Men's Basketball | 1/29/2011 10:37:42 PM
Box Score
Box Score
North Newton, Kan. – The Bulldogs converted 9-of-14 free throws in the final four minutes of the second half, as the McPherson College men’s basketball team edged the Bethel College Threshers Saturday night at Thresher Gymnasium. The victory extends MC’s win streak to four games.
The win improves McPherson to 12-11 overall and 6-6 in conference play, while the Threshers fall to 6-16 overall and 5-7 in league play.
McPherson recorded just one field goal, an Aaron Frazier layup in traffic, over the final four minutes of the game, but held off the Threshers with free throws. Aaron Jackson (Junction City, Kan.) gave MC a seven point lead with 20 seconds left before Jason O’Brien cut the lead to four with an off balance three-pointer.
Jackson was again sent to the line after being fouled on the inbounds, but failed to covert either attempt at the charity stripe. However, the Bulldogs pressure defense took too much time off the clock for the Threshers to get more than one attempt. O’Brien would connect on his second straight three as time expired, but it was not enough as the Bulldogs grabbed the one point victory.
McPherson shot 52.4 percent (11-of-21) in the second half and finished the game with a 45.5 percent (20-of-44) shooting clip. Bethel matched the Bulldog offense with a 44.4 percent (24-of-54) shooting percentage of their own, but it was McPherson who won the battle at the free throw line. MC outscored the Threshers, 19-9, from the charity stripe and finished the game shooting 70.4 percent.
After a sloppy first half, McPherson held a 28-27 lead into the break. Bethel opened the scoring in the second period with a Chip Schneider free throw to tie the game at 28-28. Follow a short stretch of cold shooting, McPherson opened up a seven-point advantage, 39-32. Jordan Crawford (McPherson, Kan.) and Samson Shivers (Houston, Texas) combined to score all seven points of the 7-0 run.
However, the Bulldogs would go the next six minutes without a field goal allowing Bethel to tie the score on an O’Brien triple, 46-46. As he did much of the night, Crawford converted a timely three-point play to give McPherson a slight lead with a little more than five minutes remaining. The two sides would battle out the rest of the period with the Bulldogs holding off the Threshers from the free throw line.
Shivers led the Bulldogs with 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting, while Jackson tallied 14 points and Crawford chipped in 12. Jackson’s performance is his first double-digit night since he scored 10 against Bethany College on January 13.
O’Brien paced the BC offense with 18 points, while Alonzo Haywood notched 16 points, respectively. Bethel dominated McPherson on the boards, 43-21.
McPherson returns to action on Thursday, February 3 when they host Friends University. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
