Men Share Ball, Scoring in Win Over Lincoln Christian

The Eagle men won their fourth game of the year this past Friday night in their first game of the annual Faith Classic. Faith jumped out early and only trailed by one for 20 seconds in the first minute of the game as they won 89-73 over NAIA Lincoln Christian University. Faith moves to 4-0 on the year with the win.

The Eagles were hot from the start, roaring out to a quick 16-5 lead in the first five minutes of the game. Faith would stretch that lead to 15 with ten to play and looked ready to run away with the game. However, with the Eagles up 13 at 31-18 with just over six to play, Lincoln put together a 6-0 run to pull within seven. Faith would stop the run and maintain that seven point lead, going in to the break up 40-33. 

The Eagles came out of the break determined to re-establish themselves at both ends of the court, quickly jumping back up by double digits. Lincoln responded to pull within six, but a 10-3 run by Faith pushed the lead back to 13. Faith would push the lead to as much as 22 over the final 15 minutes as the Eagles went on to win by the 16 point margin.

The Eagles continue to have a balanced attack. Aaron Leistikow led the Eagles with 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Ryan Kupferschmid added 19 points, while the Eagles got a spark off the bench from John Acree and Josh Bray. Bray was a perfect 6/6 on the night, scoring 18 points including two momentum changing dunks, while Acree was nearly perfect, scoring 16 points on 7 of 8 shooting while grabbing 7 rebounds. Eric Young handed out 5 assists and Cody Chaffin chipped in 9 points of his own.

The Eagles have a quick turn around as they will host NCAA 3 Iowa Wesleyan at 6pm on Saturday. Wesleyan defeated Ozark Christian in the 4pm game of the classic earlier in the day.