[Men's Basketball] Murdock's 39 Points Keys Falcons' Comeback Win Over Kansas Wesleyan

WICHITA, Kan. – Jordan Murdock (JR/Wichita, Kan.) poured in 39 points to lead the Friends University Falcons back from a double-digit deficit and win 88-80 over the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes tonight in a KCAC matchup tonight (Dec. 12) inside the Garvey PE Gymnasium.

The win pushes the Falcons to 5-3 in the KCAC and into a four-way tie for fourth place in the league with KWU, York College and the University of Saint Mary.

"Nice win for us against a quality KWU squad," Friends head coach Dale Faber said. "We struggled early but hung around and made a game of it. Jordan had another big night, but his teammates all made enough big plays around him to help us get the result we were hoping for."

"I think we have plenty to work on but we it's nice to get a quality conference win going into the Christmas break."

Friends had to fight off a slow start that saw them fall behind by 15 in the first half before battling all the way back to take their first lead of the game at 63-61 on a layup by Zion Fralin (FR/Wichita, Kan. ) with 9:24 remaining.

The Falcons never trailed from that point and built the lead to 10 as threes by Fralin and Murdock keyed an 8-0 burst that made it 75-65 at the 5:24 mark.

After KWU fought back within six, Fralin and EJ Garnes (JR/Wichita, Kan. ) would hook up on two consecutive possessions to keep the Coyotes at bay.

First, Garnes found Fralin inside for a layup and Fralin promptly returned the favor by feeding Garnes inside for a score that again pushed the Friends lead to double-figures at 79-69 with 1:56 left.

With 45 seconds left, Atir Cherne (JR/Wichita, Kan.) got free on an inbounds pass for a dunk that put an exclamation point on the win.

But the Coyotes refused to go quietly and crawled within four before Malik Norris (SO/Houston, Texas) and Murdock each hit two free throws in the final 15 seconds to seal the win for the Falcons.

It was the Coyotes that got off to a hot start, quickly building a 9-2 lead and eventually stretching that edge to 26-11 at the 9:38 mark of the first half.

That's the point Murdock began to get going offensively, scoring 16 of his 18 first-half points over the remainder of the stanza to help the Falcons cut the deficit to just 39-37 at the break.

Murdock's 39 points adds to his NAIA-leading scoring total and puts him currently at 29.5 points per game.  He also secured a game-high 13 rebounds for his sixth straight double-double.

Fralin added 15 points for the Falcons (7-6, 5-3 KCAC) and Garnes dished out a game-high seven assists.

Jordan McNelly led the Coyotes (7-5, 5-3 KCAC) with 22 points, with Jamon Fulton chipping in with 21.

The Falcons shot a blistering 61.3 percent (19-of-31) in the second half to finish with a 55.4 percent (31-of-56) clip, their highest field-goal percentage of the season.

Friends also held a 33-32 edge overall on the glass and outscored the Coyotes 38-32 in the paint.

Next up, the Falcons will play a non-conference tilt at Peru State College on Friday night (Dec. 15). Tip-off will be at 7 pm in Peru, Neb.