Men's Basketball | 2/11/2012 11:26:00 PM
Box Score
Box Score
Salina Kan. – On the legs of
Samson Shivers' (Houston, Texas) six three-point field goals, No. 6 McPherson took control of the game early and never gave it up, defeating the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes 90-72.
McPherson jumped out to another quick lead thanks to some impressive shooting. The Bulldogs started the game on a 21-4 run, making it almost impossible for KWU to have a chance from the get-go. The Coyotes were able to get within 10 points a few times throughout the game but could never get it to single digits. The largest lead of the night, 18 points with a score of 81-58, came with just a few minutes left in the game.
The Bulldogs stay in first place of the KCAC, sitting at 14-2, with the victory Saturday, and now have a 25-3 overall record. Coming off their first conference win this past Thursday, Kansas Wesleyan was unable to create a winning streak. KWU is now 1-15 in the KCAC and 3-24 for the season.
MC, once again had a great shooting night, making 45.7 percent of their 70 shot attempts. The Bulldogs were able to hit on 11-of-27 three-pointers for a 40.7 percentage. McPherson stuck around their season average for free-throw percentage, shooting 68.2 percent on 15-of-22.
Sophomore guard Shivers led the Bulldogs in scoring with 23. Shivers put up 13 tries from beyond the arc and was able to make 6 of them for 18 of his game total. Senior
Aaron Frazier (McPherson, Kan.) also made it to the 20 point mark, scoring 20 himself. Frazier, however, didn’t attempt a single three-pointer and instead scored his on fast breaks and mid-range jumpers. Fellow senior,
Chris Crawford (McPherson, Kan.) had 14 points to round out the double-digit MC scorers.
Kansas Wesleyan came at the Bulldogs with a balanced attack, having five different players score in double figures. Lone KWU senior, Seth Smith scored a team high 14 points, with nine coming from his 3-of-4 three-point night, in his last home game as a Coyote. Brock Borovetz, Dane Brinker, Dylan Briscoe and, coming off the bench, Jason Carter, scored 12, 11, 10 and 10 respectively.
The Coyotes hit a good percentage of their three-pointers in the second half to keep within reach of McPherson. They went 5-of-9 in the second period from three after only hitting on one of their seven attempts in the first half. KWU also shot around 40 percent both halves from the field, 38.7 and 41.2, ending the night right at 40 percent.
As a team, McPherson was able to grab more of their own misses than Kansas Wesleyan could. MC racked up 22 offensive boards compared to the 21 defensive rebounds of KWU. The Bulldogs had a positive assist-turnover ratio, having 18 assists and only 16 turnovers. McPherson also forced 18 turnovers on 10 steals as well as smacking a season-high eight blocks.
MC will now travel up to face the KCAC’s 7
th place Ottawa University Braves next Thursday. The game is scheduled to be played at 8 p.m. (CT) on Feb. 16
th.
