(HANNIBAL, Mo. – Jan. 31) – The McKendree men’s basketball team won their seventh-straight game Thursday night, prevailing 63-56 over Hannibal-LaGrangein a key American Midwest Conference matchup.

 

The Bearcats improved to 17-5 overall and 7-0 in the AMC with the win. The Bearcats travel to William Woods University Saturday to begin the second half of the AMC slate. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.

 

Junior guard Eric Palm (Machesney Park, Ill./Harlem) (Machesney Park, Ill./Harlem) led all scorers with 16 points. Sophomore forward Ken Detmer (Aviston, Ill./Breese Central) scored 14 points and also pulled down nine rebounds in the contest and freshman forward Brad Copelin (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon) (O’Fallon, Ill./O’Fallon) recorded the double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Senior guard Trent Kull (Altamont, Ill./Altamont) (Altamont, Ill./Altamont) rounded out the Bearcats double-digit scoring with ten points in the win.

 

The Bearcats would find themselves down early, but would rattle off 11 straight points to take a 14-7 lead. The Trojans battled back late in the first half, only for T.J. Stone (Hendersonville, Tenn./People's Academy) to bury a three-pointer with 1:53 remaining in the half to take a 30-27 lead.  An early surge by the Bearcats after the intermission gave them a 51-41 lead in the second half, but the Trojans would cut McKendree’s lead to four late in the game. The Bearcats would prove to be too much down the stretch though, as Eric Palm (Machesney Park, Ill./Harlem) made four free throws in the final minute to seal the win for the Bearcats.