Despite a big early lead, the Central Christian men's basketball team had to battle until the final seconds to finish off Spurgeon College, 81-75, on the road on Monday night.

The Saints (3-1) used a 10-0 run just a few minutes into action to create a 22-9 advantage. They went on to lead 42-27 at the break, but things got interesting in the second half.

Central Christian went on to lead by as many as 16 early in the second half, then Spurgeon (0-4) began to chip away at the deficit. A Braden Chapman 3-pointer with 56 seconds remaining narrowed the Saints' lead to 76-75. 

From there, Central Christian regained control by going 5-for-6 from the free throw line and forcing stops on Spurgeon's final three possessions to close out the game.

Rodrigo Nunez and Trey Black both scored 21 points each to lead the Saints. Nunez also grabbed seven rebounds, while Black hauled in six. Jackson King added another 19 points and seven rebounds.

Central Christian shot 50 percent for the game and 30 percent (6-for-20) from behind the arc. They held Spurgeon to 37 percent shooting and 31 percent from 3-point range.

Jude Warren scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Knights.

The Saints play a pair of games in Minneapolis on Friday and Saturday. They face North Central University on Friday and Oak Hills Christian College on Saturday.