[Men's Basketball] No. 20 Moundbuilders turn away Men's Basketball Falcons' upset bid

WICHITA, Kan. – The Friends University Falcons competed close much of the night against the No. 20-ranked Southwestern College Moundbuilders before ultimately falling short on Senior Night in the regular season finale tonight (Feb. 18) inside the Garvey Center.

Cevin Clark scored a game-high 39 points for the Builders, with 10 of those points coming in an 18-4 barrage to open the second half and turn a one-point deficit into a 53-40 lead at the 15:31 mark.

But instead of closing shop and preparing for the offseason, the Falcons showed grit and toughness in clawing within single-digits on three occasions, with the closest coming on a bucket by Tim Barbieri (JR/Abilene,Kan. ) that made it 61-54 with 9:43 remaining.

Clark though provided another response for the Builders, converting a three-point play that kicked off a run of five straight points for Southwestern and pushed the lead back to 13 points.

With the Southwestern lead up to its largest of the game at 15 points, the Falcons had one more push in them as field goals from Barbieri, Steve Staco (SO/Orlando, Fla.) and Drew Patterson (SO/Charlotte, NC) cut the deficit down to single-digits one more time at 74-65 with 2:47 left.

But two straight threes by Clark again thwarted the Falcons' rally and put the game away for the Builders.

The Falcons came out strong early, using an early 10-2 surge to take a five-point lead of 13-8. It eventually became a seven-point lead before the Builders got seven points from Clark to come back and tie the score at the 6:49 mark.

But the Falcons got threes from Eastyn Ruffin (SO/Wichita, Kan. ) and Ian Konek (SR/Long Beach, Calif.) to again the stretch the lead to six.

It was back to a seven-point lead for the Falcons when the Builders ended the half on an 11-5 run to make it a one-point game of 36-35 at the break.

Christian Williams (FR/Wichita, Kan. ) led the Falcons with 17 points and Drew Patterson added 13 points, including hitting 8-of-10 at the charity stripe. Barbieri finished with 10 points and nine rebounds, highlighted by a rim-rocking dunk in the first half that excited the Garvey Center crowd on Senior Night.

Konek, the Falcons' lone senior, scored seven in his final career game. Konek ends his career as the 10th member of the modern-era 1,000 point club for the Falcons with 1,116 points at Friends.

Clark led all scorers with 39 points and was the only Builder in double-figure scoring. Andrew O'Brien contributed team-highs of eight rebounds and six assists for Southwestern (22-6, 16-6 KCAC), who will be the fourth seed in the KCAC Tournament and host fifth-seeded Bethany College Wednesday night (Feb. 22) in Winfield, Kan.

A big swing in the game came in the offensive output in the second half, with the Builders improving to shoot 56.3 percent (18-of-32) following just a 36.8 percent (14-of-38) shooting percentage in the opening half.  

The Falcons managed to hold their own inside, being outrebounded 42-38 but holding a 38-28 edge in points in the paint.

Friends wraps up the season 5-23 overall and 4-18 in the KCAC.