Canton, Mo. — Evangel's second half rally fell short in a 92-89 loss at Culver-Stockton on Saturday.
The Crusaders came from 14 points down with 12:21 remaining to pull within three with 3:04 left. Wildcats forward Eric Moles hit his fourth three-pointer of the second half on the next possession pushing the Wildcats lead back to six, 86-80.
Evangel cut the lead back to three in the final minute of regulation but never had a possession that could have tied the game.
"We shot the ball well enough and scored enough points, but that wasn't our problem," said Evangel head coach Steve Jenkins. "We gave up too many points and, when they came out of the locker room to start the second half, we couldn't keep them from getting to the rim."
The Crusaders were down 43-35 at halftime and Culver-Stockton posted 23 points in the first seven minutes of the second half.
Evangel shot 52 percent from the field but were 15 for 22 at the free throw line and the Wildcats owned a 38-28 advantage on the boards while shooting 54 percent in the game.
Nick Yocum had 20 points for Evangel hitting five three-pointers. Cody Geiger and Richard Chapman added 18 points each for the Crusaders. Jujuan Graham led all scorers with 22 points for Culver-Stockton on 8 of 11 shooting. Christian Jones chipped in with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Evangel dropped to 6-22 and 5-15 in the Heart of America conference. It was their sixth straight loss. The loss also eliminated Evangel from the Heart of America conference tournament race. Culver-Stockton improved to 11-17 and 7-13 in the league.
The Crusaders play their final home on Wednesday hosting MidAmerica Nazarene. Tipoff is 7:30 p.m. at the Ashcroft Center.
