The Basics

Score: (22) Evangel 63, JBU 53 

Location: Siloam Springs, Ark. (Bill George Arena) 

Records: Evangel (5-1); JBU (2-6) 

Box Score 

SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. -- Evangel Men's Basketball hit the road after a week off from play to take on a tough John Brown squad. After a narrow first half, the Valor built up a crucial run, led by Edriel Martinborough, that ultimately pushed Evangel to victory, 63-53.

The Valor and Golden Eagles found themselves in a low scoring battle in the first half. It took both teams halfway through the first half to reach double digits with a Jace Coffie jumper knotting the score up at 11 points a piece with 10 minutes left. Each team traded baskets until Josh Pritchett nailed two consecutive threes to push EU out to a small lead. A John Brown jumper ended scoring for both teams as the Valor took a slight 27-24 lead into the break.

The Valor found their crucial run towards the beginning of the second half. An Edriel Martinborough three and free throw followed by a pair of Stephen Salvi jumper pushed the Valor to a 40-28 lead. A Golden Eagle timeout did little to stop the Valor run as a bucket by Manrique Alvarado, followed by five points from Josh Pritchett, and a steal and score from Autry Acord put the Valor up, 49-31, with 11:38 remaining in the game. Evangel cooled off from the floor as John Brown used a 12-4 run to make the game close, but John Brown struggled from three in the final three minutes, resulting in a Valor victory, 63-53. 

QUOTABLE 

 "Great overall win today. With an experienced team coming back from last season, we wanted to push ourselves in our non conference games. Now that we've concluded that part of our schedule, we feel like we have a better idea of who we are as a team and what we need to improve on as we move forward into conference play." 

NOTABLE 

• Edriel Martinborough led Evangel with 17 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor.

• Autry Acord had a great night on the defensive end of the floor for Evangel, recording six steals and scoring six points.

• Josh Pritchett joined Martinborough for double digit scoring, finishing with 15 points.

• Stephen Salvi pulled down a team high seven rebounds in the win.

NEXT UP 

Evangel opens conference play on Saturday (Nov. 26) afternoon at 2:00 p.m. with a matchup against the Wildcats of Culver-Stockton in Canton, Mo.

For the latest information on Evangel Athletics, visit Facebook at Facebook.com/EvangelValor, Twitter (@EvangelValor), or EvangelAthletics.com. Fans can also receive updates on their favorite EU teams by downloading the Evangel Athletics Gameday App through the App Store or Google Play.  

—#OneValor—