Men's Basketball | 2/27/2014 11:10:00 PM
Box Score
Sterling, Kan. – It's hard to beat a team that is shooting close to 50% from the field, especially when they are playing in front of their home crowd. Bulldog basketball saw their 2013-14 campaign come to a close on Thursday as they fell 82-68 to the KCAC's No. 2 Sterling College in the opening round of the conference tournament.
"Sterling played great and we didn't," said Coach Swartzendruber. "They live and die by the three and tonight they made shots. I'm proud of this team; we overcame adversity throughout the year and played our best basketball at the end of the season. We will sorely miss our four seniors."
It was all about the threes in the first half as SC used the adrenaline from their spirited home crowd to push them in front of Mac early. The 'Dogs were never out of it as they would put charges together of their own to get within a few; unfortunately, Sterling always seemed to have an answer and never let MC too close. McPherson got an and-one with just 4.3 ticks left in the opening period to pull the score to 33-29 but a crushing three pointer at the buzzer put SC on top 36-29 heading into the locker room.
The Bulldogs made 9-of-29 in the first 20 minutes with 4-of-14 dropping from long range; they converted on 7-of-12 from the foul line. Sterling saw 11-of-25 field goals fall with 8-of-15 finding their way through from beyond the arc; they hit six of their eight free throws. Mac's TJ Grant had a solid first half, scoring 13 points on 4-of-7 from the field and 2-of-3 from the charity stripe.
The momentum continued to stay with the Warriors In the second half as they maintained their lead over MC. The Bulldogs got close a number of times but were never able to get within a bucket and fouls late gave SC multiple free throw chances which they took full advantage of. In the end, Sterling's clutch shooting proved to be too much for Mac as the Warriors advanced to the second round with their 82-68 victory.
16-of-41 field goals found the bottom of the net for McPherson, as did 4-of-15 from deep; they went to the stripe just three times and made 3-of-5 tries. Sterling counted 14-of-28 from the floor and had 4-of-10 fall from downtown; 14-of-19 free throws went in for the Warriors.
McPherson logged a 35.7 field goal percentage as 25 of their 70 shots fell through; 8-of-29 were knocked down from distance and 10-of-17 from the foul stripe. The team grabbed 43 rebounds and had 13 offensive boards. They also recorded 12 turnovers, just seven assists, six steals and two blocks.
Grant (South Bend, Ind.) ended the night with a game-high 23 points coming on 8-of-17 shooting from the floor and 4-of-7 from the free throw line; he also dished out a team leading three assists and had six rebounds. In his final game for the Bulldogs, Samson Shivers, the career record holder for most points scored, threw in 20 on 7-of-18 shooting with 2-of-3 foul shots going down; he ends his collegiate playing days with 2075 points. Fellow senior Devirous Johnson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added 11 rebounds to his record breaking season, giving him 374 for the year and 410 for his career at Mac; his 12.1 season average ties a school record dating back to 1950-51.
It's the offseason now for MC basketball; the coaching staff has its work cut out for them as they need to replace four vital seniors. Spring season workouts and conditioning will begin in March.
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