The Lowdown: Sterling College at Friends University

Location: Garvey Center

When: Saturday, Jan. 13 @ 7 pm

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Flying with the Falcons: The Friends University Falcons defeated the Avila University Eagles 67-63 on the road Wednesday night (Jan. 10) for their second straight victory.  The Falcons are now 6-8 overall and 3-6 in the KCAC.

Leading by a point at halftime, the Falcons quickly took charge by reeling off a 25-9 burst during the opening nine minutes of the second half.

KJ Spiller scored the first five points to ignite the spurt while three-point plays by Steve Staco, Tim Barbieri and Steele Chapman followed on the next three possessions to bolster the run.

A Drew Patterson three-pointer and a Christian Williams layup finished the big push and staked the Falcons to a 55-38 lead with 11:23 left in the game.

The Eagles then staged a furious comeback behind eight points from Jaren Miller and six by James Ross III that fueled a 16-0 run to suddenly make it a one-point game with still 4:45 left in the game.

Undeterred, the Falcons regrouped and scored the next eight points over the next four minutes to effectively put the game away.

During the decisive push, the Falcons clamped down on the defensive end and forced the Eagles to miss their next four shots along with a pair of turnovers.

Spiller leads the Falcons in scoring with 14.6 points per game, followed by Drew Patterson with 9.9 ppg. Tim Barbieri has secured a team-leading 5.8 rebounds and Steele Chapman has dished out a team-high 2.6 assists on the season.  

As a team, the Falcons are shooting 46.7 percent overall from the floor and a solid 37.1 percent from the perimeter.

Scouting the Warriors: The Sterling College Warriors have dropped their last two games but are still 9-5 overall and 5-4 in the KCAC.

Mooch Austin is the Warriors' top scorer at 14.9 ppg, with Brandon Doss averaging 11.4 ppg and Jayden Garrison scoring 10.5 ppg. Austin and Doss also each average a team-high three assists per game, while Elias Ngoga leads the Warriors with 5.5 rebounds.

The Series: The Falcons are 25-16 vs. the Warriors since 2004 and 13-6 in Wichita. Friends dropped both meetings last year, which halted a 13-game winning streak in the series.          

Quoting head coach Phil McClintock:     

"This is a big game for us as Sterling is a few games ahead of us in the standings. We have won a few games in a row so we are going to try to carry the positive momentum into the Sterling game."

Boarding School: The Falcons have won all five games this season when leading in rebounding, but are just 1-7 when the opposition holds the edge on the glass.  Friends also lost the only time that the rebounds were even.

Straight Shooters: The Falcons are 5-1 when outshooting the opposition, but have lost seven of eight games that the opposing team leads in field-goal percentage.

Sponsor Alerts: Friends University Athletics is excited to have Home2 Suites by Hilton back as an official athletic sponsor this season! For more on what they can offer, click HERE to visit their official webpage.

Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall record: 6-8

KCAC: 3-6

Home: 4-4

Road: 2-4

Neutral: 0-0

When scoring:                                             

Under 50 points: 0-0

50-59 points: 0-1

60-69 points: 1-1

70-79 points: 2-3

80-89 points: 0-2

90+ points: 3-1

When allowing:

Under 50 points:

50-59 points: 2-0

60-69 points: 3-1

70-79 points: 0-0

80-89 points: 0-3

90+ points: 1-4

When leading at halftime: 4-3

When trailing at halftime: 2-5

When tied at halftime: 0-0

When committing fewer turnovers: 4-5

When committing more turnovers: 2-3

When turnovers are tied: 0-0

When leading in field-goal percentage: 5-1

When trailing in field-goal percentage: 1-7

When field-goal percentage is tied: 0-0

When leading in three-point percentage: 4-4

When trailing in three-point percentage: 2-4

When three-point percentage is tied: 0-0

When leading in rebounding: 5-0

When trailing in rebounding: 1-7

When rebounding is tied: 0-1

When leading in assists: 4-1

When trailing in assists: 2-7

When assists are tied: 0-0

In OT: 0-0

The Coaches:

Phil McClintock is in his first season as head coach of the Friends University men's basketball program.

McClintock brings a stark familiarity of the KCAC to Friends, highlighted by an eight-year tenure as Associate Men's Basketball Head Coach at Ottawa University.

At Ottawa, McClintock served as the recruiting coordinator and was responsible for film breakdown and scouting reports.

2019-20 was a breakout season, as McClintock brought in six of the team's top 10 players that produced a school-record 28 victories, a regular season KCAC championship and an NAIA Sweet 16 appearance (tournament ended early due to COVID-19).

In addition to his basketball coaching experience at Ottawa, McClintock has also been the Braves Men's and Women's Golf head coach for the past four seasons.

McClintock's first basketball head coaching position came at Salem high school, where he spent three seasons and guided the team in the 2014-15 campaign to their first winning record in eight years.

A strong developer of young players, McClintock has served as a Camp Coach at the KU Bill Self Basketball Camps every year since 2012. His responsibilities at the camp include running drills, coaching teams and developing player skills.

His first career coaching job was a two-year tenure as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at William Woods University from 2010-12.

McClintock also played collegiately at Ottawa and enjoyed immense success, earning two NAIA All-America honors, a pair of All-KCAC nods while finishing his career as the all-time leader in blocked shots and top five all-time in scoring, rebounding and steals. An Ottawa University Hall of Fame inductee in 2021, he helped the Braves to two conference titles and a pair of NAIA Sweet 16 berths.

A 2009 graduate of Ottawa University in Physical Education and Health, McClintock then earned his Master of Education in Athletics/Activities Administration from William Woods University in 2012.

McClintock and his wife Kirsten have three boys, Lawson (14), Jackson (10), and Bodie (two).

Randy Stange is in his second season at the helm of the Sterling College men's basketball program.

In his first season with the team, Stange guided the Warriors to a 17-17 record, a 15-game improvement from the previous year.

Stange comes to Sterling from Johnson County Community College following a five-year stint as Athletic Director at JCCC.

His coaching career also includes serving as head coach at Hutchinson Community College and assistant coaching stints at Kansas State University, Saint Louis University and his alma mater, Missouri State University.    

Up Next: The Falcons will face a stiff road test at No. 8-ranked and KCAC-leading Oklahoma Wesleyan University Wednesday night (Jan. 17) at 8 pm in Bartlesville, Okla.