Men's Basketball | 12/12/2018 11:52:00 PM
Box Score Lindsborg, Kan. – it was a tale of two halves for the McPherson College men's basketball team on Wednesday evening. The Bulldogs made the short drive north to Lindsborg, to play intra-county rival Bethany College, and though they had a slim lead at halftime, ultimately fell to the Swedes 68-55.
The game started out slow, with neither team able to generate much of a flow. It was back and forth through the first five minutes of action, but in the second five minutes, the Swedes went on a run, and opened up an 8 point lead, 21-13 at the midway point of the opening half. Over the next ten minutes of play, the Bulldogs whittled the lead down, and when the clock hit zeros at the end of the half, the Bulldogs had managed to come all the way back and take a one point lead, 28-27.
In the second half, the Bulldog offense went ice cold in the first 10 minutes of the period. Over that time, the Swedes outscored the Bulldogs, 25 to 8 to lead by 16, 52-36. The lead got as high as 19, before the Bulldogs, after a timeout by Coach Swartzendruber, in which he implored his guys to keep fighting, started chipping away at the lead. With just under two minutes left in regulation, Mac had got the lead back down to single digits, to eight, 59-51. Unfortunately, the Swedes' Isiah Saenz hit a huge three pointer that put his team back up by 11 and took the wind out of the Bulldogs' sails. In the end, the Swedes escaped with a 13 point victory, 68-55.
Ultimately it was poor shooting and turnovers that cost the Bulldogs. They made 23 of 57 attempts from the floor, and were just 2 of 13 from beyond the three point arc. Though they won the rebounding battle 37-31, they committed 20 turnovers, which the Swedes subsequently turned into 23 points on the other end of the floor.
Jeffrey Oxford, (So. Claremore, Okla.), led the Bulldog offense with a double double. He recorded 11 points and grabbed 11 boards. He was 5 of 10 from the floor, and was the only Bulldog to score in double figures. The next closest was
Careino Gurley (Sr. Minneapolis, Minn.) who chipped in eight.
The loss drops the Bulldogs to one game below .500 at 6-7 overall, and 3-6 in KCAC play. The will look to get things back on track on Saturday when the University of Saint Mary Spires come to the Sport Center for a 5:00 pm show down.
MC (55) – Oxford (11), Gurley (8), Barideaux (7), Rivers (6), Munsen (6), Magot (5), Owens (5), Watts (4), Ellison (3), Hightower (2).
