Twenty-two turnovers stymied Evangel and allowed Missouri Valley to hold off the Crusaders for a 76-71 win at the Ashcroft Center on Wednesday.
Evangel out-shot Missouri Valley in the game hitting 48 percent from the field going 27 for 56 while holding the Vikings to 40 percent shooting. But 22 turnovers to the Vikings’ 12 made up for the difference.
“You can’t beat a good team when you turn the ball over that much…you can’t even beat a team that’s two games under .500 when you turn it over that much,” said Evangel head coach Steve Jenkins. “We played hard and we shot the ball well but we threw the ball to guys in orange jerseys too many times. We also didn’t stay in our defensive scheme enough. When we stuck to it, it worked. But we had too many lapses.”
The Crusaders fought from five points down to tie the game at 69-69 on a Nick Yocum three-pointer with 3:27 remaining but Missouri Valley held Evangel to just two points the rest of the game to win by five.
Vikings guard Brody Gronewald led all scorers with 23 points going 7 for 11 from the field and 5 for 8 from three-point range.
Nick Yocum had 18 points on six three-pointers for the Evangel. Jalen Norman had a double-double for the Crusaders with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The loss was Evangel’s fifth straight and dropped them to 6-21 and 5-14 in the Heart of America conference. Missouri Valley improved to 13-14 and 8-11 in the league.
Evangel travels to Culver-Stockton for their next game. The Crusaders take on the Wildcats in Canton, Missouri for a 4 p.m. tipoff.
