MARSHALL, Mo. – The No. 7-ranked Raven Men's Basketball team recorded a season-high 26 assists on 29 field goals on Wednesday night en route to a 78-70 win over Missouri Valley College.
Benedictine (16-2, 12-0 Heart) got a career-high scoring effort from Eric Krus as he helped the Ravens to the eight-point win over Missouri Valley (5-13, 3-9 Heart).
The Ravens lead stood at two points at the half, 34-32. Krus led all scorers with nine points but really took off in the second half. He finished with a game-high 23 points off a a Ravens single-game high 10 field goals.
After attempting just two free throws in the first half, the Ravens connected on 9 of 13 in the second half while connecting on 16 of 25 from the field in the second half as well. After going 6 of 16 from beyond the 3-point arc in the first half, the Ravens only attempted seven second-half 3-pointers as they pushed the ball inside. Benedictine scored 24 points in the paint in the second half as they finished with a 36-22 scoring advantage in the paint.
Missouri Valley scored the game's first basket before Benedictine answered to pull ahead by as much as seven points. The Vikings didn't run away and pulled back in front late before Benedictine took their two-point advantage into the half.
In the first eight minutes of the second half, the teams played through three ties and three lead changes. It was at that point when the Ravens outscored the Vikings 17-7 over the next five minutes to take control of the game and pull ahead by 10 points. A pair of free throws by Adam Kutney with just under four minutes left to play gave the Ravens their largest lead of the game at 12 points.
After getting into foul trouble in the first half limiting his action to just 6:10, Kutney broke his scoring drought with a pair of free throws four minutes into the second half. With those two free throws, Kutney became the fourth player under head coach Ryan Moody to reach 1,000 career points as a Raven. Overall, he becomes the 36 player in the 99-year history of Benedictine Men's Basketball.
Kutney finished the game with 14 points going 8 of 10 at the free throw line while Thomas C'Connor joined Krus and Kutney in double figures with 15. O'Connor now has 954 career points as he closes in on the 1,000-point scoring mark.
The win extends the Ravens streak to 15 games as they return home on Saturday to host Mount Mercy University at 2 p.m. Prior to the game, the Ravens will celebrate Atchison Heroes Day with a special presentation of the colors by the Benedictine College ROTC while at halftime of the game, the Athletic Department will recognize the Raven Football team for their 2018 Heart North Championship and NAIA Runner-Up finish.
