KCAC
[Men's Basketball] Men's Basketball Falcons run season-high winning streak to four games with …
Leavenworth, Kan. – Under first-year head coach Austin McBeth, the Friends University Falcons appear to be hitting their stride at the right time and have now won a season-high four straight games with tonight's (Feb. 16) 69-63 victory on the road at the University of Saint Mary Spires in Leavenworth, Kan.The victory assures the Falcons the eighth seed in the KCAC tournament and a home opening round tourney game Monday night (Feb. 22) at 7 pm.The Falcons were not to be denied tonight, as they fought off a Saint Mary rally in the second half and responded with a surge of their own to go on to the victory.It was a 30-30 gridlock at the break when the Falcons opened the second half with a 7-2 spurt to gain a lead.By the midway point of the second stanza, a layup by Alex Gray (FR) pushed the lead up to 49-41.That's when the Spires fought back, using an 11-0 run to go on top 52-49, their first lead since the 17 second mark of the opening half.But Matt Reeves (FR/Mansfield, Texas) found Jordan Gary (FR/Decatur, Ga. ) for a layup to snap a near two and a half minute scoring drought for the Falcons and ignite an 11-0 burst of their own to re-gain an eight-point edge of 60-52 with 4:14 remaining.After the Spires closed within four at the 1:07 mark, it was again Gary slamming the door shut literally and figuratively with a dunk and then one free throw to effectively put the game away."It wasn't pretty, but it was another gritty road win that puts us at four in a row," said McBeth. "I was proud of how we handled some adversity late when Saint Mary took the lead and found a way to battle back. This young group is growing every game, and it's a blast being their coach!"Gray continued his solid play for the Falcons, posting an all-around stat line of 14 points, 13 rebounds, a career-high tying five assists and two steals.Trey Reid (FR/Wichita, Kan. ) led the Falcons with a game-high 17 points and Ian Konek (JR/Long Beach, Calif.) added 12.Christian Carmichael and Cameron Southern each scored 14 points to lead the Spires, while Brad Hailey recorded a team-high 13 boards.The Falcons stifled the Spires into only a 33.3 percent (25-75) clip overall from the floor, while hitting a solid 50 percent (25-of-50) of their field-goal attempts themselves.Friends outrebounded Saint Mary 43-40 overall, but the Spires did hold an 11-3 edge on the offensive glass that resulted in 25 more shot attempts.The Falcons also outscored the Spires 36-30 in the paint, but had to overcome scoring deficits of 27-1 in points off turnovers and 13-0 in second chance points.Senior Night is next for the Falcons, with the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes coming to the Garvey Center for a 7 pm tip-off Saturday night (Feb. 19).NOTE: The current four-game winning streak for the Falcons is their longest since the 2018-19 season.