The Basics
Score: Evangel 83, Culver-Stockton 78
Records: Evangel (11-12, 10-8); Culver-Stockton (5-11, 4-11)
Location: Charles Field House

Box Score

CANTON, Mo. – Behind double-double performances from Pavel Antonov and Cade Coffman, Evangel built a double-digit first half lead, then withstood Culver-Stockton's second-half rally to finish off an 83-78 victory over the Wildcats Thursday evening at Charles Field House.

Antonov finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds, while Coffman posted a 23-point, 10-board night for his second-consecutive double-double to power the Crusader attack. EU led by as many as 16 points early in the second half, but had to withstand a late C-SC charge that saw the Wildcats trim the Crusaders' advantage down to one point via a 16-1 scoring run.

After Coffman's three-pointer--his fifth of the game--with 12:56 to play gave EU a 66-50 lead, the Wildcats scored the next 13 points to pull to within three. Robert Fry's triple with 8:17 to play cut the margin 67-66, but an Antonov bucket and a Kendall Sutton free throw gave EU a four-point lead again.

Three consecutive Wildcat free throws pulled the home team back to within one again with just under six minutes to play, but once again Antonov responded with a basket in the paint. Edriel Martinborough tacked on two free throws to extend the lead to 74-69 with 3:06 left on the clock, before Antonov scored four-straight EU points to make it a seven-point game.

C-SC climbed back to within three points, and Jim King had a chance to level the score, but his three-pointer with 47 seconds was off the mark. Fry completed a three-point play with 10 seconds left, but Coffman and Chris Stocks combined to go 3-of-4 at the foul line to close out the win.

Coffman finished 5-of-9 from three-point range and handed out a game-high five assists. Josh Pritchett totaled 15 points, four assists and two steals, as EU shot 0.462 (30-of-65) for the game.

Evangel got off to a blistering start, led by the shooting of Coffman, who buried four three-pointers in the first five minutes of the contest to help stake the Crusaders to an early double-digit lead.

The Crusaders scored the game's first eight points, thanks to triples from Coffman and Pritchett. After Culver-Stockton rebounded to cut the lead to 10-6, Coffman drained three-consecutive attempts from beyond the arc, then capped a 14-5 EU spurt with a jumper to make it a 24-11 contest.

Thanks to eight points from Cole Schwartz, the Wildcats scratched their way back to within seven points with just under 10 minutes to play in the half.

But Antonov converted a pair of free-throw attempts, then slammed home a putback off a Martinborough miss to extend the margin back to 11 points.

Evangel stretched its lead to as many as 15 points late in the half, as Martinborough came up with a steal and fed Stocks for a breakaway bucket, then skied to throw down an ally-oop off of a feed from Pritchett for a 44-29 EU cushion.

EU shot 0.486 (18-of-37) as a team from the floor in the opening half, including seven makes from three-point range. Coffman went 4-of-7 from beyond the arc to tally 16 first-half points, while Antonov added 10 point and nine boards over the first 20 minutes to help the Crusaders out-rebound the Wildcats by a 23-13 margin.

Culver-Stockton was led by matching 18-point performances from Fry and Schwartz, while King added 16 points.

UP NEXT
Evangel will close its regular-season slate Saturday (Feb. 13) with a 2 p.m., Heart Conference home contest against Grand View 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—