Avila Earns First Win over McPherson in Thriller

McPHERSON, Kan. – Donte' Simpson finished one assist shy of a triple-double, Eric Smith Jr. looked sharp in his season debut, and Avila men's basketball (4-14, 3-10 KCAC) finally earned its first ever win over McPherson (10-9, 5-8 KCAC) with a down-to-the-wire 68-66 victory on Wednesday night in McPherson.

Finally, the streak is over. The McPherson Bulldogs had won the first 10 meetings in the all-time series, including a single matchup in 2008 and every single game since Avila joined the KCAC in 2018. That included a dominant showing by the Bulldogs in Mabee Fieldhouse just two months ago. But now, Avila men's basketball is a different team – the Eagles are finally close to full strength, and this iteration of Avila basketball was finally able to earn a win against a team that had simply stonewalled them in seasons past.

The Eagle defense was a chief reason why this result was different from the last – and all the other ones before that. Just about every team stat was even, except the Eagles shot 44% from the field compared to McPherson's 34% (the third-lowest team clip this season), and the Bulldogs shot just 17% from beyond the arc (5 makes).

But even with those dreary numbers, this game was as close as the final score would indicate. Nine points was the largest lead for both sides, and the game featured seven ties and 10 lead changes. There were multiple long stretches where neither team could pull away, as both teams seemed fully aware of the urgency that the start of the second leg of the conference season carries with it.

Both defenses were strong in the first few minutes of the game – Avila didn't make a field goal until about five minutes in, courtesy of Eric Smith Jr. in his first game back since suffering an injury almost exactly a year ago. With the score tied at five, McPherson reeled off nine straight points to build a lead, their largest of the night, but Avila quickly began to chip away thanks to deep balls from Donte' Simpson and Tyree King.

A three-point play from Ryan Ongala extended Mac's lead back to six with about six minutes left, but Simpson set up Smith for a pair of shots to tie things right back up at 24 apiece. Josh Kilpatrick drained a three to put Avila in front for the first time since it was 1-0, but five straight points from Yaniel Vidal gave the Bulldogs a 30-27 lead at the intermission.

The Eagles trailed for much of the first half, but they came out in the second half as the instigators, scoring the first nine points of the period to vault ahead by six. Smith anchored that series with a steal, an assist and a jumper in less than two minutes of game time. Back to back buckets from Craig Jordan expanded Avila's lead to 40-31, their largest of the night, with 17:28 left in the game.

Then, just as the Eagles did in the first half, the Bulldogs mounted a comeback of their own in the second half. The home team scored 12 straight, moving in front on a basket from Owen Braxmeyer, setting the stage for an intense final 13 minutes.

A deep ball by Jamil Hardaway seemed to give the Bulldogs some breathing room with a 57-49 lead, but King came through in the clutch, knocking down threes on three straight Avila possessions to turn that eight-point deficit into a one-point lead, 58-57, with 5:32 to go.

From there, the teams traded scores. A three-point play from Curtis Rose was canceled by a nice feed from Simpson to Brandon Johnson, tying the game at 63. Less than a minute later, King fed Johnson for another score to put the Eagles back in front with 2:30 to go. Vidal sank a pair of free throws, but then Tremaine Banks connected from downtown – his first made field goal of the night – with under 100 seconds left to put Avila in front for good.

Braxmeyer hustled to score a layup but McPherson later missed a potential go-ahead putback, keeping the Eagles in front by two. Braxmeyer then unbelievably missed his first free throw with seconds left, and committed a lane violation in trying to chuck his second shot off the backboard for another possession. The Eagles got the ball instead for an inbound, and all Jaylin Dinkins had to do was hit a leaking Jared Larson in the center of the court, and that was all: Avila escaped with a hard-fought 68-66 win.

Braxmeyer led all players with 18 points along with 14 rebounds. Rose scored 14 off the bench and Vidal added 13. King paced the Eagles with 17 points, shooting 5-of-10 from downtown. Smith Jr. scored 13 in his long-awaited return to the floor, adding in eight boards and five steals. Jordan scored 10 with four rebounds. And then there's Simpson, who stuffed the stat sheet in now-classic fashion: he made only two field goals on the night, but still scored 11 points; he snagged a team-high 12 rebounds, all on the offensive end; and he chipped in three steals and nine assists, leaving him one away from that elusive triple-double as he anchored his team to a sought after victory.

Up next, Avila men's basketball will return home to Mabee Fieldhouse to face the Bethany Swedes this Saturday, January 21. JV men's basketball will kickstart our first home tripleheader of the season at 12:45 PM, with women's varsity to follow at 3 and men's varsity closing the day at 5. As always, you can watch all the action on the Avila Sports Network.