McPherson, Kan. – The Central Christian College of Kansas Men’s Basketball team hosted Nelson University on Thursday with a chance to clinch a spot SAC Tournament.
The fans were able to witness a Central scoring record be broken by Chris Whitten. With his first two point basket of the night, he surpassed 1,918 points for his career which is now number one in Central Christian College history in the NAIA era. He passed the record set by Mike Ghoulston who broke the record when he finished his career with 1,917 points in 2017.
The Tigers were in control of the game from the beginning as they soared out to a 10 point lead by the 10 minute mark of the first half. The Lions would continue to knock down shots and put pressure on the Tigers but they responded well making shots of their own. The Tigers carried a 48-38 lead into the halftime break.
Coming out of halftime, adjustments were made and Nelson trimmed the Tiger lead to just one point with 13 minutes left in the game. They would take their first lead of the game with 12 minutes left as Micah Clark continued his barrage of three pointers. Clark would finish with 31 points on the night.
After multiple stops and three pointers on the other end, the Tigers built up a nine point lead with 6 minutes to go in the game. Nelson would fight back and even the contest at 82-82 with 1 minute to go. After misses on each end, the Lions had an inbound pass get away from them with 12 seconds left. Andre Cooper pounced on it but with 5 seconds left tossed it in the direction of Jevarrick Butler but it sailed out of bounds.
The Lions would have 5.5 seconds to either win the game or head to overtime. Micah Clark ran from under the basket out to the wing where he received the ball and pulled up from beyond the arc. Everyone in Jerry E Alexander Arena held their breath as the ball was in the air. It eventually came down and swished through the basket, giving the Lions an 85-82 win at the last second.
Andruw Rondon led the Tigers offensively with 23 points and 8 rebounds. Chris Whitten and Jevarrick Butler each had 17 on the night as well.
The Tigers move to 11-16, 6-15 SAC with the regular season finale against Texas Wesleyan scheduled for Saturday at 4pm. The games can be viewed on the Urban Edge Network as well as the SAC Sports Network.
