Close Losses Spoil Conference Tournament for Eagles

MOBERLY, Missouri—The Faith Eagles men's basketball team had a pair of games go down to the final seconds this weekend in the MCC Conference Tournament. Neither went the Eagles' way as the team fell to 8-15 overall.

Faith squared off against Central Christian College of the Bible for the third time this season in the opening round—this time with aspirations of a run to the conference tournament championship. The third time was not a charm, however, as the Eagles fell in overtime, 80-72.

A game that saw 10 ties and 10 lead changes was a seesaw battle, especially in the first half as Faith held the score within two at halftime. The Saints built their lead to as many as seven with nine minutes to play, and just when it looked like the game may get away from the Eagles, Faith rallied to tie the game at 55 apiece with 4:53 to play. Trailing by two, with 39 seconds remaining, Noah Boyer made a jump shot to tie the game at 61, and the Eagles held off a last-second three point attempt by the Saints to send the game to overtime. The overtime period was not kind to Faith as they struggled to make a basket and struggled to stop Central Christian from getting to the hoop as the Saints pulled away for their third win against Faith this season.

There were several notable performances for the Eagles. Kalab Sidlinger led the team in scoring with 24 points. Jared Pearson chipped in 18 points and 12 rebounds, and Noah Boyer added 11 points and 15 rebounds.

The Eagles hoped to bounce back against Emmaus in the fourth place game on Saturday, but Faith looked rusty for the first 33 minutes of the game, burying themselves into a 15-point deficit with less than seven minutes to play. A three-pointer by Jayce Goergen was followed by several key baskets from Jared Conable, Christian Brown, and Jared Pearson as Faith made a furious comeback in the final five minutes, closing the gap to within three with 2:51 to play. The Eagles had one last chance to tie the game, but missed a three-pointer with six seconds remaining as Emmaus held on for the three-point win, 70-67.

Faith had enough wins in the regular season to qualify for the regional tournament in Watertown, Wisconsin. The Eagles are the number three seed in the region and will square off against Providence University (6-7) at 10 a.m. on Thursday, February 24. The Pilots, from Canada, are a difficult matchup to gauge as their last 12 games have been played against just two opponents.