Bulldog Comeback Falls Short in Wild Conference Game

Drew Brunecz
 
In line with most conference games, Tuesday's men's basketball matchup at home against Tabor College was highly-contested and very heated. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs fell short to Tabor, 94-83.
 
The Bulldogs got off to a very slow start. At the end of the first half, Tabor led McPherson 54-27, knocking down 11 of 15 three pointers. The Bulldogs had seven turnovers, and shot poor from the floor. They shot 10/29 overall, good for a shooting percentage of only 34.5%. But the Bulldogs had plenty of fight in them after halftime.
 
At one point in the second half, McPherson went on a 21-1 run to cut the Blue Jays lead to only four. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs comeback stalled, as Tabor pulled away and eventually won the game.
 
This game was very intense. Emotions ran very high, as four players fouled out. There were also five total technical fouls, and one flagrant foul, showing just how crazy this game actually was. At one point, Dorian Page (Jr. Tucson, Ariz.) busted his tooth, then came back and scored 10 of his 13 total points.
 
This was a pretty poor shooting performance from the Bulldogs, as they only shot 38% from the floor, and 21% from three. Chamaje Barideaux (So. New Iberia, La.), was the leading scorer, as he scored a game-high 27 points for McPherson. Frederick Watts (So. Houston, Texas) was huge off the bench for the Bulldogs, scoring 14 points, and gathering a game-high nine rebounds in 22 minutes of play. Page was the leader in assists with two.
 
"I was proud of our comeback", said Bulldog head coach Tim Swartzendruber. Unfortunately we dug too deep a hole and couldn't get out. Give Tabor credit. They shot extremely well."
 
Despite the loss, there is a lot of positives to look back on. The Bulldogs showed immense fight, and refused to quit, even being down by 27 at the half. They will try to use some of this momentum as they travel to play Kansas Wesleyan on Monday, November 26th at 8:00 PM.
 
MC (83) – Barideaux (27), Watts (14), Page (13), Magot (8), Munsen (7), Owen (5), Oxford (4), Owens (2), Rivers (2), Gurley (1).