Men's Basketball | 3/5/2012 11:09:00 PM
Live Audio
Live Statistics
Game Notes
MBB Blog
McPherson, Kan. – The McPherson College men’s basketball team departed for the 2012 NAIA Division II National Tournament on Monday afternoon. The team left following a campus-wide celebration that took place in the Sport Center. The Bulldogs are driving to Point Lookout, Missouri where the National Championships are held each year.
The 30-3 No. 5 Bulldogs are set to play the 18-12 Dakota State University Trojans in the Wednesday night matchup which is the final game of the NAIA-II National Tournament’s opening day. McPherson hasn’t played since the championship game of the KCAC tournament against Saint Mary on Feb. 27th. DSU has also been off since their championship game which was on the 26th.
McPherson is looking to finish a historic, record setting season. The2011-12 Bulldogs are the winningest basketball team in school history, they’ve attempted and made the most free-throws of any team, and are just 89 points shy of scoring the most points of any MC team. They went 18-0 at home this season and have won 25 straight at home over the past two seasons. McPherson is the first school in the KCAC to qualify for the NAIA tournament three-straight years and to record 30 wins in a season.
McPherson ranks in the top-10 in the NAIA-II in five different categories: first in defensive rebounds per game, first in total rebounds, second in defensive field goal percentage, third in rebounds per game, and seventh in defensive three-point percentage. They are also in the top 30 in 10 other classifications.
Individually, the ‘Dogs are re-writing the history books too. Samson Shivers (Houston, Texas) has attempted and made more three-point shots in his two years at MC than anybody in the history of the basketball program has in four years. Shivers has also attempted and made the most free-throws of any Bulldog after two seasons. Aaron Frazier (McPherson, Kan.) sits at 11th in the history books in total career points with 1259 and Shivers is 19th with 995.
MC will continue playing in the NAIA-II tournament if they are able to defeat Dakota State. A victory will give them their next game on Friday, March 8th at 10:15 a.m. (CT) against the winner of the Indiana Tech vs. No. 12 Saint Thomas matchup.
Be sure to follow the Bulldogs' journey as the men’s basketball team is blogging about their trip to nationals at: http://mc2012mbbnationaltournament.wordpress.com/
Scouting Dakota State
Dakota State boasts a 6’ 5” average height for their starting lineup and is coming off their Division 2 Independents championship game where they defeated Jamestown College of North Dakota, 80-71. JC came into the game as the favorite and the number one seed in the 15-team conference.
DSU was led by Spencer Adams who scored 21 points on 55% shooting with the majority of his points coming from his 7-of-11 from the charity stripe. He was aided by center Keith Biggers (16 on 7-of-8), Dakota State’s leading scorer Jesse Bean (15, 3-of-4 from three) and forward Donald Steward (11) in double-digit scoring.
The Trojans shot the ball very well in their championship game, hitting 51 percent of their total shots and 7-of-16 from behind the arc. They visited the free-throw line 34 times and hit 23 for a 67.6 percentage. The assist total for DSU was the same, 14, as the amount of turnovers committed.
Bean is averaging 13.88 point per game during the season and is shooting 73.9 percent from the free-throw line; he also leads the Trojans in assists with 2.55 each outing. Biggers is Dakota State’s top rebounder, averaging 6.44 per contest and has 174 on the year.
As a team, DSU offense is averaging 72.97 points per game on 45.6 percent shooting. The team is grabbing just under 12 offensive boards and 13.93 assists every time out.
The defense is allowing only 68.47 points per contest giving the team a 4.37 scoring margin for the year. They are holding their opponents to 42.5% shooting from the field and 34 percent from three-point land. They force 16.2 turnovers and grab 7.1 steals per game.
Much like McPherson, the next game of Dakota State will be determined by how they fare on Wednesday night.
