The Basics

Score: Evangel 67, Avila 78

Location: Kansas City, Mo. (Mabee Fieldhouse)

Records: Evangel (7-10, 4-7); Avila (9-7, 6-5)

Box Score 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Valor Men's Basketball hit the road on Wednesday (Jan. 15) evening, facing off with the Avila Eagles, looking to continue their strong play of late and avenge their loss to the Eagles earlier this season. A second half scoring drought hurt Evangel in their matchup, as the Valor were outscored by 10 in the final period, falling 67-78.

Evangel got the scoring started on Wednesday on a Manrique Alvarado bucket, which proved to be the largest Valor lead of the evening. Garrett Davault played a strong first half, scoring 18 points to help lead Evangel. Both teams exchanged the lead on several occasions on Wednesday night and a pair of free throws from Davault to close out the half for the Valor gave EU a 39-37 lead, before Avila scored three points to head into the halftime break with a 40-39 Eagles lead. 

The Valor continued to battle early in the second half, drawing within three points of the lead on a Davault jumper, 44-47, before Avila generated a 15-6 run to open the game up. Evangel continued to fight, but numerous turnovers and a 28 percent shooting percentage in the second half of play hurt Evangel's chances, as they were able to get the game down to just eight points with two minutes remaining, but fell short of the mark, falling 67-78 on Wednesday.

QUOTABLE 

"I thought we had a lot of opportunities in the second half to take the lead with our defense playing well, but we couldn't find a way to put the ball in the basket," head coach Bert Capel stated. "Avila did a better job of grinding it out down the stretch and found a way to finish the game. We just need to handle a tough road game like this better. We will learn from it."

NOTABLE 

• Garrett Davault led the Valor with 26 points in the loss.

• Davault finished with a team high seven rebounds.

• Manrique Alvarado passed off a team high four assists.

• Evangel shot 53 percent in the first half, but just 28 percent in half number two.

UP NEXT 

Valor MBB takes on Kansas Wesleyan at home on Saturday (Jan. 18) afternoon at 2:00 p.m. in AGFinancial Arena before opening up a three game road trip.

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—