Eagles Finish as Runner-Up at Conference Tourney

HAVILAND, Kansas—Gritty. Determined. Focused. The Faith Eagles men's basketball team was all of that and more on a three day quest for a conference tournament title this weekend in Haviland, Kansas. The Eagles came up just short, falling to Manhattan Christian, 83-64, in the championship game on Saturday night.

The Eagles won their opening round game against Calvary with a heart-stopping play on defense to prevent an upset in the opening round on Thursday. The Eagles led by as many as 15 points in the second half but Calvary charged back to take a late lead. Faith showed its resolve and held on for the one-point victory.  

On Friday, the Eagles played another thriller, taking Ozark Christian (a team they had lost to twice in the regular season) to overtime where they advanced to the championship game by the score of 93-90.

Things started as well as they could have for Faith in the championship match against Manhattan Christian, who finished the regular season undefeated in conference play and is currently ranked in the nation's top ten in the coaches polls. Faith played lockdown defense in the first half, building a 37-32 lead against the high-powered Thunder offense.

Unfortunately, the Manhattan Christian offense is like a freight train. Once it gets rolling, it's hard to stop. That's exactly what happened in the second half as the Thunder outscored the Eagles by 24 points to run away with a 19-point victory. Eagles star Chris Barnette was double-teamed much of the evening as Manhattan held Faith's leading scorer to just five points. Jared Pearson and Carson Odle picked up some of the scoring slack with 21 and 15 respectively, but it was not enough to keep up with Manhattan's firepower.

The Eagles return home for a pair of games this week before regional tournament action begins on Wednesday, March 1. Faith plays Union College on Tuesday, February 21, at 6 p.m. in the Nettleton Center and Ecclesia on Friday at 4 p.m., also in the Nettleton Center.