Playing with consistency both offensively and defensively has been a struggle for the Falcon men’s basketball team during pre-season.  The Falcons ended pre-season 1-6 and were looking to gain momentum at the beginning of conference play.

They did just that.

The Falcons defeated both Kansas Wesleyan University and Tabor College and are 2-0 in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. 

“We played a full fundamental game and played the entire 40 minutes,” senior guard Leo Williams said.   “We did a better job of taking care of the ball and showing that we are developing patience.”

The Falcons will face tough opponents this week against both Sterling College and Ottawa University.

“Sterling will try and take advantage of our guards by beating us off the dribble, but I don’t think that that will happen. Ottawa lost their best perimeter player last year, but they will be physical in the post,” Williams said.

The Falcons are looking to sophomores Greg Carrell and Matt Garvey for leadership in the point guard positions.  Senior Steve Rausch and sophomore Josh Urban will be the “big men” under the goal.  However, both the guards and forwards have been having trouble with fundamentals.

“Our problem has been rebounding, taking care of the basketball and containing the ball defensively,” head coach Dale Faber said.  “Our guys just have to understand and believe that we just have to be more consistent.”

During pre-season, the Falcons faced Southern Nazarene University and Oklahoma City University in the Bethel Classic hosted at Bethel College Nov. 19-20.  The Falcons defeated Southern Nazarene 82-79 and lost to Oklahoma City University 67-94.  Oklahoma City was ranked eighth in the nation last year. 

The Falcons put up a good fight when they traveled to Emporia State University on Nov. 15.  The game was tied at half-time, but the Falcons couldn’t pull away the last few minutes of the game and lost to the Hornets by 8. 

“I thought that from a competitive standpoint that was our best effort this season,” Faber said.  “The guys played more physical and our guys underneath battled hard.”

The Falcons then fell to St. Gregory University on Nov. 29. 

“We were down by 20 points before we even got off the bus.  We came back, pulled ahead by four points but couldn’t make a basket in the final minutes of the game,” Faber said.

The Falcons will finish 2004 by taking on Sterling College on Thursday, Dec. 9, at 8 p.m. and Ottawa University on Saturday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m.  Both games will be played at the Garvey Gymnasium on the Friends University campus.  They will resume the season after Christmas on Thursday, Dec. 30, at home against St. Gregory University.