WICHITA, Kan. – The Friends University Falcons played an intriguing exhibition game at the Wichita State University Shockers, falling by a score of 95-65 at Charles Koch Arena.
The Falcons came out un-phased by the environment, getting three treys from Drew Patterson and hitting five of their first 11 threes overall to take leads of 11-7 and 17-15 at the first and second media timeouts of the opening half.
But the inevitable Shocker run came, with a three by Dalen Ridgnal capping a 20-0 spurt that put WSU in front 35-17 at the 6:53 mark of the first half.
A three by Tim Barbieri temporarily halted the Shocker run, but WSU went out to a 50-28 lead at the break.
The Falcons continued to battle in the second half, coming within 56-35 on a layup by Kee'on Hutton with 17:42 left.
The Shockers then scored the next six points and continued to pull away throughout the second half.
"We had a great experience playing against Wichita State," said Friends men's basketball head coach Phil McClintock. "I thought our guys came ready to play and the score the first 10 minutes reflected that. We competed all 40 minutes and I hope that will translate to our conference opener on Wednesday."
Patterson scored a team-high 15 points for Friends and Steele Chapman added 11. KJ Spiller had team-highs of four rebounds and four assists for the Falcons.
Colby Rogers led four Shockers in double-figure scoring with 18 points, followed by Ridgnal with 16. Quincy Ballard paced WSU with 10 rebounds and Harlon Beverly had a team-leading six assists.
The Falcons wound up shooting 10-of-32 from three-point distance overall.
Next up, the Falcons will open up KCAC action Wednesday night (Nov. 15) at Kansas Wesleyan University. Tip-off for the conference opener is at 8 pm in Salina, Kan.
