Men's Basketball | 11/8/2012 3:01:00 PM
McPherson, Kan. – Two games against some top level opponents await the Bulldogs this weekend, starting with RV Morningside College who come to McPherson on Friday, November 9 at 7:00 p.m. (CT) for a showdown in the McPherson Sport Center. Next, MC travels to Hays, Kansas to face NCAA D-II Fort Hays State University on Saturday; tipoff is at 4:30 p.m.
The game against Morningside 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.
The Fort Hays State game will be broadcasted on Tiger Radio at athayspost.com/tiger-radio or through Fhsuathletics.com.
Bulldog basketball has won three straight games with their most recent triumph being against Manhattan Christian College this past Wednesday. It was a close game by all accounts as the game went into halftime 31-30 McPherson. Neither team shot well from the field, both right around the 37% mark, or the free throw line, each shooting at about 60 percent.
In the next period, the two squads went back and forth again with neither taking real control. MC’s Kasey Miller hit to three-point field goals late in the game to give the Bulldogs the lead that they needed to force fouls by MCC. McPherson hit their free throws and extended their lead to 10 points, winning 79-69.
The Bulldog’s free throw percentage skyrocketed to 94.4 percent in the second half as they made 17-of-18. While their three-point percentage did not improve in the final period, MC hit their shots from distance when they needed to; they finished the game shooting 28.1% from deep.
Sampson Shivers led the team again in points, making 6-of-16 from the field, five of those were from distance; he also hit 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Darius Hill had his first double-double of the year, grabbing 10 boards to go with his 12 points. Also making it into double figures was Jake Reinhardt who went 4-of-6 from the field and 3-of-4 from the stripe for 11 points.
Once the busy weekend is over for McPherson, they will prepare for their competition against cross-town rivals Central Christian College. That game is set for November 13th at 7:30 p.m. (CT)
Scouting Morningside
The Mustangs lost their first game of the season to No. 19 William Penn 93-83 and followed that up with an 86-63 win over Grandview putting them at 1-1 thus far in the season. In their win over Grandview, a sharp shooting performance of 46% from the field helped Morningside dictate the tempo of the game. They also held the Vikings to just 25 rebounds while grabbing 46 of their own.
Three Mustang players made it into double figures in points with Danny Rudeen leading the way with 19 on 7-of-13 shooting. He was immediately followed by Tanner Miller who had 18. Tanner Ferguson rounded out the double-digit scorers with his 12 points on 4-of-8 from behind the arc.
In this early season, Morningside is ranked sixth in the NAIA in assist to turnover ratio at 1.6 and are ninth in three pointers made per game with 10.5. The squad averages 21.5 assists per contest, placing them 10th in the Nation.
Trent Miller has been an assist and steal machine through the team’s two games, distributing the ball seven times a game for scores while taking it away 4.5 a contest; both of those statistics rank him fifth in the NAIA. Rudeen is the Mustang’s top scorer, averaging 22 points per contest on 50% shooting.
The game against McPherson will be Morningside’s first of a six-game road trip that sends the Mustangs to Friends University for a showdown with the Falcons on November 10th.
Scouting Fort Hays State
This will be the first game of the 2012-13 season for the Tigers. The squad went 19-9 last season, putting them FHSU fifth in the MIAA in the conference and left them with No. 19 Missouri Southern for the first round of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic s Association Championship Tournament. An overtime victory, 103-102, moved the Tigers along to take on Washburn University; the Ichabods took care of Fort Hays 67-54.
They only return three players from that squad, two senior guards and a junior guard who made up just 40 points, 32 of which came from one player, Jason Ball.
The 2011-12 Tigers averaged 70.2 points per game while giving up 65.6. Their leading scorer was senior Karron McKenzie who averaged 12.2 a contest; he also started every game for Fort Hays. FHSU had three other players averaging double-digits, all of which either graduated or left the college.
Fort Hays will take on another KCAC institution after their bout with the Bulldogs as they host the Bethany College Swedes on November 13th.
