The Basics
Score: Evangel 71, Southwestern 86
Location: Springfield, Mo. (AGFinancial Arena)
Records: Evangel (16-9, 12-7), Southwestern (19-6, 13-6)
Box Score
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Evangel Men's Basketball hosted the Southwestern College Moundbuilders for an important KCAC matchup, as both teams were deadlocked with Bethel for fourth place in the conference standings. The Valor would play a tightly contested start to the first half, but Southwestern shot exceptionally well, using answers on the majority of Evangel's baskets to take a 86-71 win over the Moundbuilders.
Evangel hit four consecutive three pointers to open Wednesday night's game, as Jacob Lafferty and Harrison Doennig both hit a pair of shots, making it a 12-10 EU lead. A Garrett Davault layup and three pointer from Ty Campbell gave EU their largest lead of the evening, 17-12, with 15:01 remaining. A 7-0 Southwestern run swung momentum, but Davault quickly re-gave the Valor a lead, using a pair of floaters. A 9-2 Southwestern run gave the Moundbuilders a 28-23 lead, before Bryce Ware nailed a three to make the deficit just two points. A 11-3 run by the visiting Moundbuilders allowed Southwestern to take a 39-29 lead over EU, but the Valor were able to make a small run to close the half, trailing 42-36 at the break.
Southwestern came to play in the second half, as a Davault basket gave EU their closest opportunity to the lead, 42-38, but a 13-0 Moundbuilder run swung momentum completely to Southwestern, 55-38. Evangel could not find much of an answer, as SWC was able to continue holding a double digit lead in the half. Akarius Staten-Ballance, Luke Foster, and Cole Griesemer all had solid performances off the bench in the second half, but the late run came too little, too late, as EU fell 86-71 on Wednesday.
QUOTABLE
"Southwestern played some really good basketball tonight," head coach Bert Capel stated. "They were consistently better than us on both ends of the floor for most of the game and shot the ball extremely well."
NOTABLE
UP NEXT
Evangel MBB hosts the Bethany College Swedes at 2:00 p.m. for senior day on Saturday (Feb. 14) afternoon, their final home regular season matchup of the year.
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.
