KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The No. 6-seeded Vanguard (Calif.) University Lions scored 16 first-half points off 10 turnovers on Friday night to end the No. 11-seeded Raven men's basketball season in the second round of the 77th annual Buffalo Funds-NAIA Div. I Men's Basketball Championship Tournament.

Benedictine (23-9) committed just two turnovers in the second half as they outscored Vanguard (29-6) 51-50 over the final 20 minutes but in the end, the 16-3 advantage in points off turnovers by the Lions proved to be too much for the Ravens to overcome as they fell 81-70.

The Ravens took an early 9-4 lead over the Lions before Vanguard extended their defensive pressure to shutdown the Raven offense. Benedictine made just four field goals during the final 14 minutes of the first half which allowed Vanguard to turn a five-point deficit into a 31-19 halftime advantage.

"You have to give credit to Vanguard, their defense was tough," said Raven head coach Ryan Moody. "They denied passing lanes and they made us make more plays off the dribble and where we're usually pretty good at taking the ball to the middle and splitting the defense, they took that away from us.

"We got out of what we do a little bit because they did up the ante with the pressure."

Once the Ravens adjusted in the second half, they were able to get back into their offensive flow which allowed them to get their offensive rhythm back.

They cut the deficit to single digits near the midpoint of the second half on a pair of John Harris Jr. free throws but Vanguard responded pushing back ahead by as much as 15 points with just under two minutes remaining in the game.

The Ravens went on a 11-5 run to close within 7 points twice inside the final minute of the game before Vanguard sealed the win from the charity stripe, making four free throws over the final 30 seconds to hold off the late surge by Benedictine.

"We always fight," Moody said. "This group has never gone away or stoped. We always try to keep ourselves in it and they're a competitive group. This stings and it's tough to lose the last game of the year but only one team doesn't."

Harris Jr and Charlie Wallrapp led the Ravens in scoring with 21 points each. Harris Jr. scored 18 of his points in the second half while Wallrapp added a game-high 11 rebounds to tally his sixth double-double of the season.

Vanguard finished with four players in double figures, led by the game-high 25 points of DeAngelo Jones. For Jones, the scoring effort was the fifth time in his last six games to score over 10 points.

The 23 wins for Benedictine marks the fourth-most single-season wins in program history and the most wins for the Ravens since the 1967-'68 season.