Men's Basketball | 3/11/2012 8:33:00 PM
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Point Lookout, Mo. – The 2011-12 men’s basketball program at McPherson College has just has broken another record. For the first time in the history of MC basketball, the team is heading to the Final Four of the NAIA Division II National Basketball Tournament. After a come from behind victory over Dordt College, 82-78, the No. 5 Bulldogs will now play No. 1 Northwood University of Florida on Monday, March 12 at 6 p.m. (CT) for a chance to compete in the NAIA-II championship game.
MC got off to a strong start in their quarterfinal matchup against Dordt, getting up 18-8 at the 11:34 mark in the opening period. Dordt fought back and grabbed their first lead of the game, 29-28, with 3:46 remaining in the first half and took their 35-32 lead into the locker room. McPherson continued to trail in the second half, by as much as 10 at 13:38 and 12:05, until the final minute of the game when MC was down 78-71 with just 51 seconds remaining when Samson Shivers and Aaron Frazier hit three pointers in back-to-back-to-back possessions, giving the Bulldogs the lead with seven seconds to go at 80-78. A steal by Adam Bruner and a pair of free-throws by Chris Crawford sent McPherson into the Final Four.
The Bulldogs had five players in double-digits and were led in scoring by Jordan Crawford who had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Shivers recorded 13 points on 4-of-7 from the field and 3-of-5 from distance. Bruner and C. Crawford came in off the bench and put in 12 and 11, respectively; Bruner shooting 5-of-7 and C. Crawford making 4-of-8. Frazier was the last of MC’s double-figure scorers with 11.
The team shot 49.2 percent from the field on 31-of-63 and hit 84.6% of their 13 free-throw attempts. McPherson made 9-of-21 from long range for a 42.9 percentage. MC outrebounded Dordt 37-30 and forced 12 turnovers with seven steals.
If the 33-3 Bulldogs defeat 33-3 Northwood on Monday then they will face the winner of the No.3 Davenport vs. No. 2 Oregon Tech game on Tuesday at 6 p.m. (CT)
Scouting Northwood University
The top-seed of the NAIA-II tournament, Northwood Seahawks, are coming off a dominant performance as they defeated No. 8 Northwest University of Washington 77-50 in the quarterfinals on Saturday. NU is on an eight-game winning streak with their last loss coming against Warner of Florida on Feb. 11th.
In their matchup against Northwest, the Seahawks shot over 50% from the field, going 26-of-50. They also hit 40.9 percent of their 22 three balls. NU only missed five free throws, hitting 16-of-21 for a 76.2 percentage. Their defense held Northwest to 4-of-25 from distance and forced a 34% field goal percentage.
Northwood was led by Masse Doumbe who had 19 points on 60 percent shooting. Senior guard Jonathan Dunn followed with 16, going 2-of-4 from three-point range. Patrick Horstmann and Noah Keeton each had 10 points to round out the double-digit scorers.
This season, NU leads the Sun Conference in points per game, averaging 84.06 and only surrenders 67.89. They are shooting the ball at 49.8 percent from the field, 75.2 from the charity stripe and 40.3 from beyond the arc, making 9.03 threes a game. The Seahawks are averaging 17.03 assists and 9.69 steals each outing as well as forcing 16.75 turnovers. Northwood is ranked in the top-6 of the NAIA-II in 15 different categories including total three-point shots made (first at 325), assist-turnover ratio (second at 1.362), and scoring margin (sixth at +16.167).
Individually, the Seahawks are led in scoring by Dunn who averages 21.14 points and 52.4 percent shooting from the field per game; he ranks first in the NAIA-II in total points this season at 740. Hortsmann is grabbing 8.35 boards per contest, raking 24th in the NAIA-II. Doumbe is hitting 84.6% of his 169 free-throw attempts this season and averages 1.5 blocks every time out. Tyrone Davis is sitting first in the NAIA-II in total assists (275), assists per game (7.639), and assist turnover ratio (4.104).
The path to the NAIA Division II championship game goes through McPherson College, and if Northwood can get past the Bulldogs they will face either No.3 Davenport or No. 2 Oregon Tech on Tuesday at 6 p.m. (CT)
