Photo by Micah Gilbert
Manhattan, Kan. – The McPherson College men's basketball team finally got to open up their 2020-21 campaign on Tuesday night. After their original season opener was postponed last week, and then Saturday's home opener was cancelled, the Bulldogs were itching to get out on the court and mix it up with someone besides themselves.
The Bulldogs went on the road for a non-conference matchup with the Manhattan Christian College Thunder. The Thunder, a much improved team from a year ago, gave the Bulldogs a run. In the end however, the guys in red and white had too much fire power, and ended up winning by double digits, 87-75.
The game went back and forth early in the opening half. At the midway mark in the first, the Bulldogs had a slim three point lead, 16-13. By the end of the half, they had pushed that lead out to a somewhat comfortable margin of 10 points 47-37. The key to the first half for the Bulldogs was their three point shooting. The Bulldogs hit 10 three pointers in the game, seven of them came in the first half.
In the second half, the Bulldogs had their largest lead of the game at 17, 60-43 at the 15 minute mark, and it hovered around 15 to 16 points for the next six minutes. With just under nine minutes left in the game, the Bulldogs' play got a little sloppy. The Bulldogs held a 14 point lead, but turned the ball over on three straight possessions and the double digit lead quickly evaporated down to a 7 point margin in the span of a minute and 15 seconds.
After a Fred Watts (Sr. Channelview, Texas) basket in the paint pushed the lead back up to nine, two more empty possessions allowed the Thunder to trim the Bulldog lead down to 5 at the 6:24 mark. The Bulldogs didn't panic, and on their next two possessions, Watts hit on another layup, and Travon Shelvin (Jr. Pearland, Texas) rattled in a huge three pointer from the right wing, to put them back up by 10, 78-68.
From there, the Bulldogs were never really threatened. In the last five minutes, the closest the Thunder got was nine, but another big three pointer, this time by Gage Maccoy (Sr. Lenexa, Kan.) with 50 seconds to play, put to bed any thoughts the Thunder had of making another run.
The Bulldogs dominated the box score in nearly every category. They shot 44% from the floor, and 34% from beyond the arc while the Thunder were 40% from the floor and just 26% from deep. On the boards, Mac out rebounded MCC 46-31, with 13 of those coming on the offensive glass. The only negative for the Bulldogs was the turnover margin. The Bulldogs coughed up the ball 14 times to just 8 for the Thunder.
Individually, the Bulldogs had three players score in double figures led by Shelvin who hit 5 of 11 treys, and was 5 of 6 from the free throw line for 20 points. Kemryn Jenkins (Sr. Eminence, Ky.) was right behind him with 19 points on 8 of 15 shooting from the floor. The third Bulldog in double figures was Watts, who dominated the paint recording a double double with 18 points and 14 rebounds.
"I was proud of our effort tonight playing in a tough environment", said second year head coach TJ Eskildsen. "Coach Strom does a great job at Manhattan Christian, and they gave us a real fight." He added, "It was nice to see different guys step up throughout the game. We have a lot we need to improve on, but overall if we can keep playing as hard as we did tonight, good things will happen."
 The Bulldogs will get a big test on Saturday when they go back on the road, this time to Columbia, Missouri for a date with the Columbia College Cougars. Tip-off is slated for 3:00 pm.
 MC (87) – Shelvin (20), Jenkins (19), Watts (18), McCrary (9), Rivers (7), Maccoy (6), Hardison (4), Chestnut (4).
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