[Men's Basketball] No. 2 Oklahoma Wesleyan knocks off Men's Basketball Falcons

WICHITA, Kan. – The No. 2-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan University Eagles broke things open in the second half of an 84-59 win over the Friends University Falcons in a KCAC matchup tonight (Jan. 28) inside the Garvey Center.

The Falcons trailed from the outset, as Austin Poling (seven points) and Kaleb Stokes (five points) fueled a 15-4 run to open the game for the Eagles.

It was up to a 22-7 lead when the Falcons roared back behind five straight points from Tim Barbieri (JR/Abilene,Kan. ) that capped a 16-2 burst to trim the deficit to just one point at the 7:40 mark of the first half.

Following a trey by Dylan Phillip that started a run of five straight points for the Eagles, the Falcons didn't let them get too much distance and again clawed back within one on a score inside by Barbieri with 2:50 left.

The Eagles then scored the final six points of the half to take a 36-29 lead at the break.

A putback by Christian Williams (FR/Wichita, Kan. ) opened the second half for the Falcons, but five points from Stokes fueled a 13-0 burst that was finished with three consecutive buckets by Jaden Lietzke to give the Eagles their biggest lead to that point of 49-31.

The OKWU lead had ballooned up to 20 when a score in the paint from Steve Staco (SO/Orlando, Fla.) sparked an 8-0 run to bring the Falcons within 56-44 with 10:57 remaining in the game.

But a short time later, Stokes hit two more threes to help the Eagles outscore the Falcons 12-4 and take a commanding 22-point lead.

The Eagles were never threatened again, with the final 25-point margin representing the largest lead of the night.

Barbieri led the Falcons (4-18, 3-13 KCAC) with 15 points and six rebounds. Al Emerllahu (FR/San Antonio, Texas) scored 11 and Ian Konek (SR/Long Beach, Calif.) had 10 points and five assists.

Stokes led all scorers with 21 points along with eight boards, while Lietzke scored 13 and also grabbed eight rebounds. Poling chipped in with 11 points for the Eagles (20-3, 15-2 KCAC), who remain one-half game in front of Kansas Wesleyan University for the top spot in the KCAC.

After the Falcons held OKWU to just 32.4 percent (12-of-37) in the first 20 minutes, the Eagles exploded for a 57.6 percent (19-of-33) shooting clip in the second half.

The Falcons were also outrebounded by a big 48-28 margin overall, but managed to hold a 28-24 edge in points in the paint.

Friends will next travel to Ottawa, Kan. to face the Ottawa University Braves Wednesday night (Feb. 1) at 8 pm.