Men's Basketball | 11/12/2012 11:51:00 AM
McPherson, Kan. – The McPherson vs. Central Christian College annual cross-town basketball showdown is upon us. The men’s teams will tipoff at 8:00 p.m. (CT) on November 13th on the campus of the Tigers.
The game will be shown live on the KCAC Broadcast Network and at Macbulldogs.com. The contest will also be broadcasted live in the McPherson area on 96.7 FM KBBE Mid-Kansas Radio and at Macbulldogs.com with Nick Gosnell on the call with former McPherson basketball coach Roger Trimmell doing the color commentary. Steve Sell will join the broadcast with halftime and postgame insight and analysis.
Bulldog basketball is coming off of two-straight near 30-point losses, one counting towards their record and the other not as it was an exhibition contest. RV Morningside College was the first team of the season to give MC a loss, doing it in the McPherson Sport Center this past Friday; the 87-61 defeat stopped the Bulldog’s 26-home game winning streak.
The Mustangs shot the ball extremely well, 53.2% from the field and 13-of-26 from distance. They also played very fundamental basketball against a McPherson team that is still trying to find their identity.
There was only one Bulldog in double figures in their loss, Darius Hill hit four of his six shots and drained 2-of-3 from the free throw stripe for 10 points; he also led the team, along with Devarious Johnson, in rebounds with six. The team’s leading scorer for the season Sampson Shivers, who was averaging 21 per game before tonight, went cold as he only hit 1-of-13 and five free throws for seven points; Shivers was 0-of-8 from deep. The bench for Mac put up nearly half the team’s points, scoring 30.
In the exhibition game against the Tigers of Fort Hays State University, it was a matter of an inability to get into the paint for McPherson as FHSU had a tremendous height advantage; Hays’ has seven players at least 6’6” on their roster including a 7-footer. MC was held to just 14 points in the paint which is well below their season average of 30 per game. The Bulldogs also only attempted 13 shots from the charity stripe.
Kasey Miller with his 4-of-7 shooting from distance helped him get his MC-leading 13 points. He was the sole Bulldog to make it into double figures; Shivers had another off night and was held to seven points on 3-of-12 and just 1-of-6 from long range.
The Baker University Classic awaits McPherson after their matchup with Central. The Bulldogs will play two games in two days starting on November 16th when they face, for the second time this season, Haskell Indian Nations University at 5:30 p.m. (CT). They follow up that game with a contest against Baker on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
Scouting Central Christian
The Tigers are 5-0 this season with their most recent victory coming against Johnson & Wales of Colorado 78-61 on November 10th. Other notable wins for CCC are a 72-71 win over Bethel College and taking down Manhattan Christian 76-57.
In their contest against the Wildcats of J&W, a 51.7% shooting performance by Central Christian allowed them to have a fairly comfortable lead throughout the game. The Tigers shot 33.3% on 9-of-27 from behind the arc but struggled from the charity stripe, only hitting 7-of-16.
Aaron Miller led all scoring with 16 points which he got on 6-of-10 from the field including 4-of-7 from distance. Fellow guard Kaelon Gary was just one point behind Miller with 15, hitting six shots of his own; Gary distributed the ball well, earning 10 assists for his first double-double of the season. 6-4 forward Aaron Cannon grabbed 12 boards in the contest to lead the team.
This season, Central’s Gary is averaging 17.4 points per contest and three steals per game, leading the Tigers in both categories; Gary’s 15 total steals ranks him fifth in the NAIA D-II. Cannon is snagging nine rebounds each outing and has 45 for the year, putting him 10th in the country.
The team averages 83.6 points per game and is only giving up 68. Central is ranked fourth in the NAIA D-II in offensive rebounds per game with 16 and their 46.2 total rebounds each contest places them ninth.
For their next game, the Tigers will face Bethel College for the second time on November 17th.
