FORT WAYNE, Ind. — March. A basketball fan’s favorite time of year. The Valor men’s basketball team traveled to Fort Wayne, Indiana, as a 10-seed in the NAIA National Tournament and were matched up against a tough, physical, Iowa Wesleyan squad that earned a seven-seed. Despite a tough start to the first half, the Valor settled in and used a strong second half to push themselves to victory, in an upset of the higher ranked Tigers of Iowa Wesleyan.
An Edriel Martinborough three opened scoring for both teams, giving the Valor an early 3-0 lead just a minute in. Iowa Wesleyan came out with full court pressure and forced Evangel turnovers, racing out to an 8-3 lead with 17:06 remaining in the first half. Martinborough consistently kept Evangel in the game in the first half as he was the only scorer for the Valor in the first 6:47 of the half. A layup with 13:13 remaining in the period by Martinborough found Evangel down, 16-9. A Jace Coffie free throw gave the Valor 10 points, but the Iowa Wesleyan defense gave the Valor fits, as EU went scoreless until the 7:38 mark of the half. A Stephen Salvi three made it 22-13 in favor of the Tigers, who had taken as large as a 12 point lead during Evangel’s drought. A pair of Autry Acord and Bryce Hunt free throws helped get the Valor offense back in rhythm. Salvi kept the Valor offense alive over the final five minutes of the quarter, scoring several buckets. Evangel would narrow the Tigers lead down to two with 1:37 remaining, but a 5-2 run for IWU ended the half with EU behind, 33-28. Martinborough scored 13 points in the first half, followed by Salvi’s eight.
Martinborough opened the half continuing to score from the floor. A pair of free throws to start made it, 33-30. Reigning Heart Player of the Year, Josh Pritchett, scored his first bucket with 15:52 remaining in the second half as EU trailed by just two, 38-36. An Acord layup evened the game up at 38 points apiece as the momentum slowly began to shift into Evangel’s favor. Both teams traded baskets for the majority of the beginning of the second half. An Iowa Wesleyan layup with 11:25 remaining in the half put the Tigers up, 44-43, but a Martinborough layup gave the Valor the lead, 45-44. The Valor would build their lead on a beautiful spin move in the paint by Coffie as well as a free throws by the big man and a strong take to the basket, putting EU ahead, 51-45. In the final 7:41 of the game, Evangel continued their success on offense, taking the shot clock down in each possession and scoring several clutch baskets. A deep two by Acord put the exclamation point on the Valor victory, as EU survived and advanced, pulling off the upset of IWU, 65-58.
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 “In the first half, I felt that they (IWU) came out very physical and went after us. We both had game plans coming into the game and IWU executed well,” head coach Bert Capel stated. “We were able to weather the storm in the first part of the first half and were able to cut the lead down and stay close. At halftime, we talked about fighting back and leaving our foot on the gas. I thought our guys came out strong and knew what they needed to do. Credit to Steven and Josh for playing well off the bench for us and to Edriel for staying consistent and keeping us in it in the first half.”Â
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- Martinborough led the way for Evangel, scoring 19 points in the win.
- Evangel shot 48.7 percent from the floor.
- The Valor went 24-29 from the free throw line, shooting 82.8 percent.
Manrique Alvarado and Acord rounded out double digit scoring with 11 and 10, respectively.
