WICHITA, Kan. — The (RV) Friends University Falcons came up short in tonight's (Oct. 27) season opener 90-84 to the Baker University Wildcats inside the Garvey Center.
Down 41-37 at the break, Baker continued to stretch the lead in the second half and built edge up to 16 at 76-60 with 6:24 left when
Isaac Jones and
Deshaun Lewis scored inside for the Falcons to start the push back.
After struggling with his shot early,
Owen Evans caught fire late and hit three 3-pointers in a 1:10 span, with
Eli Benning assisting on all three to bring the Falcons within 81-75 at the 3:37 mark. The Wildcats pushed the lead back to seven at 85-78, but consecutive buckets by Benning and Lewis made it a one-possession game with 22 seconds left.
With the lead still one score at 87-84, Benjamin Ibralic split a pair of free throws and a three-point miss by the Falcons in the final seconds sealed the win for Baker.
The Wildcats also led for much of the first half, twice pushing the lead to seven until a three by
Brody Kreutzer and a score by Benning finished a 9-2 spurt that gave the Falcons a 26-25 lead, their first edge since it was 8-7 just over five minutes into the contest. Friends went on to lead by as much as five at 33-28 and was still up 36-34 following a three by
KJ Kelley, but five straight points by Kameron Johns ignited a 7-1 spurt to end the half to give the Wildcats the four-point lead.
The Falcons will remain at home and host the Jack Kater Classic this weekend, starting Friday night (Oct. 30) vs. Haskell Indian Nations University at 7 pm. Friends will then square off with John Brown University at 3 pm the following day (Oct. 31).
Friends Top Performers
Eli Benning
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- 23 points
- 7 assists
- 7/12 field goals made
- 9 free throws made
Deshaun Lewis
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- 15 points
- 8 rebounds
- 4 blocks
- 7/12 field goals made
Owen Evans
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- 15 points
- 4 3-pointers made
- 4 steals
- 4 rebounds
Jackson Swartz
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- 7 rebounds
- 3 steals
- 3 offensive rebounds
Isaac Jones
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- 9 points
- 5 rebounds
- 4 offensive rebounds
Baker Top Performers
Jimmy Dorsey
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- 24 points
- 5/9 3-pointers made
- 5 assists
- 3 blocks
Cam Jones
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- 17 points
- 6/11 field goals made
- 6 rebounds
- 2 steals
Benjamin Ibralic
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- 15 points
- 7 rebounds
- 5 assists
- 2 steals
Kameron Johns
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- 16 points
- 4/8 3-pointers made
- 3 assists
Lucas Lyons
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- 3 steals
- 5 rebounds
- 2/3 field goals made
