Men's Basketball | 1/21/2013 10:47:00 AM
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McPherson, Kan. – After losing their seventh game out of their past eight, McPherson must now fight for a playoff spot in the KCAC tournament; the uphill battle begins Wednesday when they travel to Hillsboro, Kansas to take on the conference No. 3 Tabor College Blue Jays. The Wednesday night contest will begin at 8:00 p.m. (CT) on the 23rd of January; junior varsity men play at 4:00.
The game will be broadcasted live in the McPherson area on 96.7 FM KBBE Mid-Kansas Radio and at Macbulldogs.com with Nick Gosnell on the call with former McPherson basketball coach Roger Trimmell doing the color commentary. Steve Sell will join the broadcast with halftime and postgame insight and analysis. You can also watch the game via ihigh.com/macbulldogs. All links to live game statistics, audio or video can be found at Macbulldogs.com
The Bulldogs should be known as the “heartbreak team” as they have lost some extremely close games with their previous two coming by two points each. Most recently, MC faced rivals Bethany College. Mac led for the first two minutes of the game after a pair of free throws but after a couple of baskets by the Swedes, McPherson took a backseat for the final 18 minutes of the half. The Bulldogs had a difficult time scoring in the opening minutes and BC took jumped on the opportunity to increase their lead and led by as many as 10, controlling the game’s pace. MC pumped up their defense and kept their deficit in single digits for most of the period, trailing 33-25 at halftime.
The second half started slow but picked up in the final minutes. Bethany quickly got up by 10+ and stayed ahead by double figures for a good deal of the period; Mac increased their intensity in the final six minutes, making it a game. A 9-2 run by the Bulldogs pulled them within two points with just over two minutes left on the clock. BC missed their next pair of free throws, giving McPherson a chance to tie or take the lead but three offensive rebounds and four misses by MC gave the Swedes another chance to separate themselves from Mac, which they did on a fast break layup. A quick put-back by D’onte Woods got the deficit for McPherson back to two on the next possession. After each team committed a turnover, MC’s Sampson Shivers had a chance at a breakaway layup but put too much power behind it ending the Bulldogs’ chance at overtime as Bethany grabbed the defensive rebound. A missed free throw seemingly gave Mac some hope but an offensive board by the Swedes stopped that dead in its tracks; BC won 61-59.
At the end of the game, McPherson had made 32.2 percent of their 59 attempts with four going in from downtown; they hit 17-of-21 from the stripe, a 15% increase from their season average. BC closed out the game nailing 37.7 percent from the floor but was only 10-of-19 from the free throw line. The Swedes pulled down 47 rebounds while MC grabbed 40; Bethany had 13 offensive boards in the second half. 10 steals were totaled by the Bulldogs along with four blocks. Mac’s bench did the majority of the scoring on Saturday as they put in 30 points.
Three players for McPherson scored a team-high eight points; they were Adam Bruner, Devirous Johnson and Jake Reinhardt. Reinhardt grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds while Bruner led the team in assists as he cashed in on five dimes.
Following their tussle with Tabor, the Bulldogs will host the Ottawa Braves on January 26th; tipoff is at 7:00 p.m. (CT) with junior varsity getting going at 3:00.
Scouting Tabor
After winning seven of their last eight, TC fell apart last Saturday when they traveled to face Sterling College; the SC Warriors completely dismantled the Blue Jays, winning 71-59. Tabor is now 7-3 in the KCAC, placing them third.
On Saturday, neither team shot the ball extremely well from the floor as TC converted on 21-of-65 including 7-of-26 from deep. Sterling fared a little bit better, making 36% of their 50 field goals; they were 8-of-21 from behind the arc and 27-of-38 from the charity stripe. SC was all over the defensive glass, keeping Tabor’s trees at bay; they hulled in 39 defensive and 49 total rebounds. The Blue Jays only turned the ball over eight times and force 14 from Sterling, grabbing seven steals.
Brent Jackson came in off the bench for TC to lead the squad in points, scoring 14 on 5-of-12 from the field; four of his makes were from downtown and he also had a team-high nine rebounds. Robbie Samuel scored 10 and was the only other Blue Jay to make it to double-digits. The team’s leading scorer, Ryan Chippeaux, was held to nine points and eight rebounds; he scored the majority of his points from the free throw line where he went 5-of-6.
This season, Tabor is putting up 70 points an outing and is giving up 71, making for some very close games. 41% of the team’s field goals are making their way through the basket; they hit on 31.5% of their three pointers and make an average of 7.2 per contest. Despite having one of the tallest starting lineups in the conference, TC is getting outrebounded by over three boards a game and averages only 36.6 themselves. They are turning the ball over 14.3 times each time out but steal back 8.3.
Chippeaux is bucketing an average of 13.4 points every time he hits the court; he makes 55.6 percent of his field goal attempts and hulls in 9.9 rebounds a contest helping him get a KCAC-leading nine double-doubles this year. He leads the team in blocks with 15 and ranks fifth in the NAIA D-II in defensive rebounds per game (7.2) and is sixth in total rebounds per game (9.9). Samuel is next in scoring for TC, putting in 9.3 points on average; he is the team leader in steals as he’s grabbed 20 for the season.
Tabor will venture to Lindsborg, Kansas to face the Swedes on January 26th for their next game.
