Men's Basketball | 1/3/2013 11:40:00 PM
Box Score
McPherson, Kan. – A rough first half leaves the Bulldogs down by too many to recover from as they lost 87-73 to the University of Saint Mary Spires on Thursday, moving MC to 0-5 in the conference and 6-10 overall.
The game kicked off with a 10-0 run by USM against a different starting lineup than usual for McPherson. After gaining their double-digit lead, the Spires had a difficult time increasing their advantage as tough defense by MC and sloppy play by Saint Mary kept the score close. USM’s largest lead of the half came off of the period’s final basket; the Spires led 30-15 heading into the locker room.
A dreadful 20.7 first half shooting percentage was recorded by the Bulldogs as they were only able to hit six field goals, three of which were three balls; MC didn’t make a single trip to the free throw line despite the period being very aggressive. The Spires fared much better from the field as they drained 40.7% of their shots; they had nine attempts from the charity stripe and made seven.
The second half was a much more evenly matched game, something that one would expect to see between these two squads. The Saint Mary lead hovered around 15 points for most of the period with it increasing to the 20-point mark a couple of times; MC was never able to bring the score to single digits as 11 points was the closest they came and that was with just 48 ticks left on the scoreboard. The Bulldogs fouled down the stretch but USM was able to hit their free throws, winning 87-73
McPherson heavily increased their shooting percentage in the second period as they made 21-of-31 field goals, including going 7-of-10 from downtown; the team also garnered 12 trips to the free throw line where they made nine. Saint Mary outshined the Bulldogs’ field goal percentage as they seemed to not miss a shot in the second half, hitting 77.3% of their field goals and 8-of-12 from the three point mark; USM only went 15-of-25 from the stripe by hit their attempts when they counted.
With such a remarkable second half shooting performance, MC was able to end the game with a 45% shooting percentage; they were 10-of-21 from behind the arc. Saint Mary went 28-of-49 from the floor and 9-of-19 from deep, improving on both their averages. With both teams hitting so many shots, only 65 rebounds were recorded in the game; MC won the battle of the glass with 33 boards.
Adam Bruner (McPherson, Kan.) came in off the bench and missed only one field goal of his nine attempts and was 1-of-3 from the charity stripe; he finished the game with a career-high 19 points. Samson Shivers (Houston, Texas), also coming into the game after not starting for the first time since his freshman year, scored 10 on just 3-of-5 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free throw line. Devirous Johnson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Kasey Miller (Derby, Kan.), both starters, were close to the 10-ponit mark with nine and eight, respectively; Johnson also had eight rebounds to lead the team.
Chip Schneider led the Spires in scoring on Thursday with his game-high 23 points which he got on 7-of-11 from the field, 4-of-5 from deep, and 5-of-6 from the stripe. Newcomer Shiron Williams missed only once while scoring 14 points, making 6-of-7 from the floor. Matt Heydman lit things up from distance coming off the bench, scoring 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
The Falcons of Friends University will be making the trek up to McPherson, Kansas for the Bulldogs next home contest. Tipoff for that competition is set for 7:00 p.m. (CT) on January 5th; there will be no junior varsity game on Saturday.
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