KCAC

[Men's Basketball] Men's Basketball Falcons uses clutch free-throw shooting to hold on for …

Head Coach Austin McBeth postgame interviewWICHITA, Kan. – After letting a near-upset bid of the No. 4-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan University Eagles slip through their grasp exactly one week ago, the Friends University Falcons made sure to tighten their grip and make the clutch plays down the stretch to pull out a 72-66 upset victory over the (RV) Southwestern College Moundbuilders tonight (Feb. 5) inside a raucous Garvey Center. The loss is just the second for the Builders in their last 13 outings.The decisive stretch of the night came when a three by Ian Konek (JR/Long Beach, Calif.) was followed by a steal and coast to coast layup by Trey Reid (FR/Wichita, Kan. ) to give the Falcons their largest lead of the game, 64-53 with 2:48 remaining.While it appeared the Falcons were on their way to the win, the Builders made sure it didn't come easy. A three by Cooper Pierce and eight straight points from Cevin Clark along with forcing a pair of turnovers off their press sparked a 12-2 burst by the Builders that suddenly made it a one-point game with still 1:29 left in the game.But the Falcons had answers down the stretch, as Alex Gray (FR) rebounded a miss, drew a foul and hit two big free throws to push the lead back to three.Tim Barbieri (JR/Abilene,Kan. ) then had a big block defensively before hitting a pair of clutch free throws to give the Falcons a two-possession edge at the 25 second mark.After Pierce split two at the charity stripe for the Builders, it was Drew Patterson (FR/Charlotte, NC)'s turn to come up big and nail two free throws to effectively close out the Falcons' upset win."They're excited, as they should be for this win," said Friends men's basketball head coach Austin McBeth."We've had a lot of close ones like this and it's hard when you're young and you're not used to feeling the pressure of a savvy, veteran team putting pressure on you and when the gym gets loud, it's hard to win those games. We're learning a lot about ourselves, we had the Oklahoma Wesleyan game that was a similar situation with about six minutes left and we're up but didn't find a way to win that one. These guys are learning and trusting each other more, and starting to buy in that they can do it. That's a big part of it, just believing that we can beat these teams."The opening half saw both teams take turns establishing momentum, as the Falcons took an early 7-4 lead on a three by Gray.The Builders then got six points from Andrew O'Brien and a pair of buckets by Clark to score 10 straight and go up by seven.Friends wasn't deterred and answered with a 10-0 spurt of their own behind a traditional three-point play from Reid a trey by Drew Patterson to take a 17-14 lead.With the game tied for the sixth time in the opening half at 25-25, the Falcons got some separation as Matt Reeves (FR/Mansfield, Texas) hit a three to snap the gridlock and give the Falcons a lead they would carry the rest of the way.Another three by Konek and a putback from Barbieri helped the Falcons take a 38-27 lead at the break.Konek scored a team-high 19 points for the Falcons (8-18, 7-13 KCAC), while Gray finished with 12 and a team-best eight rebounds. Reid finished with 11 points and three assists as the Falcons got a balanced offensive attack of at least seven points from six different players.O'Brien led the Builders with a double-double of 19 points and 15 boards, with Clark producing a game-high 20 points. Zhahidi Robinson chipped in with 12 points for Southwestern (21-5, 15-5 KCAC).The Falcons outshot the Builders both from the field (42.1 percent-36.8 percent) and three-point distance (45 percent-36.8 percent), with the overall rebounding even at 40-40.Friends outscored Southwestern 18-12 in the paint, with the Builders holding a 17-11 edge in second chance points.The Falcons will next play at Sterling College Wednesday night (Feb. 9) at 8 pm in Sterling, Kan. Friends won 87-73 over the Warriors in the first meeting this season (Dec. 13) inside the Garvey Center.     "It's hard when you lose games and your record's not great, it's easy to think we're just not very good," said McBeth. "These guys have consistently showed up every game and believed they could get things turned around. We did it tonight, they're extremely excited and hopefully we can keep it rolling."