Men's Basketball | 11/30/2011 2:48:00 PM
Game 12: No. 8 McPherson College (10-1, 0-0 KCAC) at Bethel College (0-5, 0-0 KCAC)
Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011 | 8 p.m. (CT) | Thresher Gymnasium | North Newton, Kan.
Game Notes (PDF)
Live Video (KCAC Broadcast Network)
Live Audio
McPherson, Kan. - For the first time in head coach Tim Swartzendruber’s tenure with the Bulldogs, the McPherson College men’s basketball team opens Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference play on the road as they travel to Bethel College for an 8 p.m. (CT) tipoff Thursday night at Thresher Gymnasium.
The game will be video streamed on the KCAC Broadcast Network, while a live audio feed of the contest will be available at www.macbulldogs.com. Radio coverage is available in the McPherson area on 96.7 FM KBBE MidKansas Radio with Nick Gosnell on the call.
The Bulldogs enter the contest tied for the No. 8 ranking after opening the season with a 10-1 record, including a streak of 10 straight. McPherson’s lone loss of the season came last Saturday at Hastings College (Neb.), when Bronco guard Charles Ferguson connected on a last second 3-pointer to propel HC to the 106-105 overtime victory.
On the season, McPherson is led its starting five of Aaron Frazier, Chris Crawford, Kenny Berry, Samson Shivers and Jordan Crawford, who all average at least 9.7 points per game. Shivers paces the team with a 17.0 points per game average, while Frazier is a close second at 16.3 points per game.
As a team, the Bulldogs average 83.0 points per game and have outscored opponents 488-404 in the second half alone. MC enters the game shooting 44.3 percent (311-of-702) from the field, including 33.2 percent (62-of-187) from 3-point range. A key part of McPherson’s success this season has come at the free throw line, where the Bulldogs are shooting 70.9 percent (229-of-323) as a team, which is four percentage points higher than last season.
Unlike McPherson, Bethel presents a young squad that has struggled to start this season. The Threshers enter the contest with a 0-5 overall record following a loss to Central Christian College (Kan.), 77-70, last Monday night. Prior to the start of the season, Bethel promoted assistant coach Alonzo Jamison to head coach. Jamison had previously served as an assistant the past three seasons.
In their last 10 meetings, McPherson holds a 6-4 record, including victories in six out of the last seven contests.
After Bethel, McPherson travels to Hillsboro, Kan. on Saturday, Dec. 3, to take on Tabor College. Tipoff between the Bulldogs and Blue Jays is scheduled for 7 p.m. (CT).
Last time out...
Charles Ferguson hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left in overtime and the Bulldogs final attempt rimed out, as the McPherson College men’s basketball team fell 106-105 in an overtime thriller Saturday afternoon against Hastings College. The contest was the final game in the 2011 Hastings College Thanksgiving Classic.
With the loss, McPherson falls to 10-1 on the young season, while the Broncos improve to 5-5 overall.
Chris Crawford (McPherson, Kan.) led the Bulldogs with a career-high 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field, including 25 points in the second half and overtime. Additionally, Crawford recorded seven rebounds, one block and one steal in the effort.
Aaron Frazier (McPherson, Kan.) was second on the team with 22 points, while Kenny Berry, Jr. (Lee’s Summit, Mo.) and Samson Shivers (Houston, Texas) scored 17 points each. Adam Bruner (McPherson, Kan.) rounded out the MC double-digit scorers with 10 points off the bench.
Todd Reinward scored a career-high 39 points for Hastings on 12-of-15 shooting from the field, including a 7-for-9 effort from beyond the arc. Additionally, Reinward was perfect (8-for-8) from the free throw line and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
The Bulldogs led by as many as nine in the first half, but just 52-50 at the break thanks to a pair of free throws by Hasting’s Zach Lenagh to close the period.
McPherson outscored Hastings 13-8 to open the second half, including a Frazier 3-pointer en route to a 65-58 lead with 14:09 to play. The Broncos, however, eventually pulled even, 70-70, following a pair of Dylan Flinn free throws.
The two sides battled back-and-forth for the remainder of the half until Reinwald hit an open three to give HC a 92-89 advantage with 16 seconds remaining in regulation. Despite the swing in momentum, McPherson answered and sent the contest into overtime on their next possession when Frazier rebounded a Jordan Crawford miss, scrambled behind the arc and connected on the game-tying 3-pointer, 92-92, as time expired.
The Bulldog held the lead for the entire extra period until the Ferguson’s game-winning 3-pointer with no time left.
Scouting Bethel
First year head coach Alonzo Jamison and his Bethel College Threshers come into Thursday’s contest with a 0-5 overall record following a 77-70 loss against Central Christian College (Kan.) on Monday night. Jamison, who previously spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach for BC, welcomes back six individuals from last year’s squad that finished 7-22 overall and 6-12 in Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference play.
Against Central, the Threshers took a 43-41 lead into halftime, but failed to carry that momentum into the second period where they got outscored 36-27 en route to the seven point loss. Overall, Bethel shot 40.4 percent (23-of-57) from the field, including 8-for-24 from 3-point range. Lee Griffin and Robbie Wright paced the BC offense with 14 points each, while Justin Baldia added 13 points and Austin Muckenthaler chipped in 10 points, respectively.
On the year, Bethel is averaging 67.4 points per game on 41.5 percent (117-of-282) shooting, but has struggled with rebounding (averaging 27.0 per game) and turnovers (averaging 16.0 per game). The Threshers rank amongst the bottom half of the KCAC in all major categories except for fouls per game (22.4), 3-point field goal percentage offense (34.5 percent) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (33.8 percent).
Individually, Wright leads Bethel by averaging 16.4 points per game off the bench. Additionally, the sophomore transfer from Allen County Community College is shooting 60.0 percent (27-of-45) from the field, including a 52.4 percent (11-of-21) success rate from beyond the arc. Wright posted a career-high 24 points on 9-of-10 shooting against Central Methodist on Nov. 15.
In addition to Wright, Griffin and Baldia average double-figures at 10.4 points per game and 10.0 points per game, respectively. Senior guard Trey Ronnebaum leads Bethel on the boards with a 5.2 rebounds per game average, while Griffin has dished out a team-high 16 assists on the campaign.
In their last meeting...
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.
Overall, McPherson shot 56.3 percent (36-of-64) from the field, including 9-of-20 from three, and 68.6 percent from the foul line. In addition, the Bulldogs held a 34-33 edge in rebounding, while forcing the Broncos into 15 turnovers.
Hastings ended the contest shooting 47.0 percent (31-of-66) from the field, including 48.0 percent (12-of-25) from beyond the arc. The Broncos excelled at the foul line on the evening, shooting 94.1 percent (32-for-35) from the foul line.
