Men Survive Scare, Defeat CCCB

The Eagle men kept their undefeated conference record intact with a road victory over Central Christian College of the Bible. The Eagles won at CCCB for the first time in four years, overcoming a blistering 59% effort from behind the arc by the hosts to earn their 16th victory of the season. The 88-79 win puts Faith at 5-0 in the conference.

CCCB came out hot, running up a 13-6 lead in the first four minutes. CCCB hit three shots from behind the arc during that stretch, in what was a hint of what was to come throughout the rest of the game. Faith remained poised, though, stringing together their own 16-0 run to take a 9 point lead with 10 left in the first stanza. Faith then held that lead for the next several minutes, before another CCCB run pulled them within one. Faith pushed the lead back to 6, 43-37 going into the half. Out of the break, the Eagles quickly doubled the lead to 12 and looked poised to put the game away. CCCB continued to hit the outside shot, though, and hang around. Faith maintained an 8-12 point lead for the rest of the game, and with 5 minutes left led by 8. CCCB would make one more run, pulling as close as 3 points, but Faith stretched the lead back out with some timely baskets and steals, then sealed the game at the free throw line for the win. 

All 10 men who played saw at least 15 minutes, all 10 scored, and 6 of the 10 finished with 9 points or more. Aaron Leistikow finished with 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Cody Chaffin and Josh Bray each scored 15. John Acree scored 14. Willie Felderman and Jon Luke Talton each had 9 points for the Eagles. Chaffin also grabbed 3 steals. The Eagles outrebounded the Saints 32-25. Seventeen of the Eagles rebounds were offensive. Faith grabbed 13 steals and forced 23 Saints turnovers, which the Eagles turned into 29 points. Faith overcame a blistering 10/17 effort from the host from behind the arc by shooting 26 freethrows to the Saints 14. 

Faith will look to keep their perfect conference record intact on Saturday, when they will travel to St. Louis, MO, to take on St. Louis Christian College in a 2pm tip off.