John Hicks scored 18 points and Elijah Penny added 10, but it wasn’t enough for the short-handed Veritas Christian School’s boys basketball team against Topeka Cornerstone.

Playing without two key players — one who just returned from a holiday-break mission trip — the Eagles suffered a 50-38 setback Tuesday night.

“We made improvements,” Veritas coach Doug Bennett said. “We’ve been struggling with turnovers, and we only had 10 tonight. We rebounded well, and we played good defense, which we’d been doing all season. But our shooting — we only shot 32 percent from the field — was the difference in the game.”

Veritas (0-6) will play host to Topeka Heritage on Friday.