2024-25 Men's Basketball Season Review
(Ankeny, IA) - Faith Men's Basketball returned a large group of core contributors, adding several high flyers and knockdown shooters in a season of exciting upsets, buzzer beater victories, and personal growth.
The Eagles started the season 4-1, their only loss coming from regional powerhouse Crown College. They battled through the rest of the first semester, earing a thrilling comeback win over Union, and leading start to finish against Trinity, a top 10 team throughout the season. Splitting their Conference opening weekend, the Eagles headed into January with a 6-5 record, and ready to roll into the heart of their Conference schedule. Faith continued to put together solid showings, never counting themselves out of games. The Eagles hosted NCCAA DII powerhouse Spurgeon College on January 28th and played the knights down to the wire until the last second of the game.
Head Coach Brian Fincham shared on the team's growth this season: "The guys thoroughly enjoyed being with each other and that was evident each time we got together. We really grew together as a team throughout the year." The Eagles finished the regular season with a 12-14 record, and started to put wins together when it mattered, earning regular season sweeps over Calvary, CCCB, and Barclay as they headed into postseason play.
The Eagles entered the MCCC tournament as the #4 seed, competing against #5 Calvary in the quarterfinals. The teams fought back and forth in the first half, until Faith tied the game with two minutes left, building a 5 point lead going into halftime. From there, the Eagles outscored the Warriors by 16 points in the second half to earn their spot in the semifinals against the eventual champions, Manhattan Christian. The Eagles fell in the semifinals, and moved into the 3rd place game where they defeated CCCB, finishing out a 2-1 weekend at the tournament. The Eagles were also honored with the Richard E. Spenser sportsmanship award, as voted on by other coaches in the conference.
"We were a young group this past year, of the 24 guys we had to start the year nearly half were new to the program." shared Coach Fincham, "I'm really looking forward to seeing growth throughout the offseason and into next year in terms of on the court chemistry. I think we have a lot of room to grow in that area, and I'm excited for the potential we have as we grow in this area."
The Eagles earned the #4 seed in the North Region tournament, facing off against #5 Providence. In a tight game where neither team would yield, the Pilots and the Eagles found themselves looking at a potential overtime until a foul called with 2 seconds left send Providence to the line to win the game off of free throws.
NCCAA Awards:
Scholar-Athletes: Connor Parrish, Landon Brahs, Grant Busenitz
2nd Team All-Region: Mason Gorsh
All-Region Honorable Mention: Seth Freeman, Andy Hecker, James Busenitz
MCCC Awards:
2nd Team: Mason Gorsh
Richard E. Spenser Sportsmanship Award
Team Awards:
Coming soon!
