Southern Illinois News

Men's Basketball Shoots 60 Percent from Field, Scores Season High 99 Points in Road Victory Over Davenport

The McKendree University men's basketball team shot a season high 60 percent from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point line en route to scoring a season-high 99 points in a 99-89 victory here Monday evening over Davenport University in non-conference action at the DU Student Center.
 
With Monday's win, the Bearcats snapped a two-game losing skid as they improved to 5-5 overall on the season, while Davenport falls to 3-8 on the year. The win also snapped a two-game road losing skid for the Bearcats. Monday's win came a little more than 24 hours after the Bearcats suffered a 72-69 setback at Grand Valley State to open the two-game road trip.
 
"This was a nice for us going into the break. To have to finish the game with three starters out takes a lot of guts," McKendree head coach George Suggs said following Monday's win. "I am proud of the efforts this weekend from several guys stepping up in less-than-ideal circumstances. Malcolm Davis, Luke Hensler, and Carson Parker all had some of their best performances of the year. We have a ton of room for improvement, but I think we took some steps forward this weekend."
 
In Monday's win, the Bearcats put five players in double figures as junior forward Milos Vicentic (Belgrade, Serbia) tallied 21 points, while senior guard Eric Powell II (Lexington, Ky./Asbury University) and senior guard Bryson Bultman (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) each scored 17 points and combined for nine assists. Sophomore forward Caleb Zurliene (Aviston, Ill./Purdue Northwest) added 15 points and junior guard Carson Parker (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) scored a season high 13 points and added eight boards for the second straight game.
 
Thanks to his 17 points, Bultman pushed his career scoring total to 1,217 career points, which is 35th on the school's all-time scoring chart. Bultman passed both John Batson (1,211 points) and Marty Adams (1,216 points) on the career scoring chart.
 
It marked the second time this season that McKendree put five players in double figures as the Bearcats also had five double-digit scorers in its 69-58 win at Union University earlier this season.
 
The 60 percent shooting from the field was the highest field goal percentage in a game for the Bearcats since shooting 66.7 percent in a home game on Jan. 20, 2022, against Quincy University. In fact, McKendree is now 7-0 when shooting 60 percent or better from the field since the beginning of the 2017-18 season.
 
In fact, the Bearcats shot 60 percent from the field in both halves of Monday's victory, which was the final game for McKendree in the 2022 calendar year.
 
The Bearcats held a 9-7 lead just five minutes into the game, but DU would use a 9-7 run to tie the game at 16-all with 12:28 left in the opening half.
 
Following that run by the Panthers, the Bearcats answered back with a 15-7 run capped by a 3-pointer from Zurliene to take a 31-23 lead with 8:15 left in the half. In fact, Zurliene scored eight of the final 10 points in the run.
 
DU, who has now lost four of its last six games, responded with an 8-2 run to pull within 33-30 with 5:39 left. The Bearcats, though, would close the opening half on an 18-9 run to take a 51-39 halftime lead. The first half closing run was aided by five points each from Vicentic and fifth-year senior forward Luke Hensler (Okawville, Ill./SWIC).
 
McKendree, who improved to 3-3 in non-conference games this season with one non-league contest remaining, opened the second half on a 7-2 run to push its 12-point halftime lead to 58-41 just two-plus minutes into in the period. The 17-point lead was the largest of the game for the Bearcats.
 
From that point, DU mounted a comeback as they responded to the Bearcats' run with a 22-8 run over the next six-plus minutes to drop McKendree's lead to 66-63 with 11:12 left in the game. The Panthers' run was keyed by 10 points from Chaz Birchfield, who scored 17 points in the game for Davenport.
 
The Bearcats would answer right back as they used a 14-6 run to push its lead back out to 80-69 with 8:09 remaining in the game. Bultman and Vicentic combined for 10 of those 14 points.
 
DU would make one more push as they used a 19-12 run to pull within 92-88 with 38 seconds left in game. That would be as close as the Panthers would get as the Bearcats would close the game by making five of eight free throws and cap the win with a lay-up from Vicentic right before the buzzer.
 
Davenport had four players score in double figures as Marcedus Leech, Jr., led the way with 21 points, while Luke Bara added 19 points. Birchfield had 17 points and six boards and Jakub Dombek finished with 16 points and four assists.
 
While McKendree shot 60 percent from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point line, DU finished the game shooting 49 percent from the field and 42 percent from the 3-point line.
 
McKendree held a 32-29 edge on the glass as Parker and Zurliene each had eight boards in the win.
 
The Bearcats also outshot DU from the free throw line as they were 22-for-26 (84.6 percent) from the line, including a 16-for-19 effort from the line in the second half. DU was 11-for-15 (73.3 percent) from the free throw line.
 
DU won the turnover battle as McKendree had 14 turnovers to 11 for the home team. Both teams also blocked three shots. The Bearcats have now blocked three or more shots in six consecutive games and eight times on the season.
 
The Bearcats dished out 25 assists on 33 made baskets as Bultman and freshman guard Malcolm Davis (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias Catholic) each had five in the game, while Zurliene, Powell II and Parker had four each. The five assists and four rebounds were each career highs for Davis. DU had 17 assists on 32 made baskets.
 
McKendree will now take will now take the NCAA mandated seven-day break from activities before returning to practice on Dec. 28 to begin preparations to the second half of its schedule which begins on Monday, Jan. 2 with a 7:30 non-conference game against Baptist Bible at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center in Lebanon, Ill. 

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