On a night when the Saints' Quincy James, Jr., tied his career-high 37 points and Sam Adams scored a season-high 18, Central Christian College of the Bible came up short at Union College on Monday night.

Down three with 8.1 seconds to go, the Saints inbounded the ball under their own basket. Adams missed on a three-point attempts in the corner. Edris Hamilton grabbed the offensive rebound and kicked out to Trey Palmer for another attempt from beyond the arc that wouldn't fall just as time expired.

FINAL: Union 92, Central Christian 89
RECORDS: Central Christian (11-15), Union (8-7)

GAME NOTES:

• The Saints shot 10-for-18 from 3-point range in the first half.
• Union shot 58 percent and 11-for-15 at the free throw line in the first half.
• Union held a 53-50 lead at the break.
• The Saints cooled off from outside, going just 3-for-14 from beyond the arc in the second half
• After only five free throw attempts (4-for-5) in the first half, the Saints were 10-for-15 after halftime.
• Union was 21-for-29 at the charity stripe for the game.
• The Saint had a hard time stopping the 6-foot-8 Blake Essex (25 points, 18 rebounds) and the 6-foot-6 Braden Essex (16 points)
• It was the fourth straight game for the Saints without leading scorer Raheem Brizendine (21 ppg), who injured his knee against Manhattan Christian. Brizendine averaged 27 points per game in his last five games leading up to the injury.
• CCCB won the first meeting between the two teams, 84-70, in Moberly on Nov. 2, 2023.

TOP PERFORMERS:

• Quincy James, Jr.: 37 points, 5 rebounds, 12-18 free throws, 5 assists
• Sam Adams: 18 points, 6-10 3-pointers, 6 rebounds, 4 assists
• Trey Palmer: 9 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists
• Chris Woods: 6 assists, 3 rebounds

UP NEXT:

The Saints wrap up the regular season with a pair of Midwest Christian College Conference games at home. They host Faith Baptist Bible College on Friday at 7 p.m., then Emmaus Bible College on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Despite entering the 2023-24 season with a lot of new faces and facing a challenging schedule, the Central Christian College of the Bible men's basketball team still managed plenty of highlights during the first half of play.

The Saints ended 2023 with a 6-7 overall record after a 107-100 victory at home over the NAIA foe University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy. The Eutectics handed Central Christian a six-point loss in St. Louis the month before.

The win ended a four-game skid by the Saints against a combo of NCCAA Division II and NAIA opponents. Prior to that, Central Christian had just put together dramatic-finish wins against Maranatha Baptist University and NCAA Division III member Westminster College.

"We've had some success early on, but we've also had some nights where we felt like if we could have limited our turnovers by just one or two then we could have a couple more wins to our name," Central Christian coach Jack Defreitas said. 

The Saints had two chances to pull off a road win at Hannibal-LaGrange University in November, but a turnover and a missed shot on their final two possessions resulted in a one-point loss.

However, that setback may have helped the Saints down the stretch when they needed baskets in the final possessions of their wins against Maranatha and Westminster the following week.

"I think it absolutely helped us," Defreitas said. "We are playing with one senior, and just three players who have ever played together. I do believe each game that goes by gives us a chance to get better."

Through 13 games, the Saints are being led by sophomore Raheem Brizendine with 18.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Closely behind is junior Quincy James, Jr., who is just 40 points away from scoring 1,000 for his career, at 17.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per contest.

Sophomore guard Trey Palmer is averaging 13.3 points per outing, while a few other Saints have notable stats at the break. Sophomore guard Tristan Brand is shooting 50 percent (16-for-32) from 3-point range for ninth in the NCCAA DII. Junior guard Chris Woods is averaging 3.3 assists per game and ranks 16th in assist/turnover ratio, while James, Jr., ranks 10th in blocks with 1.5 per game, and Palmer is sixth in steals with 2.5 per game.

As a team, Central Christian ranks fourth NCCAA DII in field goal percentage (47.6), fourth in blocks per game (3.9), sixth in points per game (85.1), eighth in rebound margin (3.1), ninth in steals per game (9.1), and 10th in assists per game (15.7).

The Saints return to action on Jan. 6 with a tough task as they travel to defending NCCAA DII national champion Kansas Christian College. KCC, ranked No. 10 in the latest DII coaches poll, won the first meeting between the two teams, 104-89, on November 29 in Moberly.

Following the game at KCC, the Saints travel to Union College (Neb.) on Jan. 9, then return home for the start of Midwest Christian College Conference play against Ozark Christian College on Jan. 11.

"We're excited to get back out on the court," Defreitas said. "I love this group of guys. They are hungry, and a team with a lot of potential. It's going to be exciting to see what we can do during the second half of this season."

A putback by Quincy James, Jr., with 5.7 seconds remaining was the difference maker as the Central Christian men's basketball team topped Westminster College, 90-88, on Tuesday evening at the Ferneau Center.

James, who was an efficient 8-for-11 from the field with 18 points and nine rebounds, was crucial on the defensive end one play earlier as he blocked the go-ahead attempt by the Blue Jays.

Raheem Brizendine led five Central Christian players with 22 points. Trey Palmer added 15 points, while Chris Woods and Tristan Brand added 10 points each for the Saints, who improved to 5-3 overall.

Both teams had their feel-good moments with the lead in the first half. Westminster jumped out on top,15-6, to start the game before Central Christian put together a 27-10 run over the middle 10 minutes of the half to go up by nine.

The Saints held a 47-38 advantage at the break and led by as many as 11 after scoring the first basket of the second half.

Westminster chipped away at the deficit through the first seven minutes of the second half and took the lead at 57-56 with 13:04 remaining. The Saints quickly regained control and pushed their advantage back up to eight with eight minutes to go.

The Blue Jays took advantage of a series of turnovers and missed layups in the closing minutes to tie the score at 88-apiece. Westminster got the ball inside on their final possession, but James came up with the block on Ben Eberlin's attempt to give the Saints the ball with 29 seconds left to play.

Brizendine drove to the basket and missed the go-ahead attempt before James corralled the miss out of the air and laid it in. Westminster dribbled down the court and launched a 3-point attempt at the buzzer that was off the mark.

Westminster's Brennan Jeffries led all scorers with a game-high 25 points. Eberlin finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, followed by Aaron Poage and Kaden Eirhart with 13 points each.

Despite shooting just 28 percent (5-for-18) from behind the arc, the Saints shot 50 percent from the field. They had 12 steals and forced 19 turnovers out of the Blue Jays.

Central Christian returns to action this weekend when they travel to Ankeny, Iowa, to face Kuyper College and Trinity Bible College in the Faith Classic. All games will be streamed live at https://fbbceagles.com/multimedia/livebroadcast.