(MARQUETTE, Mich., Nov. 10)—The McKendree University men's basketball team kicked off its new season on Saturday with a 93-70 setback against Northern Michigan University in the GLVC/GLIAC Challenge in Marquette, Mich.
The Bearcats shot 55.6 percent (15-of-27) in the opening half but could not overcome a Wildcat squad that torched the nets for 69.7 percent shooting (37-of-62) for the entire contest. McKendree will look to rebound Sunday afternoon against Michigan Tech, with tip-off set for 1 p.m.
Saturday's contest also marked the regular-season McKendree head coaching debut of
Chris Foster, who was hired as the 25
th coach in program history back in March.
Four McKendree players scored in double figures in a balanced attack. Junior center
Nolan Gerling (Germantown, IL/Mater Dei) and sophomore forward
Jacob Donaldson (Effingham, IL/Effingham) shared team-high scoring honors with 13 points, while senior guard
Nate Michael (St. Joseph, IL/St. Joseph-Ogden) and sophomore guard
Carrington Bass (Floosmoor, IL/Crete-Monee) each chipped in with 12 points. Senior guard
Giovanni Offard (Freeport, IL/Freeport) handed out a game-high five assists for the Bearcats.
Junior guard
Logan Kohrmann (Bartelso, IL/Breese Central) hit a three-pointer on the Bearcats' first possession of the season for an early lead before Northern Michigan (1-0) caught fire. The Wildcats scored 13 of the next 15 points to build a 13-5 advantage five minutes into play. The hosts pushed the lead to 11 points before McKendree ripped off an 11-2 run to trim the deficit to 22-20 with 11:18 left until halftime. Northern Michigan countered by scoring the next eight points to regain a double-digit advantage and closed the half with a 49-39 lead.
After shooting 54.3 percent in the first 20 minutes of play, Northern Michigan pulled away by hitting 66.7 percent of its field goal tries (18-of-27) in the second half. McKendree did make one final run at the Wildcats early in the period as Gerling scored six straight points to get the Bearcats within 53-50 with 14:46 remaining. Northern Michigan scored the next 11 points and never looked back.
