NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. – The Manchester University men's basketball team honored its senior class of Cortiz Buckner, CJ Hampton, and student assistant Noah VanHorn ahead of its regular season finale against rival Anderson inside of a packed Stauffer-Wolfe Arena on Friday night.

Once the Senior Day festivities were over and the ball was tipped, both Manchester and Anderson battled wire-to-wire, with the visiting Ravens prevailing 86-76 in a hard-fought Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference thriller.

The Ravens were difficult to stop in the 1^st half as they scored 48 points and the strength of 65.5 percent shooting (19-29). Despite the torrid period, Manchester remained in the ballgame, trailing by only 12 at the intermission, 48-36.

In the 2^nd half, a young Spartan squad made several runs to trim their deficit into single digits. However, an experienced Raven squad was able to answer the Spartans' surges with several key runs of their own to push their advantage back into double digits. The visiting Ravens also made free throws in crunch time, converting 8-of-10 free throw attempts to help seal their victory.

For the contest, Anderson shot 53.2 percent (33-62) from the field. The Spartans shot 42.4 percent (25-59) against Anderson. The Ravens' defense limited Manchester to just 32 percent (8-25) shooting from three-point territory on Friday night. Anderson also held a 45-21 advantage in rebounds and scored 54 points in the paint. Manchester held a 23-10 advantage in fast break points.

The Black & Gold were led by a career-high 29 points from sophomore forward Brandon Christlieb (Ashley, Ind./Prairie Heights). Christlieb shot 9-18 from the floor and was 3-7 from three-point territory. He added an 8-9 mark at the charity stripe. Senior forward CJ Hampton (Hammond, Ind./Griffith) added 23 points after shooting 8-13 from the floor and 4-8 from downtown. Hampton was a perfect 3-3 from the free throw line. He added four steals. First-year guard Quentez Columbus (South Bend, Ind./Adams) was the only other Spartan to score in double figures, scoring 14 points.

Anderson was led by Maurice Knight's double-double of 16 points and 14 rebounds. Francis Uzorh added 17 points while Tate Ivanyo scored 12 points. Both Fred Shropshire and Camden Smith scored 10 points for AU.

The Spartans conclude their season with an overall record of 8-16, 7-10 HCAC.

Anderson (16-9, 11-7 HCAC) will be the no. 5 seed in the upcoming HCAC Tournament and will travel to no. 4 seed Transylvania on Sunday February 20.