McPHERSON, Kan. — The McPherson College men's basketball senior day was spoiled by the Friends University Falcons Saturday evening (Feb. 15) in a hard-fought 79-76 battle inside Holman Fieldhouse.
McPherson (12-14, 10-10) still holds a one-game lead over Evangel for the seventh-place position in the KCAC standings with two games left to play. The top eight earn a spot in the KCAC postseason tournament.
Curtis Rose recorded the first double-double of his career, scoring 22 points with a career-best 12 rebounds, including four on the offensive end. Rose also tied his career high with seven assists.
Collin Storr was efficient on the offensive end, going 8-for-11 from the field to the tune of 17 points, while Antonio Watson drilled four of his 11 three-point attempts to finish with 12 points.
The Bulldogs shot just 12-for-18 at the charity stripe, compared to 13-for-16 from the line for the Falcons.
Friends got off to a hot start in the first half, shooting 50 percent from the field and 45.5 percent from distance. However, the Bulldogs held a 39-38 lead after the first 20 minutes.
Things were back-and-forth to open the second half, but a pair of long second-half video reviews seemingly killed the Bulldogs momentum. The Falcons took advantage mounting a 65-57 lead with seven minutes to play.
The Bulldogs would claw their way back to trim the lead to 69-67 thanks to a triple by Watson, but the Falcons were able to make enough plays down the stretch to grab the win.
Friends was led in the scoring column by KJ Spiller and Cahlese Lee, each tallying 20 points, while Spiller paced the team with seven rebounds and four assists. Ring Deng added 15 points, and Randy Woolf finished with 12 points.
The Bulldogs hit the road for their final two regular season games, traveling to Sterling on Wednesday, before making a trip to Bartlesville to take on Oklahoma Wesleyan on Saturday.
