(ST. LOUIS, Mo., Jan. 18)—The McKendree College men’s basketball team posted its first American Midwest Conference victory of the season with an 85-75 road victory Thursday night at Harris-Stowe State University.
The Bearcats trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half, but hit their first five three-point attempts in the second half on their way to the win. McKendree, ranked No. 22 in NAIA Division I, improved to 12-7 overall and 1-1 in the AMC.
Senior forward
Mike Strobbe (Ferguson, Mo./McCluer) (Ferguson, Mo./McCluer) scored 22 of his game-high 24 points in the second half and added nine rebounds to lead McKendree. Junior guard
T.J. Stone (Hendersonville, Tenn./People's Academy) (Hendersonville, Tenn./People’s Academy) netted all 14 of his points in the final 20 minutes of play, including a 4-for-4 outburst from beyond the arc that spurred the Bearcats’ second-half charge. McKendree outscored Harris-Stowe 55-38 in the period.
Midway through the first half, Harris-Stowe (4-14, 0-2 AMC) used a 10-2 run to build its largest lead of the contest, 30-17, with 5:47 left in the period. The Hornets maintained a double-digit lead until baskets by sophomore forward
Nick Livas (Cary, Ill./Prairie Ridge) (Cary, Ill./Prairie Ridge) and sophomore guard
Stan Mayfield (Snellville, Ga./Shiloh) (Snellville, Ga./Shiloh) in the last 1:11 helped the Bearcats pull to within 37-30 at the intermission.
McKendree’s three-point outburst to open the second half led to a 20-6 run that gave the Bearcats a 50-43 advantage with 14:15 to play. Harris-Stowe responded with eight consecutive points in the next minute to grab its final lead of the night, 51-50. Strobbe then hit four free throws on the Bearcats’ next two possessions to push the visitors in front for good, 54-51 with 12:22 on the clock. The foul shots came in a stretch of 11 straight points scored by Strobbe.
In addition to his 24 points, Strobbe added nine rebounds. He moved into fourth place on the Bearcats’ all-time rebound list with 1,143. Paul Funkhouser grabbed 1,140 rebounds from 1966-70. Strobbe also slipped past Ken Coplen into 12th place on McKendree’s career scoring list. Strobbe pushed his scoring total to 1,634 points.
Livas added 19 points, nine rebounds and three steals for McKendree. Senior guard
Mark Stovall (St. Louis, Mo./Jennings) (St. Louis, Mo./Jennings) chipped in with 12 points, while sophomore guard
Eric Palm (Machesney Park, Ill./Harlem) (Machesney Park, Ill./Harlem) connected for 10 points.
Phillip Stewart led Harris-Stowe with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Roderick Coleman came off the bench to post 13 points for the Hornets.
McKendree will host Williams Baptist College in an AMC contest Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Melvin Price Convocation Center.
-McK-
