Story by Mike Bennett, special contributor to www.evangelathletics.com

Evangel really didn't want to fall for a third-straight game.

That was evident in the final minutes Wednesday night at Ashcroft Center.

The Valor hit the accelerator on both ends of the floor after Benedictine cut their double-digit lead to five points with 3:22 left.

Evangel stifled the Ravens the rest of the way, allowing only five points and pulling away for an 85-70 victory.

The victory moved the Valor back into second place in the Heart Conference with a 13-4 record. "We knew it was a must-win game to get us on track," said Coach Bert Capel. "It's just building from here. We have five games left. We need to finish as well as we can."

Fifth-year guard Edriel Martinborough agrees: "We just couldn't lose another," said Martinborough, who scored 12 points and made a game-high nine rebounds. "It comes down to experience (at the end), executing on offense, not making turnovers and getting rebounds. We always have to bring that energy."

He was one of five Valor to score in double-figures: Autry Acord led the way with 16 points, four steals and loads of defensive energy. Manrique Alvarado scored 14, while Josh Pritchett and Jace Coffie had 12 apiece.

Acord came back into the game after sustaining a cut above his eye after making a driving layup with 12 minutes left. He lay under the basket for 5 minutes. No foul was called, but the referees did check to see if there was a flagrant foul.

He returned nearly eight minutes later with a bandage around his head.

"We love Autry, what he does, the energy he brings," Martinborough. "He always does big things."

Acord immediately made a steal after returning and Stephen Salvi followed a missed shot for a 70-63 lead. Benedictine countered with a pair of free throws to make it 70-65 at 3:22.

Then Evangel went on a 10-0 run. Alvarado made four free throws to boost the lead to 74-65 at 2:30. Pritchett hit three free throws – and 10-for-11 for the game – in helping build the lead to 80-65.

Evangel succeeded on 25-of-29 free-throw attempts.

Acord boosted his nation-leading total in steals to 83. He was averaging 3.6 coming into the game.

Benedictine stayed in the game in the last 10 minutes with treys and free throws.

"That's a good team," Capel said. "We are playing better now than we were."

Braden Belt scored 20 points and had six rebounds to lead the Ravens, who dropped to 11-12 overall and 9-8 in conference.

Evangel (18-5 overall) concludes its homestand at 2 p.m. Saturday with a cross-division game against Culver-Stockton.

Capel said his team will be ready: "After the last two losses we had a heart to heart meeting, watched two hours of film," he said. "We lost our way and weren't playing as hard as we should. We brought attitude, energy and toughness."