Photo by Christie Betker
McPherson, Kan. – Looking to bounce back after a disappointing loss at home, on Saturday, against the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes, the McPherson College men's basketball team hosted the Sterling College Warriors, at the Sport Center on Monday night.
The Bulldogs were looking for the season sweep of the Warriors, having defeated them once already this season on their home floor, back in December. Things went terribly wrong for the Bulldogs, almost immediately. The Warriors his a three pointer to start the game, and the Bulldogs couldn't throw it in the ocean. They went nearly six minutes without scoring a basket, and during that time the Warriors scored 12 points, to take a 12-0 lead at the 14:15 mark of the opening half.
The Bulldogs finally got on the board on a layup by
Garrett Owen (Jr. Woodward, Okla.), and then after a three pointer by the Warriors, Owen scored again to make the score 15-4 with 13:11 remaining in the half. From there, things only got worse for the Bulldogs. It seemed like everything that could go wrong for McPherson did.
Frederick Watts II (So. Houston, Texas) hit a layup at the 11:18 mark, but then the Bulldogs wouldn't score again for over 2 minutes. Meanwhile, the Warriors scored 12 unanswered again, and led by 21, 27-6.
The Bulldogs didn't reach the double digit mark in points until the 6 minute mark, and by that time the Warriors had extended their lead to 24, 35-11. McPherson finally got into a little bit of a rhythm offensively and scored 10 points in the final 4 minutes of the half, but unfortunately they couldn't contain the Warriors, and as the nightmare that was the first half finally came to a close, the visitors had a 34 point lead, 55-21.
The second half turned out to be a back and forth affair, with the Bulldogs eventually winning the half, 49-48, but the first half deficit turned out to be insurmountable, and the Warriors left the Sport Center with a 103-70 victory. One bright spot for the Bulldogs was the play off the bench by
Taylor Ellison (Sr. Tulsa, Okla.). Ellison played 7 minutes late in the second half, and went 5 for 5 from the field, including 4 of 4 from behind the arc, to lead the Bulldogs with 14 points. He was joined in double figures by
Chamaje Barideaux (So. New Iberia, La.), with 11, and Watts with 10.
It was an awful night shooting for the Bulldogs all over the floor, especially in the first half. They finished the game shooting 41% from the floor, making 26 of 62 of their attempts. Until Ellison came in and hit 4 three pointers, the Bulldogs hadn't made a three pointer all night. They wound up 4 of 16 from deep, for 25%. At the free throw line, where the Bulldogs have been over 70% on the season, they finished at 48% for the night, making just 14 of 29 attempts.
With the loss, McPherson is now 9-13 overall, and 5-12 in the KCAC. They have another tough task ahead of them as they head out on the road to Southwestern College, who is ranked 10
th in the latest NAIA top 25 poll, on Thursday, and then to York College, on Saturday.
MC (70) – Ellison (14), Barideaux (11), Watts (10), Gurley (8), Owen (8), Owens (7), Rivers (4), Hightower (4), Munsen (2), Magot (2).
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