ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – McKendree University men's basketball shot 62 percent from the field and got a game-high 29 points from junior guard
Bryson Bultman (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) en route to opening the 2021-22 season with an impressive 74-59 win over Michigan Tech at the GLVC/GLIAC Crossover hosted by Lewis University at Neil Carey Arena.
The win was the first career coaching victory for McKendree first-year head coach
George Suggs, who was named the program's 26th head coach in the program's history this past March after the conclusion of the 2020-21 season.
"It was so much fun to get to watch our team perform like I know they're capable of. They were everything you look for from a basketball team. They were competitive on defense, unselfish offensively and did it all for each other. I could not be more proud of how they played tonight," Suggs said following the game.
The Bearcats trailed for only 24 seconds in Friday's opener as they have now won seven of its five last nine openers since 2013-14.
In fact, the only time McKendree trailed came in the opening 72 seconds as after Bultman got the scoring started with a basket just 58 seconds into the game, Michigan Tech's Adam Hobson would connect for a 3-point play to lead 3-2. From that point, the Bearcats used a 15-2 run to push its lead to 17-5 with 13:08 left in the first half. Bultman scored seven of McKendree's 17 points during the run.
Tech, though, would rally to score 20 of the next 34 points to drop McKendree's lead to 31-25 with 3:24 remaining in the opening half. The Bearcats would answer by closing the first half on a 6-2 run to hold a 37-27 lead at the half.
The Huskies, who advanced to the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional final last season and picked up a 70-69 win this season in an exhibition game at Division I Ball State, opened the second half on an 8-6 run to pull within 43-35 following a basket by Jalen Carter with 15:28 left in the game.
That run by Tech seemed to ignite the Bearcats as they used an 11-3 run capped by basket from Bultman to push out to a 54-38 advantage with 10:12 left in the game. Bultman scored six of McKendree's 11 points during the run.
Tech would make one more push as they scored four straight points to drop McKendree's lead to 54-42, but that would be as close as they would get as the Bearcats answered with a 13-3 run to extend its lead to 67-45 following a lay-up by Bultman with 4:46 remaining in the game.
The lead would hover around and over 20 points over the next two-plus minutes for the Bearcats before Tech would close out the game by outscoring the Bearcats, 8-2 to cap the scoring and set the final margin.
"Michigan Tech is a great team and they are incredibly well coached and have to follow it up with another great performance tomorrow," Suggs added.
In addition to Bultman's 29 points, senior forward
Luke Hensler (Okawville, Ill./Okawville) added 10 points in the win. Junior guard
Aleksandar Davitkov just missed double figures as he tallied nine points for the Bearcats.
Hobson paced Michigan Tech with 17 points, while Owen White added 16 points and seven rebounds in the loss and Carter had 10 points off the bench.
The Bearcats held a 30-18 edge on the glass and along with shooting 62 percent from the field, McKendree was 7-for-16 (43.8 percent) from the 3-point line and 9-for-13 (69.2 percent) from the free throw line.
Michigan Tech shot 46 percent from the field, but just 29 percent from the 3-point line and 57 percent (4-for-7) at the foul line.
The Bearcats turned the ball over 14 times that led to 20 points for the Huskies, but McKendree's bench held a 17-13 edge in bench points.
McKendree will look to make it two straight wins to open the new season as they face Northern Michigan in a 1 p.m. game to conclude its play in the GLVC/GLIAC Crossover hosted by Lewis. Northern Michigan opened the 2021-22 season with a 67-57 win over Lewis in Friday's second game of the GLVC/GLIAC Crossover.
"Northern Michigan is a very talented team and they will be a great challenge for us tomorrow on short rest," Suggs said.
