The Thunder men's basketball team would play another NCCAA Central Region game on Tuesday night when they would travel to Kansas City, Missouri to play the #1 ranked Spurgeon College Knights. The Thunder would take a five point lead early into the game, but would be in a back and forth game throughout the rest of the half. The Knight would get their first double-digit lead with 3:18 left in the first half with a 49-38 advantage. The Thunder were able to cut the lead down to eight at the end of the first half. As the second half began, the Thunder would battle back to take the lead for the first time since leading 23-21 with 11:06 in the first half and they would lead 63-62 roughly five minutes into the second half. Another back and forth battle for the final 15 minutes would lead to many ties, but no leads for the Thunder. In the final moments of regulation, the Thunder would tie the game at 101 with eight seconds remaining. The Knights would get a shot at the rim, but it would not fall and the game would head to overtime. The Thunder would score the first bucket of overtime to take the lead, but the Knights would go on a 9-0 run to take a seven point lead with 2:36 left. The closest the Thunder would get it in overtime was four points with 17 seconds left. Two free throws would seal the deal for the Knights and the Thunder would drop their second game in a row. Senior, Xavier Lucas would score a career high 34 points on 14-19 shooting from the field, to go along with seven rebounds. Sophomore, Tatum Pierce would stuff the stat sheet with a 26 point and 11 rebound double-double, to go along with three assists, two steals, and three blocks. The Thunder would shoot 44.0% from the field, 34.5% from the three-point line, and 75.0% from the free throw line. The Thunder now sit at 10-7 overall and 2-2 in Central Region play.

The Thunder will play again on the road on Friday, January 16th at Central Christian College of the Bible at 7:00PM in Moberly, Missouri.

How to Follow the Thunder: For complete information and to stay up-to-date with Manhattan Christian College Men's Basketball, visit www.mccthunder.com and follow the team's social media pages on X and Instagram.