KCAC

[Men's Basketball] Kansas Wesleyan pulls away late to snap Men's Basketball Falcons winning streak

WICHITA, Kan. – The Friends University Falcons saw their four-game winning streak come to an end to the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes 63-56 tonight (Feb. 19) inside of a packed Senior Night crowd inside the Garvey Center.The Falcons got off to a quick start behind nine points from Ian Konek (JR/Long Beach, Calif.) that led to a 19-10 edge at the 12:39 mark of the opening half.A floater by Matt Reeves (FR/Mansfield, Texas) still had the Falcons on top 25-18 with 7:05 left in the half when the Coyotes tightened up and finished up the stanza on a 10-2 spurt to take a 28-27 lead at the break. The one-point lead was KWU's first since it was 8-6 at the 16:22 mark.After Jun Murdock opened the scoring in the second half for the Coyotes, buckets from Tim Barbieri (JR/Abilene,Kan. ) and Konek put the Falcons back on top by one.The hotly contested affair continued with three ties over the next five minute stretch until a pair of threes by Easton Hunter fueled a 10-1 burst that created separation for the Coyotes at 51-43 with 8:54 left in the game.The Falcons kept battling and fought back when a big three by Reeves and two free throws by Alex Gray (FR) cut the deficit to one, 57-56 with still 2:28 remaining.But that would be all the scoring for the Falcons as a score by Murdock stemmed the tide back in the Coyotes' favor before scores off turnovers by Cory Kaplan and Tyus Jeffries put it down the stretch.Barbieri led the Falcons (11-19, 10-14 KCAC) in both scoring (13 points) and rebounds (eight). Konek scored 11 along with a team-high four assists and Reeves finished with 10 points.Murdock and Hunter led all scorers with 16 points each, while AJ Range pulled down a game-high nine boards for the Coyotes (20-9, 15-9 KCAC).The Falcons outshot (43.8 percent – 39.3 percent) and outrebounded the Coyotes (41-30) that resulted in a 24-18 advantage in points in the paint. But KWU held a slight 14-13 edge in points off turnovers.The KCAC postseason tournament now awaits the Falcons and first-year head coach Austin McBeth. Thanks to their late surge, the Falcons are the eighth seed in the KCAC and will host ninth-seeded Avila University Tuesday night (Feb. 22) at 7 pm inside the Garvey Center.Note: Senior guard Nick Rumbo (SR/Kansas City, Mo. ), injured for the entire season, suited up and started before being subbed out in his last regular home game for the Falcons. Manager King Mudambanuki was also honored for Senior Night.