Hillsboro, Kan. – The McPherson College men's basketball team made it back to back wins with a thrilling 63-62 victory, on Wednesday, at the buzzer, over the Tabor College Bluejays.
It was a back and forth affair all night as neither team was able to put any distance between themselves. The Bluejays opened the game with a 6-2 run, but the Bulldogs responded with six unanswered points to take an 8-6 lead, three and a half minutes in. Tabor led for the next 16 ½ minutes, but never by more than four points. Over that period, there were five ties, but the Bulldogs couldn't string enough possessions together to take the lead. As the clock struck zeros in the first half, the Bluejays held on to a slim one point lead, 29-28.
The opening of the second half was much the same as the closing of the first. There were two ties in the first two minutes, and the Bulldogs finally took their first lead of the game 33-31 at the 18:45 mark. Like the opening half, neither team was able to distance themselves from the other. There were multiple ties and lead changes over the course of the remaining 18 minutes of play. The Bulldogs had the largest lead of the game (6), with 6:33 remaining, but the Bluejays stormed back to tie the game at 54 with just over 4 minutes to play.
With just 31 ticks remaining on the game clock, the Bluejays retook the lead 61-60 on a shot in the paint. The Bulldogs missed on their next trip down the floor, and the ball went out of bounds to the Bluejays. Tabor inbounded the ball, and McPherson was forced to foul. Shooting one plus the bonus, the Tabor shooter made the first, and then his head coach called timeout. Out of the timeout, he missed the second free throw, and the Bulldogs corralled the rebound.
Coach Swartzendruber elected to not call timeout, and just let his guys play it out.
Chamaje Barideaux, (So. New Iberia, La.), dribbled the ball up the floor. He made an attempt to drive the lane, but was cut off by the Bluejays. He dribbled back to the top of the key, and with just seconds left on the clock passed the ball to
Josh Rivers (Fr. Midwest City, Okla.) on the left wing. Rivers took a dribble to his left, and let go a shot from behind the three point arc. The ball caromed off the window as time expired and found its way through the bottom of the net, giving the Bulldogs their second win of the season on a last second shot.
With his last second three pointer, Rivers finished with 13 points to lead the Bulldogs for the second game in a row. He was joined in double figures by
Delvon Hightower (Jr. Bakersfield, Calif.) with 11, and Barideaux and
Lual Magot (Jr. Tucson, Ariz.), each with 10.
"We gutted it out tonight," said Bulldog head coach Swartzendruber. It was a struggle offensively for whatever reason but we made plays and rebounded." He went on to add, "It was great to get a close win and now we have a chance to win three games in one week. That's exciting."
With the win, the Bulldogs are now on two game winning streak and are 9-11 overall on the season, and 5-10 in KCAC action. They will get a chance to make it three in a row when Kansas Wesleyan University comes to McPherson on Saturday for an 7:00 game at the Sport Center.
MC (63) – Rivers (13), Hightower (11), Magot (10), Barideaux (10), Watts (6), Owens (6), Munsen (4), Shelvin (3).
