Salina, Kan. -- KJ Spiller scored with two seconds left to snap a 80-80 tie and give the Friends University Falcons a dramatic 82-80 victory over the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes tonight (Jan. 25) in KCAC action in Salina, Kan.  The win pushes the Falcons into a three-way tie for the top spot in the conference with Oklahoma Wesleyan University and the University of Saint Mary at 11-3 in the league. 

A score from Collin Maclin staked the Falcons to a 80-75 lead with 1:15 left, but Izaiah Hale converted a three-point play on the Coyotes' next possession and then scored the tying field goal with 11 seconds to set up Spiller's heroics. 

The Falcons started hot, getting back-to-back threes by Cahlese Lee to lead 17-6 less than five minutes into the contest. 

A three by Maclin and a score from Randy Woolf, Jr. built the lead up to 14 in the first half before the Falcons settled for a 46-38 lead at the break. 

It was the Coyotes that started strong out of the locker room, opening the second half on a 9-2 run to cut the Falcon lead down to just one. 

Spiller nailed a three to turn the pendulum back in the Falcons' favor, but Carson Jones hit a three to finish an 11-6 to give KWU its first lead since it was 2-1 in the first minute of the game. 

It was another three by Lee that put the Falcons back on top with 12:02 remaining. 

Friends wouldn't trail the rest of the night, but did have to fight off five more gridlocks, with the last coming before Spiller's game winner. 

Lee led the Falcons (15-5, 11-3 KCAC) with a remarkable performance, scoring 26 points while hitting 10 of 11 shots and 6 of 7 3-pointers to finish just two points shy of his career-high. Spiller finished with 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field along with team-highs of eight rebounds and four assists.  Woolf, Jr. contributed 11 points and Ring Deng stood out defensively, recording four steals and adding nine points to his stat line. Maclin finished with a line of nine points, four rebounds and three assists.

Alex Littlejohn led the Coyotes (10-10, 5-9 KCAC) with 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals. Easton Hunter added 15 points, while Jones and Durrell Hudspeth each scored 14. 

The Falcons turned in one of their better offensive performances of the season, shooting a blazing 62.3 percent (33-of-53) from the field and 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from three-point distance. KWU was also above 50 percent (28-of-53) for the game.  

Next up for the Falcons is a home matchup vs. the University of Saint Mary Wednesday night (Jan. 29) at 8 pm inside the Garvey Center.