Men's Basketball | 2/17/2012 1:41:00 AM
Box Score Box Score
Ottawa, Kan. – For the second time this season, 40 minutes were not enough to determine a winner for the Ottawa and McPherson men’s basketball teams. The game came down to the wire with McPherson coming out with a victory 85-83 thanks to Aaron Frazier’s go-ahead shot with only seconds remaining.
The excitement in the Wilson Field House the final five minutes of regulation and in overtime was amazing. The home and away fans held their collective breath on each of McPherson and OU’s final shot attempts, eagerly awaiting the outcome of this back-and-forth matchup.
Even though McPherson was leading throughout most of the contest, they were never being able to pull far enough away; Ottawa took their first lead of the second half, mid-way through the period. OU continued to hit their shots and increased their lead to eight with just three minutes remaining. The Bulldogs fought back and tied the game at the 1:15 mark. Frazier was given a last second shot opportunity but missed off the edge of the backboard.
In overtime, the Braves took control early and got out to a six point lead with only three minutes to play. Again, not willing to give-up, MC fought back and tied it with a minute left. Frazier was given another chance for a buzzer-beater to win the game, this time he hit an elbow shot with 2.6 seconds to go. After a couple of timeouts, Coach Swartzendruber put Adam Bruner in for defensive purposes and, like it was meant to be, Bruner stole the inbounds pass to help the Bulldogs hold on.
It may have been a last second steal by Adam Bruner that preserved the victory for the Bulldogs but it was the “never-say-die” attitude of the McPherson team that allowed MC to come out of Ottawa a winner.
McPherson senior
Aaron Frazier (McPherson, Kan.) led all scoring with a career best 28 points on 13-of-26 shooting.
Samson Shivers (Houston, Texas) hit on eight of his 20 field goal attempts for 19 points and
Chris Crawford (McPherson, Kan.) added his third double-double of the season (17 points, 14 rebounds) to round out McPherson’s top scorers.
For the Braves, if you were a starter, you scored in double-digits. The five men who were on the floor at the start of the game scored 72 of Ottawa’s 83 points. Chase Dipple was the top scorer for OU with 22 points, 12 coming from his 4-of-8 night from the three. Corey Smith threw in 15, gaining six of those on his 6-of-7 from the free-throw stripe. Larry Barber (13), Kameron Lindsay (12) and Stephen Feighny (10) were the other three with double figures scoring; Lindsay also had 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.
As a team, McPherson went 40 percent from the field but only 17.2 percent from long range for their second lowest percentage from beyond the arc this season. MC also went 57.1 from the free-throw line for their third lowest on the year.
Ottawa was 4-of-9 from three-point land in each of the two halves for a combined 44.4 percent average. The Braves shot an incredible 52.9 percent in the second period from the field and after a 35.9 first half percentage, they ended the game shooting 43.8 percent. OU was able stay the KCAC leading free-throw team, making 11-of-15.
The Bulldogs will now return home for Senior/Alumni night on Saturday, Feb. 18
th. The game will be the last of the regular season and played in the McPherson Sport Center at 7 p.m. (CT) against the Swedes of Bethany.
