Box Score (LEBANON, Ill., Feb. 8)—Junior guard Mike DiGregorio (Morton Grove, IL/Niles Notre Dame) and senior guard Clinton Happe (Evansville, IN/F.J. Reitz) each tied a career-high in the scoring column as they paced the McKendree University men's basketball team to a 106-99 victory Saturday at home against Missouri S & T.
 
DiGregorio led the way with 30 points, while he set a new McKendree record by sinking 21 free throws in the win. Happe equaled his career best with 27 points on Senior Day at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center as the Bearcats snapped a four-game losing streak. McKendree improves to 9-11 on the year and 3-9 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.
 
Junior forward Matt Holmes (Houston, TX/Marshall) contributed a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds in the win for McKendree, while junior forward Logan Carson (DuQuoin, IL/DuQuoin) netted 14 points. Junior guard Mike Springs (Waukegan, IL/Waukegan) narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds and a game-high nine assists for the Bearcats.
 
The 106 points scored by McKendree marks a season-high. It is also the fifth time this season that the Bearcats have topped the 100-mark in a contest, which is the highest total for the program since the 2006-07 campaign. That year, McKendree scored at least 100 points in a game six different times.
 
McKendree, which trailed 47-40 at the half, outscored the Miners 66-52 in the final 20 minutes of play. The Bearcats tallied 34 of their 66 points in the second half from the free throw line. As a team, McKendree was 44-of-51 from the charity stripe for 86.3 percent. The Bearcats also held a 46-35 edge in rebounding to win their first meeting against Missouri S & T since the 1966-67 season.
 
After trailing by seven at the intermission, McKendree used a 13-2 run in the early stages of the second half to take the lead for good at 61-56 with 14:49 remaining. Happe scored the final eight points of the burst, which included a three-pointer, three free throws and a driving lay-up. Missouri S & T continued to battle back at the Bearcats, pulling within one point on three different occasions the remainder of the contest with the last coming at 75-74 after a lay-up by Mudi Eruteya at the 7:04 mark.
 
Clinging to an 81-78 lead, McKendree took control with an 8-0 run to grab its first double-digit lead of the game at 89-78 with 3:23 left. The Bearcats pushed the margin to as many as 13 points before Missouri S & T made one final run, pulling as close as 104-99 before Happe iced the victory by hitting two free throws with three seconds on the clock.
 
McKendree spent much of the final seven minutes of the game at the free throw line. Over that closing span, the Bearcats were 29-of-31 from the charity stripe and made their final 12 attempts in the contest. DiGregorio was a big factor in that final seven-minute stretch, going 17-of-18 from the foul line. The duo of DiGregorio and Happe combined to hit 30-of-31 attempts from the free throw line. Both players rank among the top five in the GLVC in free throw percentage, with Happe leading the league at 89 percent. DiGregorio has now hit 82.5 percent of his free throw tries to sit in fifth place in the GLVC.
 
The 21 free throws made by DiGregorio topped the previous McKendree record of 17 which was set by Jay Sodini in a game against St. Francis (Ill.) during the 1982-83 season. DiGregorio shattered his career-high of 11 free throws, which came in the Bearcats' first-ever GLVC win over Quincy University on Jan. 5, 2013.
 
With his 23 points, Happe moved past both Rick Klingelhoefer (1,081 points) and Eejuan Riddle (1,099 points) into 38^th place on the Bearcats' career scoring list. Happe became the newest member of McKendree's 1,000-point club last month in a 102-100 overtime win at home against the University of Illinois Springfield.
 
Bryce Foster, the second-leading scorer in the GLVC, poured in a team-high 27 points and added eight rebounds for Missouri S & T, which moves to 9-12 on the year and 4-9 in conference play. Aaron Emmanuel had 23 points and seven rebounds, while Eruteya finished with 20 points, four assists and four steals for the Miners.