The Raven Men's Basketball team connected on 5 of 6 free throws inside the final 90 seconds of the game on Wednesday to hold off a late push by the Missouri Valley College Vikings.
Benedictine finished the second half with a 60-percent free throw effort while defensively, the held the Vikings to just two second-half 3-pointers en route to a 60-57 win.
The win over Missouri Valley (3-2, 0-1 Heart) not only gave Benedictine (4-2, 1-0 Heart) a conference-opening win, it was their second straight win over the Vikings and third over their previous four meetings.
After playing through three leads changes and two ties early on, the Ravens turned a 5-5 game into a 19-9 lead just short of the midway point of the first half when Chris Jackson connected on one of the Ravens four first-half 3-pointers.
The Vikings used four free throws down the stretch of the first half to pull within a two possessions at the half. Benedictine missed on two 3-point chances in the final 30 seconds of the half to take a 32-28 lead into halftime.
Missouri Valley was able to keep the momentum into the second half keeping Benedictine within arm's length before taking their first lead of the second half with 12 minutes left in the game.
The Vikings lead was brief as Thomas O'Connor scored on a fast-break basket and then followed that up with one of his four 3-pointers seconds later to erase the Ravens deficit and push Benedictine back in front, 46-42.
Missouri Valley pulled within one point three times over the final seven minutes of the game but the Ravens did just enough to weather the Vikings run and maintain their lead.
The Ravens held the Vikings 19 points under their season average while holding them to just 32.8 percent from the field.
O'Connnor finished with a game-high 16 points followed by Adam Kutney with 16. Wills Wallrapp gave the Ravens 10 points off the bench to round out the Ravens top scorers. Jaiden Bristol finished with nine points as he went 5 of 6 at the free throw line, which included a a 4-for-4 effort over the final 90 seconds of the game.
The Ravens hit the road for their next Heart game. Benedictine will take on Mount Mercy University at 2 p.m. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, before returning home for a 7:30 p.m. game against MNU on Tuesday, Nov. 20.
