at 4 p.m. on Saturday.