Valley City Takes Game in the Second Half

The Eagle men gathered their belongings and took to the highways eastward to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.  The Big 4 Classic did not pit the Eagles against their longtime rival but instead would have them battle another NAIA team in the first game.  The trip was uneventful except for the fact that the normally (according to MapQuest) trip of 3 hours and 23 minutes would take a little longer, like 4 ½ hours, because of the Chicago traffic.  As a result, the Eagles arrived later than they would normally have arrived and they hustled to prep for the Valley City St. Univ. men.

As has been the case lately, the Eagles had another great first half.  Behind the amazing three point shooting of Matthew Tomlinson in particular, the Eagles not only were hanging with Valley City, but actually leading them at the break, 49-45.  Tomlinson was hitting long range shots at a 50% clip and had 17 first half points.  Steven Horan continued his strong play by adding 16 points and Cody Cunard chipped in 10 points and 5 assists.  However, the Eagles struggled on the backboards as Austin Dunbar of Valley City had 12 rebounds at the intermission.

But the Eagles couldn't hold their lead in the second half again despite another valiant effort.  It was hard to match the sterling performance of the first half and the shooting cooled off for Emmaus. Another player missed the game for the Eagles, co-captain Caleb Postma, as he suffered a leg injury during the Silver Lake game.  Already without the services of Nathaniel Glidewell, the injury to Postma was another obstacle that the Eagles gamely tried to overcome before falling by a score of 86 to 72.

Horan led the Eagles with 24 points and Tomlinson finished his great shooting game with a career high 23 points.