Eagles Fall to Patriots in Back-and-Forth Battle

WALNUT RIDGE, Ark. (2/11/25) – The Williams Baptist University men's basketball team fell behind late in a back-and-forth battle with Mission by the final score of 79-76 inside the Southerland-Mabee Center on Tuesday night.

Elisha Cofield led the way for WBU with a double-double of 20 points with 13 rebounds.  Trahe Qualls finished with 20 points as well on 8-for-15 shooting from the field, and Cooper Rabjohn added 11 off the bench with three three-pointers.

As a team, Williams went 29-for-62 (46.8 percent) from the field with 10 total three-pointers.  The Eagles won the rebound battle 38-31 and scored 20 points off 12 Mission turnovers.  The game featured five ties and 11 lead changes.

Mission took an 8-3 lead early in the first half, but WBU responded with a 12-2 run to establish a 15-10 advantage.  A Trahe Qualls triple put the Eagles up 27-22 before a nine-point Patriot swing put Mission back on top.  Charles Brown Jr. hit two free throws before the end of the half to send WBU into the locker room up 34-32.

With eight minutes left in the second half, Cooper Rabjohn gave Williams its largest lead of the night with a three-pointer to go up 65-55.  The Patriots clawed back to tie the game at 73 with two minutes to play.

Kevin Sorrells Jr. gave Mission a 76-73 lead on a three-pointer with 1:14 left in the game.  Rabjohn cut the deficit to one with a jumper, but Sorrells pushed the lead back to three with 19 seconds left.  The Eagles failed to tie the game on a last second three-point attempt, and fell 79-76.

The loss drops WBU to 4-17 on the season and 1-14 in American Midwest Conference play.  The Eagles will be back in action on Thursday, Feb. 13 against Central Baptist.  Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. from Conway, Ark.