Article published by MMC Athletic Communications Intern, Russell Lorentz

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Martin Methodist Men's Basketball team suffered a 71-62 defeat at the hands of Life (Ga.) University in the opening contest of the 2017 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship at historic Municipal Auditorium Wednesday morning.

In the very first ballgame of the tournament, both squads traded buckets throughout the better portion of the first half.

However, the Running Eagles (23-10) were able to build their lead to as many as seven before the RedHawks (22-11) surged ahead on a 17-5 scoring run in the final 6:52 of the first half of play.

The RedHawk guard trio of Caleb Chowbay, Albert Lynch and Broderick Davis combined for 33 of the 35 RedHawk first half points and Martin Methodist would take a 35-31 lead into the halftime break.

In the second half, Martin Methodist built a 41-31 lead with just over 17:00 remaining in the second half.

Life responded with a 24-6 run that lasted roughly 11 minutes as the RedHawks next points would come via two Toderick Davis makes from the free throw line.

The RedHawks tied the contest a pair of times in the final 4:30 of the ball game, but the Running Eagles would begin to stretch their lead as a Courtney Warren 3-pointer put Life ahead for the remainder of the contest.

The trio of Lynch, Broderick Davis and Chowbay finished the ballgame with 21, 19 and 12 points, respectively.

"You have to tip your cap to Life and their guys," RedHawks head coach Scott Combs said. "We gave them a pretty good shot there in the second half and they weathered the storm and responded well."

Dalarian Williams led the Running Eagles with a game-high 31 points.

With the loss, the RedHawks say farewell to six seniors: Caleb Chowbay, Albert Lynch, Toderick Davis, Broderick Davis, Marcus Harden and Josh Maher.

"I hate to see our guys suffer a loss after such a solid season," Combs said. "We had a great squad this year. They were a joy to coach and it was an honor for our guys to get back here to Kansas City."