Men's Basketball | 2/19/2012 12:30:00 AM
Box Score
Box Score
McPherson, Kan. –It was an emotional victory for the Bulldogs as they closed out their regular season with a 73-62 win over their rival Bethany College becoming the first KCAC championship basketball team since 1945.
What a year for the McPherson College men’s basketball team. 16-2 in the conference, 27-3 overall, undefeated at home, and now they are KCAC champions which means that they receive an automatic bid to the NAIA Division II National Championships in Branson, Mo. in three weeks.
On Saturday night, McPherson got out to their standard fast start, going up 11-1 before the Swedes hit their first basket over five minutes into the game. Bethany continued to fight and clawed back to tie the game, thanks to a buzzer-beating layup by Danny Dodson, at 35 going into the break. Straight out of the second half gate, BC jumped ahead to take their first lead of the contest 37-35. A few possessions later, McPherson went on a 16-0 run to pull ahead 54-41 with 10:29 to play. The Swedes tried to get back in the game but were only able to cut the lead to 8 on a few occasions.
The win solidifies the championship status of McPherson with a 16-2 KCAC record, 27-3 for the season. For Bethany, the loss means that they are eighth in the conference at 7-11, 9-17 overall.
The seniors showed up for McPherson on Senior Night, as for the third straight game,
Aaron Frazier (McPherson, Kan.) scored over 20 points, accumulating 25 on 7-of-15 shooting. Fellow senior
Chris Crawford (McPherson, Kan.) had his second in a row double-double (14-14), giving him four for the year. Sophomore
Samson Shivers (Houston, Texas) had 12 points after not being able to find the bottom of the net in the first half.
Bethany’s senior crew also had big nights, highlighted by Haydon Parks’ seventh double-double of the season, scoring 12 and rebounding 17. He was accompanied by senior starting guard Clayton Goggins who had 11. Another senior, Chris Dean, also made it into the double digits, scoring 12 points.
The Swedes had a rough time shooting in the second half on Saturday, making only 34.2 percent of their shots including missing all eight of their three-point attempts. They were also unable to convert on the uncontested free-throws, going 1-of-10 in that period; BC finished the night shooting 47.6 percent from the stripe. However, they were all over the offensive glass, grabbing 20 rebounds compared to McPherson’s eight.
The Bulldogs had a consistent field goal shooting percentage, going 13-of-29 in the first half and 9-of-22 in the second for percentages of 44.8 and 40.9 respectively. MC started the game cold from three-point land, 2-of-11 in the opening period, but heated up a bit in the second, hitting 4-of-10. The Bulldogs were able to make it to the charity stripe 32 times and drained 23 of those free shots.
As the KCAC champs, McPherson receives the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament. As such, they will play the eighth seed which happens to be Bethany College. BC will be traveling back down to the McPherson Sport Center to play the Bulldogs next Thursday the 23
rd of February. That game is scheduled for 7 p.m. (CT)
