CANTON, Mo. – The No. 2-ranked Raven Men's Basketball team earned the regular-season sweep over Culver-Stockton College on Saturday, limiting the Wildcats to just 25 points in the second half.
Benedictine (23-2, 20-0 Heart) moved their winning streak to 23 with a 76-63 win over Culver (14-13, 10-11 Heart).
Despite hitting 52.4 percent from the floor in the first half, the Ravens found themselves trailing 38-36 at the half. Culver-Stockton went 16 of 33 from the floor in the first half but didn't take the first lead of the game until just over eight minutes remainined. After playing through six ties, the Wildcats managed to pull ahead by as much as six before taking a two-point lead into halftime.
Back-to-back baskets from Colby Nickles and Thomas O'Connor gave the Ravens their first lead of the second half before Culver-Stockton went on a 6-0 run to pull back in front. Benedictine kept them within arm's length and after falling behind by six for a second time inside the first four minutes of the second half, Adam Kutney made a pair of 3-pointers to erase the Ravens deficit and pull the game even at 48 points.
Culver-Stockton grabbed back the lead briefly at 58-57 with just under seven minutes left to play before the Ravens closed held the Wildcats to just five points over the remainder of the game.
Benedictine connected on 19 of 25 at the free throw line in the second half as they finished with a season-high 26 made free throws at 81.3 percent. Defensively, they held Culver-Stockton to just 36.4 percent from the floor with one 3-pointer as they held the Wildcats to just eight second-half field goals.
Jaiden Bristol led the Ravens with 17 points, scoring 13 of those from the charity stripe as he went 13 of 17. O'Connor added 14 while Kutney finished with 11 and a team-high eight rebounds.
The win allowed the Ravens to tie the longest winning streak in program history set by the 1964-'65 St. Benedict's team that finished the year at 26-3 and played their way into the NAIA Quarterfinals.
Benedictine hosts Peru State College at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the regular-season home finale before closing out the regular-season with three straight road games. The Heart Postseason Tournament is scheduled for March 5-12. Benedictine has already earned a trip to the Buffalo Funds-NAIA National Tournament by winning the Heart regular season Championship.
