The Redhawks barely come up short to the OUAZ Spirit, 72-73. The game opened to a slow Benedictine Mesa missing some shots and letting the more energetic Spirit take the lead to go up by 8, 2-10. OUAZ kept sinking shots in the corners to add to their lead while the Redhawks tried get in a better rhythm. At the worst, the deficit was 15 points, but BenU stayed in the game cutting the lead to ten to end the half, 30-40. 
 
Coming back from the half, the Redhawk men came out strong and gave a much better effort. They were stealing the ball back left and right finishing the second half with 8 steals compared to the Spirit's 2. To add to the momentum, BenU started draining more shots than they did in the first half getting their shooting percentage up to 48.5%. This increase in shooting is largely due to Eric Norton, Damian Zivak, and Emad Elniel who combined for 38 of Benedictine's 42 points in the second half. The Redhawks' effort allowed them to take the lead and keep it until the there was 4:09 left on the clock, 67-67. The Spirit then took the lead back, forcing BenU to foul four times through the last couple of minutes to get the ball back. Unfortunately, the Spirit hit all but two of their free throws. And with 4 seconds left in the game OUAZ went up by 4. At the buzzer, Elniel made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 1, sadly there was no time left ending the game at 72-73.
 
The point leader of the game was Emad Elniel who scored 22 points, one away from his career high of 23. Elniel also had 2 steals and 8 rebounds, the most for Benedictine. Eric Norton was the next Redhawk with the highest number of points with 19 along with 5 rebounds. Lastly, the sophomore, Damian Zivak had 11 points, 2 steals, and 2 assists to help his team fight for the win. 
 
The Redhawks will be back in action January 4^th, against Westcliff in Irvine, CA.