Men's Basketball | 1/16/2013 11:19:00 PM
Box Score
North Newton, Kan. – Another slow start put McPherson College in too big of a hole as the Bulldogs fell just short of Bethel College, losing 65-63 after a put-back by McPherson High School native Cody Cape gave BC the game’s final two points.
Both teams had sluggish starts with a lot of missed shots as the two squads felt each other out. Baskets were traded for the first half of the period, the largest lead for Mac was one-point which they held on to for a total of 1:21; Bethel go up by as many as eight and did so with four minutes left in the half. A tied game at halftime seemed fitting as neither team was able to take control in the game’s first 20 minutes.
Thanks to their strong finish of the half, McPherson shot the ball decently well, making 13-of-33 from the field with two three balls; just six free throw attempts were put up by MC, they made three. The Threshers also hit 13 field goals but attempted 34 shots for a 38.2 shooting percentage; a 2-of-8 showing from distance and 3-of-4 from the stripe was good enough to hold off the Bulldogs.
McPherson scored once in the second period’s first five minutes which allowed BC to take control of the game, leading by 12 before the 10-minute mark. The score tightened up in the final few minutes as McPherson tied the score at 55 apiece with 5:41 showing on the game clock. Six points was the largest margin between the two teams and that advantage was given to the Threshers with just over two minutes remaining. A layup by MC’s
Adam Bruner (McPherson, Kan.) tied things up with 14 clicks left on the clock. After back-to-back missed field goals by Bethel’s Adam Arciniega, Cape grabbed the final rebound and banked it off the glass as time expired, giving BC their first conference win of the year 65-63.
The Bulldogs shot slightly worse from the floor in the game’s second half, the converted on 12-of-38 with three makes from downtown; again, just six free throws were put up by Mac, this half, the drained five. A 14-of-35 from the field was tallied by Bethel; they made 2-of-5 from behind the arc and 4-of-7 from the charity stripe.
Joey Powers (Welch, Okla.) gave McPherson a burst off the bench and scored a team-high 13 points on 5-of-6 from the field and 2-of-4 from the stripe.
Mason Hewitt (Norwich, Kan.) scored 12 while shooting 6-of-14; he also grabbed six rebounds in the loss.
Darius Hill (Kansas City, Kan.) led the team in rebounds with eight to go along with his six points.
Samson Shivers (Houston, Texas) struggled to find the bottom of the basket as he went 1-of-13 from the floor and 1-of-2 from the stripe for four points.
Four Thresher players made it into double-digits scoring; Arciniega was the team’s top scorer, bucketing 17 points on 7-of-17 from the field and 3-of-6 from the free throw line. Lee Griffin put up 17 shots and five of them found their way through the net for 11 points. Onesimus Moor and Cape each scored 10 points in their team’s win.
McPherson starts round two of KCAC play at home as they take on the Swedes of Bethany College on January 19
th at 7:00 p.m. (CT)
Make sure to follow Bulldog Nation on
Facebook (MCathletics) and
Twitter (@MAC_Bulldogs)
