Ottawa, Kan. – For whatever reason, lately it appears that the McPherson College men's basketball team is always facing teams when they cannot miss. It's been the case in the previous three outings and again on Saturday as Mac fell to Ottawa University 101-82.
After a back-and-forth battle for the first several minutes, an 11-0 run by Ottawa put them ahead by double figures before the midway point of the half. The Bulldog offense just couldn't get going for a stretch, allowing OU to increase their advantage to 20 with less than five minutes to go. McPherson stuck in there for the last few and went into halftime trailing 57-39. The 'Dogs shot the ball very well in the first half, making 17-of-30 including 3-of-10 threes; they put in two of their five free throws. The Braves had a very impressive 20 minutes, knocking in 23-of-38 from the field, 60.5%; they connected on 5-of-7 threes and all six from the charity stripe. Turnovers were a big factor of Mac, logging nine in the opening period.
In the second, the teams traded buckets most of the way with McPherson's largest deficit being 23 points but they weren't able to get any closer than 15. Chris Crook hit a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to keep the final score margin under 20 points; the Bulldogs ended the night on the wrong end of a 101-82 score line. MC didn't shoot as well in the second, making 14-of-39 field goals including just 5-of-20 from distance; they did perform well at the stripe, making 10-of-11. The Braves couldn't keep their level of shooting either but still made 40% from the field, 14-of-35 with 5-of-15 three balls; OU went 11-of-15 from the line.
McPherson scored on 31-of-69 for the game, 44.9%, with 8-of-30 coming from beyond the arc; they made 75% of their free throws, 12-of-16. The team grabbed 40 rebounds, winning the rebounding battle by one; the Bulldogs also recorded 16 turnovers, 14 assists, four steals, and one block. 32 points were scored by non-starters and 24 came inside the paint for MC.
Crook scored a game-high 24 points on 7-of-15 field goals and 8-of-9 foul shots; the junior also had five rebounds and three assists in a team leading 33 minutes. Redshirt freshman Jared Haury shot the ball well for the Bulldogs, dropping in 6-of-9 from the floor including 4-of-6 from deep for his career-high 16 points. Aaron Bachura was the final double-digit scoring Bulldog with his 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting with 2-of-3 free throws.
On Wednesday night McPherson College will welcome in Kansas Wesleyan University for a 4:00 p.m. (CT) junior varsity and 8:00 varsity contest. The game is set to be Champions Club Appreciation Night so all Champions Club members are encouraged to attend. Also, the week is the annual Coaches vs. Cancer week, so don't be surprised to see the coaches in suits and sneakers. There will be print outs of sneakers at the game that fans can use to recognize someone who is battling cancer or has battled cancer; those pictures will then be displayed throughout the Sport Center.
Make sure to follow Bulldog Nation on Facebook (MCathletics) and Twitter (@MAC_Bulldogs)
McPherson College is a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference member school and a part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
