LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree University men's basketball played perhaps its most complete game of the season here Tuesday afternoon as the Bearcats put five players in double figures and scored a season high 80 points en route to earning an impressive 80-67 victory over 21st-ranked Union University in a non-conference match-up at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center.
 
Tuesday's game was the first for the Bearcats since suffering a 78-62 loss at home to Lewis University on Dec. 4 in its first home game of its Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule and was also the Bearcats final home game of the 2021 calendar year.
 
With the win, McKendree snaps a two-game losing skid and improves its record to 5-2 overall, while Union, who is ranked 21st in the latest NABC/Division II Coaches Poll and 15th in the latest D2SIDA poll, fell to 9-2 on the year. The win over Union was the first for McKendree against a nationally-ranked since picking up an 80-70 win at home over then 25th-ranked Drury on Jan. 4, 2020.
 
"I am very proud of the way we played tonight. Not only did we beat an exceptional team, but we did it by plating with a ton of confidence," said McKendree first-year head coach George Suggs following the game. "These guys deserve a ton of credit because we came off a tough week, went back to work and got a lot better. You could see so much confidence from every guy out there today. That came from a great week of practice and we earned the right to go out and play well against a good team."
 
Tuesday's win was keyed by an offensive attack that five players score in double figures and a defense that held the Bulldogs nearly 12 points under its season scoring average as they entered the game averaging 78.5 points, but was held 67 points, which was its second lowest scoring output of the year. It is the second time this season that McKendree had five players score in double figures as they also tallied five double figures scorers against Northern Michigan in the second game of the season.
 
Leading the charge offensively for the Bearcats was junior guard Bryson Bultman (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) and sophomore guard Carson Parker (Nashville, Ill./Nashville), who each scored a game-high 17 points, while redshirt senior guard Oliver Stephen (Edwardsville, Ill./SWIC) added a season high 14 points. The two other Bearcats in double figures was junior guard Aleksandar Davitkov (Belgrade, Serbia/Partizan) and redshirt junior guard CaRondis Harris-Anderson (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo West) each tallied 10 points in the win.
 
Along with putting five players in double figures, McKendree's offense shot 50 percent from the field and a season-high 50 percent (11-for-22) from the 3-point line as they were 5-for-10 from long distance in the first half and 6-for-12 from downtown in the second half. The 11 made treys were a season high for the Bearcats.
 
Union, who is a member of the Gulf South Conference, led 6-4 in the opening three minutes of the game, before McKendree used 12-8 run capped by a Davitkov 3-pointer to take a 20-14 lead with 12:20 left in the opening half.
 
The Bulldogs, though, would respond with a 14-5 run over the next six minutes to turn a six-point deficit into a 28-25 lead following a trey from Hunter Vick. Vick's trey capped a 5-0 run by the Bulldogs after Parker gave the Bearcats a 25-23 lead with 7:02 left in the half.
 
On the ensuing possession by McKendree, Harris-Anderson retied the game on a three-pointer with 5:56 left in the half. The two teams would then take turns holding the lead until the Bearcats used a trey from senior forward Luke Hensler (Okawville, Ill./SWIC) right before buzzer to take a 38-34 lead at the half.
 
McKendree would open the second half on a 10-4 run to push its lead to 48-38 with 16:23 left in the game. The run began with a trey from Davitkov and was capped by a lay-up from Bultman.
 
After Union scored four straight points to cut McKendree's lead to 48-42, the Bearcats used an 11-5 run capped by three consecutive treys from Stephen to push out to a 59-47 lead with 11:53 left in the game.
 
The Bulldogs would not go away as they responded with a 13-6 run over the next six-plus minutes to cut McKendree's lead to 65-60. Union's run was capped by six straight points from Tyree Boykin, who led the Bulldogs with 15 points. Boykin came into the game averaging 19.2 points per game on the season.
 
That would be as close as Union would get as the Bearcats would score eight of the next 10 points to extend its lead to 73-62 with 2:24 remaining. Bultman scored five of the eight points, while the other basket was a trey from senior forward Aleksa Popovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Cleveland State) with 3:39 left in the game.
 
McKendree would close the game scoring seven of the final 12 points to set the final margin, including making five of its final six throws.
 
Along with Boykin's 15 points, JC Clausi added 12 points off the bench for Union, while Vick tallied 11 points for the Bulldogs.
 
McKendree held a 37-34 edge on the boards with Parker leading the way with nine boards, while Bultman had seven and Hensler added six rebounds. Tylandrius Parks had seven boards for Union, including three of their 11 offensive boards and JC Hawkins added six boards.
 
The Bulldogs finished the game shooting 38 percent from the field and 29 percent from the 3-point line.
 
Both teams combined to shoot 38 free throws in the game as Union shot 78 percent (14-for-18) from the line, while McKendree shot 65 percent (13-for-20) at line, including a 10-for-12 effort (83.3 percent) at the line in the second half.
 
Both teams committed 11 turnovers and the Bearcats had 13 assists with six from Bultman.
 
The Bearcats will return to action with two games this coming weekend (Dec. 18-19) at the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home Classic hosted by Quincy University in Quincy, Ill. McKendree will open the event on Dec. 18 at 1 p.m. against Davenport, before facing East West University on Dec. 19 at 1 p.m.