Hillsboro, Kan. – The McPherson College men's basketball team won their seventh game in a row, going on the road and defeating the Tabor College Bluejays Saturday, 91-69.
For the Bulldogs, Saturday's win completed the season sweep, and was their third win in a row over the Bluejays, who are winless in the KCAC so far this season, and gave them back to back wins in Hillsboro. In 2019, the Bulldogs needed a buzzer beating three pointer from Josh Rivers (So. Midwest City, Okla.) to secure the road win, but no such heroics were needed this time around as the Bulldogs had the game locked up by the midway point of the second half.
The Bulldogs trailed just once against the Bluejays on Saturday night. Tabor led 9-8 with 15:23 left in the first half, but the Bulldogs retook the lead on their next possession, a layup by Dorian Paige (Sr. Tucson, Ariz.), and from there they never looked back. By halftime the Bulldog lead was in the double digits, 39-25.
There was no let up for the Bulldogs in the second half, as they came out of the locker room, and continued to extend the lead. Seven minutes into the half, the lead had grown to 20 points, and with 6:39 left in the game, they had their largest lead of the game at 31 points. At that point Coach Eskildsen began to empty his bench, giving everyone some quality minutes. That coupled with Tabor knocking down a flurry of three pointers, and the Bulldog lead was trimmed down to 22 when the clock hit zeros.
Offensively, the Bulldogs shot over 50% from the floor, making 37 of 71 of their attempts, including 8 of 21 (38%) from beyond the three point arc. Thirteen of the 15 Bulldogs who saw action on Saturday found their way into the scoring column. Four of those 13 scored in double figures including 17 from Kemryn Jenkins (Jr. Eminence, Ky), 12 from Grant Munsen (Sr. Manhattan, Kan.), and 10 from both Paige, and Lual Magot (Sr. Tucson, Ariz).
"I was proud of our effort tonight," said Eskildsen. "I thought we really defended at a high level in the first half. This was a total team win. We need to quickly get ready to play a very good Friends team on Monday."
The win puts the Bulldogs at 15-5 overall, and 10-4 in the KCAC, landing them in a tie for third place in the conference standings. The Bulldogs haven't been 10 games above .500 since the 2011-12 season when they finished 33-4 and made a trip to the NAIA national tournament. Next up for the Bulldogs is a date with the team they tied with in the KCAC standings, the Friends University Falcons. The Bulldogs and Falcons will square off at the Sport Center on Monday at 8 p.m.
MAC (91) – Jenkins (17), Munsen (12), Paige (10), Magot (10), Hightower (9), Maccoy (7), Watts (6), Rivers (6), Shelvin (5), Crow (3), Aguillard (2). McCrary (2), Bruncevic (2).
