ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – For the second consecutive season and third time in the last five seasons, McKendree University men's basketball has opened a season 2-0 as the Bearcats opened the 2021-22 season by winning its first two games following its 75-62 win Saturday over Northern Michigan University at the GLVC/GLIAC Crossover hosted by Lewis University at Neil Carey Arena.
 
Saturday's win came less than 24 hours after the Bearcats opened the 2021-22 campaign with an impressive 74-59 win over Michigan Tech, who lost to Truman State in the championship game of last year's NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournament.
 
In Saturday's win, five Bearcats finished in double figures led by junior guard Aleksander Davitkov (Belgrade, Serbia/Partizan), who tallied a game-high 16 points and added seven rebounds. In addition to Davitkov, sophomore guard Carson Parker (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) added 13 points and six rebounds, while senior forward Luke Hensler (Okawville, Ill./SWIC) and redshirt junior guard CaRondis Harris-Anderson (Waterloo, Iowa/West) each had 12 points. The final double-digit scorer was redshirt senior guard Oliver Stephen (Edwardsville, Ill./SWIC), who had 11 points in the win.
 
Much like it did in its opener against Michigan Tech on Friday night, the Bearcats led almost the entire game on Saturday against the Wildcats as they led for nearly 38 minutes.
 
"I love what we showed today to wrap up our road trip. It's never easy winning two games in two days and it was the epitome of a team effort today," McKendree head men's basketball coach George Suggs said. "They (Northern Michigan) threw a lot at us and we were really resilient on both ends of the floor."
 
The Bearcats played Saturday's game without redshirt senior guard Brendon Gooch (Belleville, Ill./Althoff) and junior guard Bryson Bultman (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) played only 19 minutes as he battled foul trouble. In Friday's opener, Bultman scored a game-high 29 points.
 
"I'm most proud of how everyone stepped up this weekend. On a day we were without Brendon, and Bryce spends most of the game in foul trouble, to find a way to beat a good team is tremendous," said Suggs, who won his first career game on Friday against Michigan Tech. "CaRondis did an incredible job off the bench and I love the way the team celebrated him after the game. He deserves a ton of credit."
 
The Bearcats jumped out to an 8-0 lead and led 9-3 when NMU used a 6-0 run to tie the game at 9 just five minutes into the contest. McKendree would then use an 18-8 run to push out to a 27-17 lead with 8:26 left in the opening half.
 
NMU would respond with a 12-5 run to pull the Wildcats within 32-29 with 3:11 remaining in the first half. Stephen would hit a trey with 3:01 left to push the Bearcats lead to 35-29, before Tre Harvey closed the first half scoring with two free throws with 1:18 left to give the Bearcats a 35-31 halftime lead.
 
The Wildcats would open the second half on a 13-7 run to take a 44-42 lead with 14:08 left in the game. Harris-Anderson would help the Bearcats retake the lead at 45-44 and after John Kerr made a second chance shot to give NMU a 46-45 lead, the Bearcats responded with a 12-0 run keyed by six points from Harris-Anderson to take a 57-46 lead with 9:51 remaining in the game.
 
NMU wouldn't go away as they responded with a 6-0 run to cut McKendree's lead to 57-52, before the Bearcats would score 12 of the next 13 points to push its lead to 69-53 with 3:48 left in the game. The run began and end with 3-pointers from Davitkov.
 
The Bearcats would eventually push its lead to 74-55 following a basket by Davitkov with 2:07 remaining in the game, before NMU closed the game by outscoring the Bearcats, 7-1 to cap the scoring.
 
Harvey and Justin Kuehl each scored 10 points in the loss, while Kerr added nine points and eight rebounds.
 
The Bearcats shot 49 percent from field and 47 percent (9-for-19) from the 3-point line and were 16-for-24 (66.7 percent) from the free throw line. Meanwhile, NMU shot 36 percent from the field, 26 percent from the 3-point line and 67 percent from the free throw line.
 
McKendree held a 41-29 edge on the boards and dished out 17 assists on 25 made baskets. The Bearcats also committed 14 turnovers that led to 21 points for NMU.
 
NMU had just eight turnovers in the game and held a 29-20 edge in points off the bench.
 
Both teams blocked three shots and each team tallied 28 points in the paint.
 
McKendree will look to start the season 3-0 when they open the home portion of its 2021-22 schedule at Harry M. Statham Sports Center on Thursday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. against Harris-Stowe State University.