MVNU (20-5, 7-4 AMC South), which dropped from No. 15 to No. 31 in the latest NAIA Division II poll despite back-to-back wins by an impressive margin of 39.5 points each, jumped out to a 10-3 lead over the first seven minutes as junior wing Andy Francis scored five early points and junior forward Jadin Thomas added a trey.

However, from that point until the halftime break, the Cougars cooled off and the visiting Cavaliers (21-4, 9-2 AMC South) showed why they are ranked No. 2 in the latest NAIA Division II poll by closing the half on a 39-18 run to take a commanding 42-28 advantage to the locker room at the break.

Sophomore post Bryce Sanborn (left) led MVNU with six points off the bench, while Francis and Thomas each added five points in the first half. The Cougars committed just three first-half turnovers, but MVNU was out-rebounded 23-12. The Cougars also shot just 35.3 percent from the field (12-for-34), 16.7 percent from three-point range (2-for-12), and 66.7 percent from the free throw line (2-for-3).

Corey Jones paced Walsh in the first half with 16 points as he went 4-for-5 from three-point range. Eder Araujo and Brandon Weems added seven points each, and Josh Johnson grabbed six rebounds to go with five points. The Cavaliers shot 57.1 percent from the field (16-for-28), 54.5 percent from three-point range (6-for-11), and 80.0 percent from the free throw line (4-for-5).

Walsh took its biggest lead of the game at 45-28 less than two minutes into the second half. The Cavaliers still led 58-45 with 11:27 to play following a layup by Joe Shardo.

Trailing 61-49 at the 8:54 mark, the Cougars began what would prove to be a decisive 29-11 run to close the game. A jumper by senior post Connor Gregg (right) got things started, and he followed by slamming home an alley oop dunk that resulted in a three-point play on the next possession that had the MVNU faithful on their feet and screaming for their Cougars as the lead was whittled to 62-54.

Two straight turnovers by Walsh were converted into points as junior guard Ben Falkenberg hit a jumper and Thomas nailed a pair of free throws to close the gap to 62-58 with 7:01 still on the clock.

A pair of free throws by Johnson gave the Cavaliers some breathing room at the 6:18 mark, but Thomas answered with a trey with 6:01 to go to pull MVNU within 64-61.

After Weems pushed the lead back to 66-61 with 5:20 to play, Falkenberg converted a three-point play and nailed a trey to give the Cougars their first lead of the second half at 67-66 with 3:52 left.

Araujo and Falkenberg traded baskets and the lead, and a free throw by Jones knotted the score at 69-69 at the 2:32 mark.

After Thomas and Johnson exchanged free throws to keep the score tied at 71-71 with 1:56 remaining, Falkenberg (left) nailed another three-pointer to put MVNU on top for good 74-71 with 1:34 to go.

Johnson split a pair of free throws to make it 74-72 with 1:16 left, and freshman guard Brandon Short and junior guard Dan Borcherdt both hit a pair of free throws each to give the Cougars the hard-fought 78-72 victory.

“Needless to say, this was a great win for us,” said MVNU head coach Scott Flemming, who has now led the Cougars to seven straight 20-win seasons and 11 in the past 12 years. “Our guys never gave up. (Walsh) is a tough team to come back on and our guys stayed with it and pulled it off. We shot it so poorly from the perimeter in the first half and that is a big part of our game. I knew it was only a matter of time before those shots would go down.”

“Our defense was tremendous in the second half,” Flemming added. “We also only had six turnovers for the game. That is almost unheard of against that kind of pressure. Our big players came up big in crunch time. Ben and Jadin stepped up and made plays when they had to. Brandon also came up huge with the two free throws with 16 seconds to go to make it a two-possession game.”

Falkenberg led all scorers with a game-high 23 points including 19 in the decisive second half. He also dished out five assists. Thomas (right) added 20 points, nine rebounds, and three blocked shots, while Gregg contributed 14 points. Francis tossed in seven points, and Sanborn and Borcherdt tallied six points each with Borcherdt also dishing out four assists. The Cougars shot 45.8 percent from the field (27-for-59), 36.8 percent from three-point range (7-for-19), and 89.5 percent from the free throw line (17-for-19) including 15-for-16 during the second half (93.8 percent).

Walsh was led by Jones with 17 points, but he scored just one point in the second half. Johnson contributed 15 points and eight rebounds, and Araujo added 13 points and six rebounds. The Cavaliers shot 47.1 percent from the field (24-for-51), 42.1 percent from three-point range (8-for-19), and 76.2 percent from the free throw line (16-for-21). Walsh out-rebounded MVNU 37-25, but the Cavaliers committed 14 turnovers to just six by the Cougars.

MVNU will return to action on Saturday when the Cougars will travel to Urbana University for another important AMC South Division contest that will start at 4:00 p.m.