The Basics
Score: Evangel 86, Bellevue 78
Records: Evangel (1-3), Bellevue (3-5)
Location: W.E. Dowell Fieldhouse

Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Evangel men's basketball team rode an 18-4 second-half scoring run to its first victory of the 2020-21 season over Bellevue Saturday afternoon at W.E. Dowell Fieldhouse.

Cade Coffman buried a trio of crucial three-pointers during a three-minute stretch that saw the Crusaders flip a 57-55 BU lead into a 10-point advantage. Josh Pritchett, who led the Crusaders with 17 points, spurred the decisive stretch with a trey of his own at the 8:50 mark, then capped it with an 18-footer that handed EU a 71-61 lead with 4:36 to play.

Bellevue would slice the margin in half with just under two minutes left on the clock, but a Stephen Salvi jumper and four points from Pavel Antonov keyed a 7-0 spurt that gave the Crusaders their largest lead of the day and clinched the victory.

Pritchett added a game-high five assists to his 5-of-11 shooting performance, while Coffman went 5-for-8 from the floor and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, as the duo accounted for 14 of EU's 18 points during its critical run.

Antonov also enjoyed a banner afternoon, converting 7-of-10 field goal tries to tally 16 points. Salvi finished with 11 points and Edriel Martinborough added 10, as EU shot 0.542 from the floor, including a 6-of-12 effort from three-point range.

Evangel, which out-scored the Bruins by a 46-38 margin in the second half, overcame a four-point deficit to its first win of the season. After the two teams played to a 40-40 deadlock at intermission, Bellevue gained the upper hand with an 8-0 outburst of its own to erase the Crusaders' four-point advantage.

Salvi's three-pointer with 16:05 to play gave EU a 49-45 edge, but Paulo Araujo scored the next five BU points to start the run, and Jaylen Wiltz buried a triple at the 12:59 mark to put the Bruins on top.

Keshawn Bruner then scored off of an Evangel turnover to make it a 55-51 game.

Ike Egwu's lay-in with 11:54 to play pulled the Crusaders to within two points, before Lewis Hayes answered for BU with a short jumper to extend the Bruins lead to 57-53 at the 10:30 mark. Manrique Alvarado opened the EU run with a pair of free throws, before Pritchett's second-chance three-pointer gave the Crusaders the lead for good.

Evangel shot a blistering 0.593 (16-of-27) from the floor in an opening half that featured six ties and 10 lead changes. Neither club led by more than five points, as EU used an 11-4 spurt late in the half to build a 32-27 lead.

BU answered on a pair of Jonah Brown treys to reclaim a 37-36 lead, before Antonov scored with just over two minutes to play, and Kendall Sutton added a bucket with 0:29 left on the clock to give the Crusaders a 40-37 edge.

But Jemeil King sank a three-pointer at the buzzer to send both teams to the locker room even at 40-40. King led all scorers with 24 point on 8-of-14 shooting, combining with Brown (14 points) to knock down 9-of-14 attempts from beyond the arc.

UP NEXT
The Crusaders open the home portion of their schedule, as well as Heart of America Athletic Conference play, Wednesday (Nov. 18) with a 7:30 p.m. contest against MidAmerica Nazarene at the Ashcroft Center.

For the latest information on Evangel Athletics, follow the Crusaders on Facebook at Facebook.com/EUAthletics, Twitter (@EUAthletics), or visit EvangelAthletics.com. Fans can also receive updates on the team by downloading the new Evangel Crusaders GamedayApp through Google Play. 

—EvangelAthletics.com—