(ST. LOUIS, Mo., Feb. 19)—The McKendree University men's basketball team rolled to its fifth consecutive win with a 76-51 victory Saturday afternoon at Harris-Stowe State University.

      Junior forward Sean Rakers (New Baden, IL/Wesclin) (New Baden, Ill./Wesclin) and sophomore forward David Ruckman (Freeburg, IL/Freeburg) (Freeburg, Ill./Freeburg) each registered a double-double as McKendree, the No. 20-ranked team in NAIA Division I, moved to 16-11 overall and 10-2 in American Midwest Conference play. Thanks to Park University's 75-73 loss at Hannibal-LaGrange University, the Bearcats climbed back atop the AMC standings. McKendree is now a half-game in front of both Columbia College (9-2) and Park (10-3) in the league.

Rakers finished the contest with game-high totals of 22 points and 12 rebounds, while Ruckman came off the bench to add 13 points and 10 rebounds for McKendree. Senior forward Eric Hobbie (Vandalia, Ill./Vandalia) (Vandalia, Ill./Vandalia) netted 12 of his 17 points in the second half for the Bearcats, who completed a three-game sweep of Harris-Stowe on the season.

McKendree overcame a sluggish start to build a 27-18 halftime lead, then blew past the Hornets in the final 20 minutes by shooting nearly 57 percent from the floor. Defensively, the Bearcats limited Harris-Stowe to just 29.4 percent from the field in the second half. McKendree also dominated the boards in the victory, outrebounding Harris-Stowe by a margin of 52-29.

The two teams combined to score just 15 points in the first 10 minutes of play, with the Bearcats holding a 9-6 advantage. After Harris-Stowe (11-17, 6-6 AMC) grabbed its final lead of the contest at 10-9, McKendree used a three-pointer and short jumper from senior guard Andy Wolff (Centralia, Ill./Metro-East Lutheran) (Centralia, Ill./Metro East Lutheran) to quickly regain the lead at 14-10.

Rakers took over the closing minutes of the first half, scoring the final 11 points of the period for McKendree as part of an 11-4 burst to give the Bearcats their nine-point lead at the break. McKendree held the lead despite shooting just 27.6 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes of play.

The Bearcats quickly took control to start the second half, using a 19-4 run to extend its lead to 47-22 12:40 remaining. Hobbie's third three-point field goal of the half capped the spurt for McKendree, which also included eight points from Rakers.

Harris-Stowe rallied to within 16 points with just under eight minutes on the clock before McKendree started to pull away once again. The Bearcats' largest lead of the night came at 74-46 on a free throw by junior guard Kyle Heckert (Venedy, IL/Okawville) (Venedy, Ill./Okawville) at the 1:23 mark.

Wolff dished out five assists for McKendree and moved past Chad Storck into sole possession of second place on the Bearcats' career assist chart. Wolff now has 505 career assists, and is eight behind Tim Schumacher for the top spot on the list.

Terry Hollins was the only player to score in double figures for Harris-Stowe with 22 points. Darrion Lucius chipped in with eight points off the bench, while Jordan Loveless grabbed a team-best six rebounds for the Hornets.

McKendree will play host to Williams Baptist College on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. It will be Senior Night at the Melvin Price Convocation Center, and prior to tip-off of the contest, the Bearcats will honor their three senior players – Hobbie, Wolff and forward Brad Copelin (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon) (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon).