The Byne Christian Rally Fails, and Citizens Christian Wins 67-63

On Monday night, Citizens Christian Academy emerged victorious 67-63 and took the victory back to Adel after the Byne Christian School Saints were denied their first victory of the season due to a costly turnover in the closing seconds.

With a thrilling comeback in the second half, the young Saints, now 0-11, came dangerously close to snapping their losing run.

Byne got off to a fast start, leading 9-3 thanks to two three-pointers from Landon Horne and Will Skelly. Citizens Christian, on the other hand, answered with an 11-0 run and led 14–12 going into the second quarter.

In the third quarter, the Eagles increased their lead to 17 points before the Saints stepped up their defence. Byne put on constant pressure, forcing errors and turning them into fastbreak points as freshman Owen McFarlin anchored the defence at midcourt.

Early in the fourth quarter, Horne made another three-pointer to start the comeback and cut the margin to six points. Horne lit up the home fans with another deep three with less than three minutes left, giving the Saints a 59-58 lead.

It became an exciting back-and-forth duel in the last few minutes. As time ran out, Citizens Christian maintained a slight lead after regaining the lead at the free-throw line. With 11 seconds remaining and behind by three points, the Saints tried to set up a last-second shot to level the score, but a poor pass ruined the play, and the Eagles won.

Horne finished with 24 points and made six three-pointers, leading the Saints in an impressive effort. Andrew Battaglia scored eight points, McFarlin scored nine, and Skelly added eighteen.

The Saints’ trip to McDonough on Thursday to play Peoples Baptist will be their final chance to end their losing run before the Christmas break.