The Eagles held a 2-point lead with just under two minutes to go, but couldn’t shut the door against a depleted Calvary squad.
The absence of Conor McCaffrey had never been so significant, to a team who was greatly in need of their point guard.
Our Savior's fell to the Saints, 56-53, on Friday night.
It was all Connor Brown in the second half, adding 11 points out of the gate to retake the lead for the Saints and finishing with 29 on the day. Illinois’ All-State member also came to play, though. Jace Easley poured in 16 second-half points, but Easley received no help and it wasn't enough to take down the Saints..
Starting point guard Amari Anderson was out for Calvary due to a groin injury, but that wasn’t a problem for the Saints who went punch-for-punch with Our Savior's in the first half thanks in part to a hot start behind the arc (5-11 first-half 3-point attempts).
The Eagles (9-4, 5-2 Conference) got their stars established early with Jace Easley and Conor McCaffrey combining for 15 of the team’s first 18 points, but Calvary used a 9-0 run to take an 18-16 lead after McCaffrey exited the game with a concussion. It was a pretty clean start in terms of taking care of the basketball for an Our Savior's team that ranks last in the conference in turnovers per game. The Eagles committed zero turnovers in the first 8.5 minutes, yet closed the half with 7 over the final 11 minutes and finished with just 9 on the evening.
Our Savior's promptly went through a cold spell, converting just 2 of its next 16 field goal attempts, before it got some production from Lucas Schmidt. Schmidt hit 3-of-4 first-half shots from deep to give the team much-needed life on offense. The trio of Easley, Schmidt, and McCaffrey combined for 32 of Our Saviors’ 34 points as the Eagles took a 34-32 edge into the break.
Neither team led by more than 7 points the entire night, but it was the Saints that did just enough down the stretch to hold off Our Savior's for a 56-53 win.