OLATHE – The Raven Men's Basketball team had two chances to tie the game in the final seconds against (RV) MNU on Wednesday night.
After trailing by as much as 20 near the midpoint of the second half, Benedictine (16-13, 14-9 Heart) battled back to pull within three points. A 3-pointer from Eric Krus rimmed out and a second 3-pointer by Nysir Scott missed short inside the final six seconds which allowed MNU to escape with a 78-75 win.
After the game played through three lead changes and three ties, Tyson Cathy gave the Ravens a 15-12 lead with 11:34 left in the first half. Benedictine went cold from the floor as they went without a field goal for over six minutes. That allowed the Pioneers to erase their deficit and build as much as a 13 point lead before back-to-back 3-pointers by Eric Krus cur the Ravens deficit back down to nine points. Colby Nickels scored the final basket of the half with 38 seconds left to make it a nine-point game at the half with MNU leading 40-31.
The Pioneers opened the second half outscoring the Ravens 21-10 to push their lead to 20 points at 61-41 with just over 12 minutes remaining. A 3-pointer from Jayden Temme capped off a six-minute stretch where Benedictine outscored 17-6 to cut the Pioneers lead down to seven points, 65-58, with just over six minutes left to play.
The Pioneers stretched their lead back to 10 from the free throw line before the Ravens made their final push. Benedictine outscored MNU 11-7 over the final minute of the game to put themselves in position to take the final shot to force overtime.
Jaiden Bristol led three Ravens in double figures with 24 points. Temme added 13 going 10 of 11 from the free throw line while Krus finished with 11. Benedictine finished with a 44-32 advantage in points in the paint. They also finished the game with an 11-5 advantage in points off turnovers as they forced the Pioneers into 11 turnovers while committing a season-low six over their own.
The loss drops the Ravens into a tie for fourth place in the Heart standings with the Pioneers. Benedictine closes out the regular season on Saturday at 4 p.m against Central Methodist University as they look to keep pace with MNU.
