Men's Basketball | 2/21/2012 1:22:00 PM
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McPherson, Kan. – The newly crowned KCAC Regular Season Champions of McPherson College are ready to get started in their post-season play. The conference tournament begins with the Swedes of Bethany traveling back down to the McPherson Sport Center this Thursday, Feb. 23rd for a rematch of last week’s exhilarating basketball game. The first-round matchup is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. (CT) For a look at the complete KCAC Tournament Men's bracket, click here.
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 MidKansas Radio and at Macbulldogs.com with Nick Gosnell and former Bulldog head coach Roger Trimmell on the call.
In their game this past Saturday against Bethany College, MC was able to finish their regular season undefeated at home with the 73-62 triumph. That solidified the first place standing for the Bulldogs who are now 27-3 overall, 16-2 in the conference. BC’s loss keeps them in eighth place in the KCAC with a record of 7-11, 9-17 for the season.
The Bulldogs had a great shooting night on Saturday which has become a standard for them at home this season. McPherson put in 43.1 percent of their total shots from the field and also shot a 71.9 percentage from the free-throw stripe going 23-of-32.
Senior Aaron Frazier (McPherson, Kan.) had a great showing in his last regular season game as a Bulldog, going 7-of-15 from the field for 25 points; Frazier was able to hit on 80 percent of his free-throws (8-of-10). Chris Crawford (McPherson, Kan.), also in his last regular season game, went 5-of-8 from the field for 14 points; Crawford also grabbed 14 rebounds for his fourth double-double this season. After not being able to find the broad side of a barn in the first half, Samson Shivers (Houston, Texas) only put up four shots in the second, gaining the majority of his 12 points from the charity stripe; Shivers was a perfect 9-of-9 from the line.
If McPherson defeats Bethany on Thursday night, they will play again in the McPherson Sport Center on Saturday, Feb. 25th at 7 p.m. (CT) against the number four seeded Tabor vs. number five Southwestern winner.
Scouting Bethany
Bethany is coming off of their loss to McPherson which put them at 4-10 for the regular season on games played away from their home. They will be on the road again this week as they make the drive down highway 81 to the McPherson Sport Center.
In their Saturday loss to MC, the Swedes had their worst three-point shooting night since early December and their third lowest of the year. BC shot the ball eight times in each half from long range and only hit two for a 12.5 percentage. Their 34.7 overall field goal percentage was seven points lower than their season average. Bethany was also only able to make one of their 10 free-throws in the second half after hitting 9-of-11 in the first for a percentage of 47.6.
BC had three players, all of whom were seniors, in double figures, led by center Haydon Parks who had more rebounds (17) than he did points (12); Parks’ 17 rebounds were a career high. Clayton Goggins (11) and former McPherson Bulldog Chris Dean (12) were the other two Swedes to make it into double digits for scoring.
The leading scorer for Bethany this season is Trey Beachum, he is averaging 13.96 points per outing while shooting 39.1 percent from the field. Parks and Dean are right behind him with an 11.1 point average this year. Parks leads the team in rebounds per game with 7.62 and is second in that category in the KCAC. Dean is the top offensive rebounder in the conference, averaging 2.92 per contest.
The Swedes are in the bottom three this year in all facets of shooting according to percentages. Their free-throw (62.7), field-goal (41.0) and three-point (29.9) percentages are ninth, eighth and ninth, respectively. All of these averages were lowered by their most recent performance against the Bulldogs.
If Bethany beats McPherson on Thursday, then they would travel to either (4) Tabor or (5) Southwestern for a second-round game on Saturday night at 7 p.m. (CT)
