Men's Basketball picked up its fifth win in the past six games as the (RV) Ravens took down the Evangel Crusaders 78-65.
The Ravens were red hot in the first half, leading by 20 points at halftime. Evangel cut the lead to single digits at moments in the second half, but never seriously threatened the Ravens lead.
In the first half, the Ravens continued the hot shooting they displayed against Mount Mercy on Saturday. They were 70.4 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes and made 6-of-12 from 3-point range.
They had 10 different players score in the first half against Evangel, taking a 46-26 lead into the break. Matt Austin had 11 in the first half while Jaiden Bristol added 9 points, five rebounds and four assists in the first half.
It was the fourth-straight half the Ravens shot better than 50 percent from the field, and second-straight they were over 70 percent. When they weren't knocking down 3-pointers, the Ravens got good looks at the rim, scoring 26 points in the paint in the first 20 minutes.
The Ravens struggled to continue their hot shooting in the second half as Evangel tightened up their defense in the paint. The Crusaders outscored the Ravens by 10 points in the first 10 minutes of the half, trimming the Ravens lead to 57-47 at the media timeout with 9:52 to play.
The Crusaders were able to get the deficit to single digits at three different times in the second half but never got closer than 8 points. Each time Evangel threatened to make a close game of it, the Ravens answered with a stop on defense and a bucket on the other end.
Bristol had a team-high 15 points for the Ravens, pulled down eight rebounds and dished out five assists. Austin finished with 11, as did Tyson Cathy. The Ravens shot 38.5 percent from the field in the second half, connecting on just 1-12 from 3-point range, but they still finished by shooting 54.7 percent from the field in the game.
The Ravens will travel for Saturday's game, a contest at Heart No. 2 and No. 24-ranked Clarke University (19-7, 15-5 Heart). The Ravens currently sit third in the Heart with a 13-6 record and are 15-10 overall.
