(LEBANON, Ill., Feb. 20)—Despite shooting nearly 57 percent from the field on Saturday at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center, the McKendree University men's basketball team was defeating by the University of Southern Indiana on Senior Day.
The Bearcats made 33-of-58 shots from the field against the visiting Screaming Eagles, but USI was nearly as efficient from the floor in grabbing its second win against McKendree this season. Southern Indiana connected on 54.9 percent of its attempts (39-of-71) to come away with the win. The Bearcats are now 12-13 on the season and hold a 5-12 mark against Great Lakes Valley Conference competition.
McKendree will wrap up its 2015-16 regular season schedule at home on Thursday against the University of Illinois Springfield. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. Following Thursday's contest, a special ceremony will be held to honor McKendree men's basketball coach
Harry Statham for the milestone victories he reached during the year. Statham, who is in his 50
th season at the helm of the Bearcats' program, became the college basketball's all-time wins leader at the four-year level – men's or women's – when McKendree defeated Maryville University 92-84 on Feb. 6. Just five days later, Statham earned career victory No. 1,100 when the Bearcats rallied past Missouri S&T in overtime, 108-105.
Freshman guard
Nate Michael (St. Joseph, IL/St. Joseph-Ogden) scored a game-high 28 points, 17 of which came in the second half, to lead the way for McKendree on Saturday. Michael also dished out four assists. Junior guard
David Franklin (O'Fallon, IL/Althoff Catholic) added 24 points and a team-leading nine rebounds, while junior guard
Michael Jackson (O'Fallon, IL/O'Fallon) posted 15 points and four rebounds. Senior forward
John Murphy (Peoria, IL/Richwoods) came off the bench to add 10 points.
Two McKendree players also handed out a career-high in assists against Southern Indiana. Junior guard
Kyle Yates (Bethalto, IL/Civic Memorial) had a team-high five assists in the effort, while senior center
David Newton (Rochelle, IL/Rochelle) added four.
Prior to tip-off of Saturday's contest, McKendree honored its four senior players – Murphy, Newton, guard
A.J. Schmidt (New Albany, IN/New Albany) and forward
Brandon Book (Albers, IL/Breese Central) – in a special pre-game ceremony.
Southern Indiana (17-10, 9-8 GLVC) hit its first five shots from the field in taking an 11-4 lead a little more than two minutes into play. McKendree chipped away at the deficit and pulled within 18-17 when Michael sank a pair of free throws with 12 minutes remaining in the first half. The Bearcats eventually grabbed their only lead of the contest, 25-24, when Franklin scored on a driving lay-up at the 9:03 mark of the period.
After regaining the lead on its next possession, Southern Indiana slowly increased its lead over the final four minutes of the half. A lay-up with 26 seconds left in the frame gave the Screaming Eagles their largest lead of the period at 40-39. Murphy then drilled a three-pointer in the closing seconds to trim the Bearcats' deficit to 50-52 at the intermission.
McKendree got as close as 63-58 after Franklin drained a 25-foot shot with 12:24 to play. USI then took command by putting together an 11-3 run to stretch its lead back to double figures at 74-61 with just over nine minutes left. The Screaming Eagles pushed the margin to as many as 16 points to complete the season sweep. USI defeated the Bearcats 89-61 back on Dec. 3, 2015 in Evansville, Ind.
Both teams shot well from three-point range in Saturday's contest. Southern Indiana made half of its 26 attempts from beyond the arc, while McKendree was 8-of-17 from long range (47.1 percent).
T.J. Tisdell notched a double-double with 21 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to pace Southern Indiana. Alex Stein added 17 points and a game-high nine assists, while Jeril Taylor helped out the Screaming Eagles with 16 points and three steals.
