February 16, 2025

Eagles Finish out Conference Homestand Going 1-1

(Ankeny, IA) - Faith men's basketball finished out the regular season at home last weekend.

Barclay College

2-20, 2-9

Faith Baptist Bible College

12-13, 6-5

Final

Barclay College 2-20, 2-9

Faith Baptist Bible College 12-13, 6-5

Manhattan Christian College

19-9, 11-1

Faith Baptist Bible College

12-14, 6-6

Final

Manhattan Christian College 19-9, 11-1

Faith Baptist Bible College 12-14, 6-6

On Friday, the Eagles were at home playing against the Bears from Barclay College. The Eagles had won the previous matchup earlier in the season 77-70.

The Eagles jumped out to a quick start and took an early 13-6 lead following a three pointer from Mason Gorsh with 13:15 remaining. This was not the only time that Gorsh gave the Eagles a 3 point boost, as he hit another 3 to push the Eagles lead to 9 points with 1:44 minutes left in the half. The Eagles took a halftime lead 36-28.

The 2nd half proved to be an exciting half. The Eagles initially looked like they would pull away as Asa LaFleur scored a layup that pushed their lead to 61-46. The Bears did not give up and they slowly chipped away with the help of a 2-2-1 press and five second half 3s made by guard Tyler Hinton. The Bears even took a lead with 2:29 remaining 76-74. Luckily for the Eagles, guard Mason Gorsh hit his ninth 3 of the night with 7 seconds remaining to give the Eagles the lead and the 82-79 victory.

Mason Gorsh led all scoring with 31 points, followed by Asa LaFluer chipping in 20 points and 4 steals, and Seth Freeman and Logan Fincham combined for 13 of the team's 22 assists.

The next day, the Eagles had a quick turnaround as they faced the #4 rankedThunder from Manhattan Christian College.

Manhattan jumped to an early 13-5 first half lead, but the Eagles hung around, going into the half trailing 40-31.

For the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half, the Thunder started to pull away as they held a double digit lead for most of that time. The Eagles had no quit in them as they brought the game back to within 5 points with a free throw from Logan Fincham with 2:45 remaining. Unfortunately, it was too little too late as the Thunder responded with a run of their own, and closed out the game winning 78-62.

Mason Gorsh led the Eagles in scoring with 18 points and Gus Bunnell chipped in 14 points. Closing out the regular season conference schedule, the Eagles move to 12-14 overall (6-6 in MCCC play).

The Eagles next contest will be on Thursday, February 20th in the MCCC tournament as the 4th seed as they take on the 5th seeded Warriors from Calvary University at 8:00 pm.