Posted: Feb 11, 2019
Eagles Finish up Regular Season at #6
Central Christian College of the Bible
(9-13, 2-3)
86
Emmaus Bible College
(2-20, 1-4)
76
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Central Christian College of the Bible (9-13, 2-3) | 46 | 40 | 86 |
|
Emmaus Bible College (2-20, 1-4) | 35 | 41 | 76 |
The Emmaus Eagles set out on Saturday to add another win to their record and to take another step up in Conference rankings. With their previous game against CCCB (A 97-75 loss) not counting towards final conference records, the men had a chance to go 2-4 in conference.
In a high stakes matchup that fell on senior night for 3 of the Eagles (Stevie Horan, Nick Johnson, Elijah Reeves) there was a lot of energy and excitement going into the game which would later be described by Coach Edmondson as "The best 40 minutes of basketball Emmaus has played this season". A slow start from the Eagles combined with 11 first half turnovers and some open missed shots put Emmaus down 11 at the end of the half. Senior Stevie Horan kept the Eagles in the game with 9 points and 10 rebounds in the first half alone, and carried his success into the final 20 minutes as well.
In the second half Emmaus brought much higher defensive intensity and were able to dig their way almost completely out of the hole and into the lead. The Eagles led in most of the stats categories in the second half and outscored the Saints by 1, but it would not be enough for an Emmaus victory. In the end, CCCB notched an 86-76 victory.
The were many key contributors from Emmaus in addition to 22 assists from the team as a whole. Leading performances came from Horan with 17 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists, Caleb Williams with 15 points and 5 assists, Nacio Dillard with 12 points and 7 assists, and Elijah Reeves with 12 points and 8 rebounds.
Ultimately, Coach Edmondson said: "This was really a fun game. Both teams played very hard and competed with class. It is the kind of game that you should expect in a conference made up of Christian schools. Last year Ozark won the tournament as the 5th seed and I think what you saw today were two teams that are capable of winning the tournament as the 5th and 6th seeds. I am looking forward to taking our team to Kansas City for the tournament next week because I think we are hitting our stride now and can really make some noise if we play with the kind of energy and effort we did today. It should be a fun tournament."
Heading into postseason, Emmaus is now 2-21 overall and 1-5 in Conference. They will head into the MCCC tournament next week as the #6 Seed and will play Manhattan in the first round.