McPherson, Kan. – In their first home game of the season, the MC men's basketball team looked very good, and shot even better. The 'Dogs took down Manhattan Christian College 95-63 and shot 50% from behind the arc, 16-of-32.
"We played better tonight," said Coach Swartzendruber. "Defensively we made it difficult for them to score. And we shot tremendous from three. I really appreciated our large student crowd too!"
It was a close contest for the first half of the opening period in the Monday night contest but a 17-3 run by the Bulldogs put them in full control just three minutes later. MC headed into the locker room up 46-29. McPherson shot in 45.5% from the field (15-of-33) including 7-of-14 from distance; the team made 9-of-12 free throws and their bench outscored Manhattan Christian 30-13. The Thunder connected on a respectable 10-of-27 from the floor but were just 4-of-13 from deep and 4-of-14 from the stripe.
In the second half, the depth of the Bulldogs really showed as the fresh legs of Mac helped them pull even further away from MCC. McPherson held a 20-point lead within five minutes of the second and continued to push from there. After playing a lot of the bench players in the final 5+, the 'Dogs took the game 95-63. In the final 20 minutes, MC converted 17-of-40 field goals and drained 9-of-18 three balls. The Thunder went 12-of-31 from the floor with just 2-of-9 threes.
The Bulldogs ended the night shooting 43.8 percent as they saw 32-of-73 shot attempts fall; an impressive 16-of-32 threes were counted and the team made 15-of-20 foul shots. Mac out-boarded Manhattan Christian 42-39 and won the bench scoring 57-to-29. They recorded 17 assists to 13 turnovers and had eight steals as well.
Four 'Dogs hit double-digits in scoring with junior transfer Dee Roberts leading the way with 18; the shooting guard, who had 11 at the break, went 6-of-10 from the floor with three threes and 3-of-4 free throws. Aaron Bachura got hot from distance as he dropped in 4-of-5 threes for his 12 points. Ramon Martinez scored on 4-of-8 field goals for his 10 points. Earning his second double-double of the season, Reed Rowell went 4-of-7 from the floor with both his foul shots going in for 10 points to go with his 11 rebounds. The lone senior, Kyle Lakin, had a team-high five assists and scored seven points as well.
McPherson next heads to NCAA D-II Southern Nazarene University on Friday night for an 8:00 p.m. (CT) showdown with the Crimson Storm.
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McPherson College is a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference member school and a part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
