ASKEWVILLE – In the end it wasn’t enough.

Bethel Christian Academy fell behind 13-0, but rallied to take the lead before dropping a 69-53 decision to Faith Christian Academy here Tuesday night.

The Eagles got down early thanks to a 13-0 run for the Patriots, but put together a furious rally to trail 15-14 by the end of the first quarter.

Kyle Freeman scored the Eagles’ first basket with 4:45 to play in the first period and then followed that up with another hoop and a three-pointer. Tyler O’Dell followed with a bucket before Shane Tripp scored to close the gap to 13-11 with 1:08 remaining in the quarter.

Barton Parker scored twice from the free throw line to push the Patriots up by four points, but Freeman and Tripp each scored from the charity stripe before the quarter ended to close the gap to 15-14.

Just 17 seconds into the second period, the Eagles took their first lead on a Freeman hoop. He followed that with a three-point play that gave the Eagles a 19-15 advantage with 7:13 to go in the first half.

Matt Cash closed the gap to a pair, but Freeman hit 1-of-2 from the line to give Bethel a 20-17 edge with 6:40 to go.

Faith got back-to-back hoops from Aaron Lancaster and Adam Collins to surge ahead, but Freeman scored from the floor and then hit two free throws to give Bethel a 24-21 edge with 4:44 remaining in the second quarter.

After a Cash free throw, the Eagles got a three-pointer from Tripp to go ahead 27-22 and then O’Dell added a free throw.

The Patriots, however, rallied with two straight buckets – one each from Cash and Jarrick Oxendine – as they closed the gap to 28-27. An Oxendine free throw then tied the game.

Marky Palmer, however, converted a three-point play for Bethel to give the Eagles a 31-28 lead with just under three minutes to play in the first half.

Lancaster, however, started a 9-0 run for the Patriots over the next minute and a half that gave Faith Christian a 37-31 edge.

Tripp hit a pair of free throws to close the gap to four (37-33), but an Oxendine free throw gave Faith Christian a 38-33 halftime lead.

Lancaster opened the second half with a field goal that pushed the Faith Christian lead to 40-33, but was answered by a Freeman hoop at the other end of the floor.

The Patriots then used a combination of free throws and field goals to go on a 14-0 spurt that pushed their lead to 54-35.

O’Dell scored to stop the spurt with 1:33 to play in the quarter, but it was too little too late as Faith Christian grabbed a 57-37 lead after three quarters.

Tripp hit a field goal and free throw to start the fourth quarter, but Elijah Abel answered with a three-pointer on the other end that kept the Patriot lead at 20 (60-40).

Faith then scored six of the next eight points to push their advantage to 66-44.

Freeman hit back-to-back hoops before Tripp scored with 2:26 to close the gap to 66-50. Freeman scored again to cut the lead to 66-52, but they got no closer as the Patriots pulled off the road win.

Freeman paced Bethel with 28 points while Tripp had 14. O’Dell added eight points and Palmer had three.

Lancaster paced Faith Christian with 17 points while Cash added 16 and Parker checked in with 10 points.