Eagles Let Lead Slip in Disappointing Loss

Faith took to the court Friday night in hopes of improving their conference record to 4-2 against Central Christian College of the Bible (Moberly, MO). The energy from the Eagles' electric crowd was not enough to keep them from letting their first half lead slip away late, and they would go on to drop the game 61-67.

Despite the game getting off to an unusual start, the Eagles remained poised and stayed in contention with the Saints. When CCCB's big man went to the bench with foul trouble early in the half, Faith took advantage and continuously fed the ball inside, allowing Faith's Tanner Van Beek to post up and score on four straight possessions. Van Beek's 8 points would be a part of the 10-2 run the Eagles put together to take a 23-13 advantage over the Saints. Faith would carry the lead into the half, up 35-29.

Unfortunately, Faith's intensity and energy coming out of the half did not come close to matching that of CCCB. Despite the Eagles starting off knocking down three consecutive buckets and extending their lead over CCCB to 11, with 16:41 left in the game, the Saints started their own 14-3 run and tied up the game at 44-44. Faith seemed to lose all momentum when CCCB took their first lead at the 9:00 mark. Although the Saints would build up the lead to six, the Eagles had it cut down to two with 1:43 left to play; however, Faith could not get shots to fall and was defeated by the Saints 61-67. The loss puts the Eagles at 3-3 in the conference, and 8-5 overall.

Faith's free throw struggles from their contest last Saturday carried over into this game, as they shot 47 percent and made only 8-17 from the stripe. The Eagles also had one of their worst shooting nights from behind the arc, shooting a mere 6 percent. They attempted sixteen three-point shots on the night, but only one would fall through the net.  

The Eagles were led in scoring by Jon Luke Talton, tallying 14 points. Tanner Van Beek came off the bench and provided a solid inside presence scoring 13 points. Willie Felderman was Faith's top rebounder with his 6 rebounds. Faith also had three other players that put up 5 rebounds apiece.

Faith will look to bounce back from this loss on Monday night, January 30, with a home matchup against Emmaus Bible College (Dubuque, IA) at 6 PM.