Box Score (LEBANON, Ill., Feb. 10)—Junior forward David Ruckman (Freeburg, IL/Freeburg) registered career-high totals in both points and rebounds to help lead the McKendree University men's basketball team to an 87-51 victory Friday night at home against Robert Morris University-Springfield.
 
Ruckman (Freeburg, Ill./Freeburg) posted 24 points and 14 rebounds on the night, reaching his double-double in the first half with 16 points and 11 rebounds. He was 12-of-16 from the field in leading the Bearcats to their third consecutive victory, and fifth in the last six contests. McKendree moves to 16-10 on the year and will have a week off before hosting Logan Chiropractic next Friday, Feb. 17, at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
 
Next Friday's game will mark Senior Night for the McKendree program, and the team will honor four players prior to the contest: guard Kyle Heckert (Venedy, IL/Okawville) (Venedy, Ill./Okawville), forward Sean Rakers (New Baden, IL/Wesclin) (New Baden, Ill./Wesclin), guard Karrington Pettiford (Florissant, MO/Christian Brothers) (Florissant, Mo./Christian Brothers) and forward Ian Ridge (Flora, IL/Flora) (Flora, Ill./Flora).
 
Sophomore guard Clinton Happe (Evansville, IN/F.J. Reitz) (Evansville, Ind./F.J. Reitz) reached double figures in the scoring column for the third straight game with a season-high 14 points against Robert Morris-Springfield. Heckert also had 12 points while adding seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. Junior guard John Steppe (Effingham, IL/St. Anthony) (Effingham, Ill./St. Anthony) matched Heckert with five assists and three steals against the Eagles. All 10 Bearcat players scored in the victory.
 
McKendree never trailed in the contest, opening the game on a 13-2 run over the first four minutes of play. Another 13-2 run helped extend the lead to 22-4 at the 10:44 mark of the first half. The Bearcats made 22-of-43 shots in the opening period (51.2 percent) in building a 49-18 lead at the intermission. Thanks in part to Ruckman's play McKendree dominated in the post during the first half, holding a 32-8 edge on points in the paint.
 
With 12:55 remaining, McKendree took its largest lead of the night at 68-24 on a three-pointer by Steppe. The trey capped a 15-2 run over a five-minute span for the Bearcats. Robert Morris-Springfield (7-13) chipped away at the deficit in the closing minutes, coming as close as 78-49 with just over three minutes to play.
 
For the game, McKendree shot 52.1 percent (37-of-71), marking the eighth time this season the Bearcats made at least half of their field goal attempts. Defensively, McKendree was just as impressive, limiting Robert Morris-Springfield to just 29 percent of its field goal tries on the night (18-of-62). The Bearcats also held a 53-32 edge on the boards.
 
Brylin Brown and Trey David each scored 11 points to lead Robert Morris-Springfield. Reid David pulled down a team-leading eight rebounds for the Eagles. The win enabled McKendree to complete the season sweep of the Eagles. Back on Jan. 19 in Springfield, Ill., the Bearcats rolled to an 83-67 win.