[Men's Basketball] Men's Basketball Falcons Tripped up by York

WICHITA, Kan. – The York College Panthers led for most of the night in defeating the Friends University Falcons 84-70 tonight (Feb. 15) inside the Garvey Center.  The Falcons are now 17-11 overall and in fourth place in the KCAC with a 15-8 league record.

A score from Davonte Pack (JR/Sumter, SC) gave the Falcons an early lead of 6-4 at the 16:16 mark of the first half.

That was noteworthy because it would be the only time all night the Falcons were on top, as a three by Victor Lewis gave the Panthers a lead they wouldn't relinquish over the final 35:55.

The trey by Lewis was the beginning of a 10-0 spurt by the Panthers that resulted in an eight-point lead.

York twice build the lead to double-figures in the first half before taking a 34-27 lead at the break.

The Falcons came out with the first four points of the second half to make it a three-point game, but Michael Tolbert hit a three and scored five points of an 8-2 run to push the lead right back to nine.

Friends made one more charge, getting a three from Zion Fralin (JR/Wichita, Kan. ) that again shaved the deficit to three at 46-43 with 12:56 remaining.

But as was the theme of the night, the Panthers held their ground when Tyreece Berry responded with a trey of his own and scored seven points to spark a 12-4 burst to give York its largest lead to that point of 58-47 at the 9:17 mark.

The Panthers kept the Falcons at a distance the rest of the way, leading by at least six and as much as 16.

Jun Murdock (FR/Wichita, Kan. ) led the Falcons with 19 points and four assists, with Pack recording a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. Fralin and James Conley also scored 12 points for Friends.

Cameron Burns and Berry paced the Panthers (13-15, 9-13 KCAC) off the bench with 17 and 16 points, respectively. DeAnte Barnes also scored 16 and produced a game-high eight assists.

The Falcons were hampered by shooting woes throughout, mustering only a 29.9 percent (20-of-67) clip overall and 4-of-28 from three-point distance.

Next, the Falcons will host Southwestern College in their regular season finale Saturday night (Feb. 22) for Senior Night starting at 7 pm inside the Garvey Center.