Men's Basketball | 2/7/2012 6:23:00 PM
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McPherson, Kan. – After a big home victory this past Saturday, the No. 6 Bulldogs look to keep their undefeated home streak going against the Falcons of Friends University. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. (CT) Thursday at the McPherson Sport Center.
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.
Coming off of an 84-71 win against Southwestern, McPherson is riding high, quickly bouncing back from a defeat earlier in the week against the Spires of Saint Mary. The triumph keeps the Bulldogs atop the KCAC standings with a record of 12-2, they’re 23-3 overall. Southwestern’s loss puts them third in the KCAC and three games back from MC with only four games to go. They sit at 19-6 overall and are 9-3 in the conference.
Jordan Crawford's (McPherson, Kan.) 15 point and 10 rebound double-double performance led the highlights for McPherson against Southwestern. He was aided by three other Bulldogs that made it into double-digits for points including his brother
Chris Crawford (McPherson, Kan.) who had 18.
Aaron Frazier (McPherson, Kan.) and
Samson Shivers (Houston, Texas) each earned 15 points. The shooting woes of their previous game were all but forgotten as they shot an incredible 48.3 percent from the field and were 6-of-12 from the three in the first half.
Friends enters the showdown with a three-game win streak with their latest victory coming against Bethel College where the Falcons won 76-62. Friends just about shot lights out in their win, making 30 of their 52 shots taken for a staggering 57.7 field goal percentage. The Falcons’ high flying offense is averaging 81 points in their current winning streak which is 10 points more than their 70.5 season average.
Following the Falcons of Friends, McPherson will travel to Salina and face Kansas Wesleyan in a KCAC matchup on Saturday, Feb. 11
th at 7 p.m. (CT)
Scouting Friends
In the middle of a three-game winning streak, Friends University will be full of confidence when they make the journey up to McPherson. In their past two games, the Falcons held their opponents to 62 and 59 points per game which is nearly10 points below their season average of 71. As a team last week, Friends held their two opponents to a field goal percentage of 36.2. That type of defense will certainly pose a challenge for the Bulldogs’ high scoring offense.
The defense of Friends definitely did a number on the Thrashers last week, allowing them to shoot only 33.3 percent from the field. The Falcons also held Bethel’s leading scorer Lee Griffin to nine points, six below his season average of 15 points per game. Friends allowed only one Thrasher in double digits which is the first since 2011 that Bethel has been held to just one player with 10 points or more in a game.
Defensively, the Falcons are led by their junior guard Joseph Wakefield. Wakefield is averaging 1.36 steals a game and has five blocks on the season. Thomas Bland is right behind him with 31 steals on the season, averaging 1.24 per game.
When Friends hosted Bethel College, they were led in scoring by Reggie Britton who had 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Britton also was successful on 3 of his 4 three-point attempts. The Falcons’ bench produced 31 points, 11 of which came on the 5-of-5 shooting by Colton Rausch.
On the season, Friends University has made the most three-point field goals in the KCAC, bucketing a total of 208. The Falcons’ average of eight makes from beyond the arc per game, puts them third in the conference in that category.
After Friends travels to McPherson, they will be back at home for their last two home games of the regular season. They will face Tabor College on Saturday with the game set to start at 7 p.m. (CT)
