KCAC

[Men's Basketball] Men's Basketball Falcons ride hot-shooting first half to 94-82 win at KWU

Salina, Kan. – The Friends University Falcons built a large lead in the first half thanks to a blistering shooting display and went on to a 94-82 victory at the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes tonight (Jan. 10) in Salina, Kan. It's the Falcons' first win in Salina since the KCAC Tournament quarterfinal round in the 2017-18 season.Drew Patterson (FR/Charlotte, NC) opened the scoring with a three and that would be a sign of things to come, as the freshman from Charlotte, N.C. hit his first four threes overall and helped the Falcons grab the advantage in the first half.Patterson's fourth three of the night gave the Falcons a 16-14 edge at the 14:55 mark and they never trailed again the rest of the way.Ian Konek (JR/Long Beach, Calif.) then got going and hit a three to stretch the lead to double-figures for the first time and then another trey to push the margin to 43-27.It would then be Semaj Edwards (FR/Lanham, Md. ) hitting the Falcons' 10th three of the half that pushed the edge up to 20 before Alex Gray (FR) connected again from the perimeter to balloon the lead to 57-35 at the break.Friends concluded the first half shooting 54.3 percent (19-of-35) from the field and a sizzling 55 percent (11-of-20) from the perimeter.A bucket by Tim Barbieri (JR/Abilene,Kan. ) to begin the second half gave the Falcons what would be their largest lead of the night at the 19:38 mark.The Coyotes made a run, coming within 10 on multiple occasions, but the Falcons responded each time and never allowed the lead to dip below double-digits for the entirety of the second half."This was another signature win for our program," said Friends men's basketball head coach Austin McBeth. "It's been so fun watching our guys grow as a team, and start to trust each other."Patterson fueled the Falcons' win with career-high totals of 27 points, six threes (6-8) and seven free throws (7-7). Jordan Gary (FR/Decatur, Ga. ) scored 14, while the Falcons got 12 points each from Konek, Barbieri, Gray and Trey Reid (FR/Wichita, Kan. ).Konek also paced the Falcons (6-12, 5-7 KCAC) with seven rebounds along with a career-high tying six assists. Gray had three steals and Barbieri blocked a pair of shots.AJ Range led the Coyotes with 21 points and seven boards, with Easton Hunter scoring 17. Izaiah Hale added 12 and Alex Littlejohn chipped in with 11 points and also had seven rebounds for KWU (12-5, 7-5 KCAC).The Falcons will be on the road again at Avila University Thursday night (Jan. 13) at 8 pm in Kansas City before returning back to the Garvey Center to face Bethany College Saturday (Jan. 15) at 7 pm."I feel like we're gaining momentum, and things are starting to come together," said McBeth. "The second half of the schedule will be a great test of how far we've come since September."