KCAC
[Men's Basketball] Men's Basketball Falcons season ends as Avila rallies in second half of KCAC …
WICHITA, Kan. – The Avila University Eagles came alive in the second half and outscored the Friends University Falcons 44-27 in the final 20 minutes to win 73-65 in a KCAC Tournament first round game tonight (Feb. 22) inside the Garvey Center. The ninth-seeded Eagles now advance to play at top-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan University in the KCAC quarterfinal round Thursday night (Feb. 24) in Bartlesville, Okla.The Eagles came out of the gates strong, scoring 11 of the game's first 14 points and taking a double-digit lead by the 12:28 mark of the opening half.Threes by Matt Reeves (FR/Mansfield, Texas) and Drew Patterson (FR/Charlotte, NC) helped the Falcons battle back with a 14-3 burst to jump on top for the first time with 6:31 left in the half.With the score even at 27-27, Ian Konek (JR/Long Beach, Calif.) (five points) and Jordan Gary (FR/Decatur, Ga. ) (four points) combined for nine points of an 11-2 spurt that was capped by a buzzer-beating jumper by Alex Gray (FR) to put the Falcons up 38-29 at the break.Trey Reid (FR/Wichita, Kan. ) kept the momentum going by opening up the second half with a three-pointer before converting a steal into a layup that resulted in the Falcons' biggest lead of the night, 50-36 with 14:44 remaining.The Falcons still led by 13 when the Eagles made their move and scored the next 11 points to come within two.Following two free throws by Reid that halted the Eagles' run, a three-point play by Donte' Simpson made it a one-point game.Four straight points from Alex Gray stemmed the tide momentarily, but Jared Larson scored eight points to fuel a 10-2 run, including hitting a three that gave Avila its first lead since the score was 26-25 at the 4:50 mark of the first half.The Eagles never trailed again, but the Falcons hung in down only one after Gray hit two free throws with 3:21 left.Avila though held the Falcons scoreless the rest of the way and a three by Jaylin Dinkins and a pair of free throws each from Trey Heinrich and Simpson sealed the win for the Eagles.Reid led the Falcons with 15 points, with Gray delivering a line of 14 points, six rebounds and a career-high six assists. Konek chipped in with 12 points for Friends.Simpson led all scorers with 20 points along with seven assists and six boards for the Eagles (10-21). Dinkins scored 17 and Larson finished with 13. Heinrich scored in double-figures with 11 points and also had six rebounds.The box score reflected the tale of two halves that decided the outcome, with the Falcons shooting a blazing 54.2 percent (13-of-24) in the first half before cooling off to a 31.8 percent (7-of-22) clip in the second half. The Eagles meanwhile warmed up to shoot 53.3 percent (16-of-30) in the second half after mustering only a 36.7 percent (11-of-30) shooting percentage in the opening stanza.The Falcons outrebounded the Eagles 35-26 and held a 22-16 advantage in points in the paint, but were hurt by 22 turnovers that provided Avila with 14 more shot attempts and a 28-10 edge in points off turnovers.Under first-year head coach Austin McBeth, the Falcons finish up this year 11-20 overall and won four of their last five games in the regular season, including four straight games for their longest win streak since the 2018-19 season.