LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree University men's basketball team continued its hot play here Saturday afternoon as the Bearcats tied a season high with 11 made 3-pointers and put four players in double figures en route to extending their win streak to four consecutive games following a 77-69 victory over the University of Illinois-Springfield in Great Lakes Valley Conference action at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center.
 
With its fourth consecutive win, which is tied for the longest win streak of the season, McKendree improves to 9-4 overall and 5-4 in the GLVC, while UIS fell to 9-8 overall and 4-5 in the league. Along with winning its fourth straight game, the Bearcats also extended its homecourt win streak to three straight games.
 
Saturday's win helped cap a 3-0 week for the Bearcats in GLVC play as they opened the with a 77-71 win on Monday at Southern Indiana, before earning a 91-86 home win on Thursday over Quincy. McKendree currently hasn't the longest active winning streak in the league.
 
"Today was a great way to finish off a tough week. When you're working with short rest, and playing on tired legs, it can be easy to let fatigue take over, but I thought we did a great job against a great opponent," McKendree first-year head coach George Suggs said. "These guys have worked really hard to be in this position and they deserve to win those games. I could not be prouder of them for coming together in a physical game and executing a difficult game plan."
 
Junior guard Bryson Bultman (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) posted his 11th consecutive double-digit scoring game as he tallied 21 points and added six rebounds, five assists and career-high tying four steals. With his 21 points, Bultman crossed the 800-career point mark as he has now tallied 810 career points and 38 career double figure scoring games and 13 career games of scoring 20 or more points.
 
In addition to Bultman's 21 points, redshirt senior guard Oliver Stephen (Edwardsville, Ill./SWIC) added a season-high 19 points, including a 5-for-10 effort from the 3-point line, while redshirt senior guard Brendon Gooch (Belleville, Ill./SIU-Carbondale) chipped in with 14 points and sophomore guard Carson Parker (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) tallied 12 points and seven rebounds.
 
The Bearcats trailed for a total of just 36 seconds in Saturday's contest as after senior forward Luke Hensler (Okawville, Ill./SWIC) scored the first basket of the game just 16 seconds into the contest, the Prairie Stars, who lost both meetings this season against the Bearcats, scored the next four points to take a 4-2 lead just a little under two minutes into the game.
 
That would be the only lead of the game for UIS as the Bearcats responded with a 21-8 run capped by a 3-pointer from Gooch to take a 23-12 lead with 10:45 left in the opening half.
 
UIS would answer back with a 6-2 run to cut McKendree's lead to 25-18 with 6:16 left in the half, but the Bearcats would once again respond as they closed the opening half on an 18-11 run to hold a 43-29 halftime lead. Bultman scored eight of those 18 points as scored 15 of his 21 points in the first half.
 
In fact, Bultman and Parker combined for 25 first half points for the Beacats.
 
The Prairie Stars would mount a second half charge against the Bearcats as they opened the second half on an 18-12 run to cut McKendree's lead to 55-47 with a little under eight minutes in the period.
 
After the two teams traded free throws to give the Bearcats a 57-48 lead, McKendree would begin to heat up from the 3-point line as Stephen drilled a trey with 10:27 left and that began a stretch of three consecutive made treys for the Bearcats to push its lead to 66-53 with 6:45 remaining in the game. Stephen hit the first two treys and Gooch added the third.
 
USI, though, wouldn't go away as they pulled within 66-59 following a 3-point play by Chase Robinson with 5:41 left, but Stephen would hit another trey about 53 seconds later to give the Bearcats a 69-59 lead with 4:48 left. Stephen's trey came after he grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed 3-pointer from Hensler.
 
The Prairie Stars would respond with an 8-4 run to drop McKendree's lead to 73-67 with 22 seconds left in the game. The Bearcats would then make 4-of-4 free throws over the final 20 seconds to seal the win.
 
Robinson paced UIS with 20 points, while James Kelley added 16 points and seven rebounds and Jack Weber had 11 points in the loss.
 
For the game, McKendree shot 44 percent from the field and 36 percent (11-for-31) from the 3-point line, while UIS shot 54 percent from the field and 35 percent (6-for-17) from the 3-point line.
 
With their 54 percent shooting from the field, UIS became the first team this season to shot over 49 percent from the field in a game against the Bearcats as the Bearcats entered the game allowing their foes to shoot just 40.5 percent from the field.
 
The Bearcats held a 35-26 edge on the boards, including collecting 16 offensive boards that led to 21 second chance points. The 16 offensive boards are the second most this season. Hensler led the way on the boards with nine, while Parker had six offensive boards in the win.
 
Both teams did a good job taking care of the basketball as USI had 10 turnovers and the Bearcats committed just nine turnovers, including just four turnovers in the first half. Both teams blocked three shots and UIS had a 42-22 edge in points in the paint.
 
The Bearcats were strong at the free throw line as they were 16-for-20 (80 percent) at the line, while UIS was just 7-for 14 (50 percent) at the line on the game.
 
McKendree will look to make its five straight wins as they begin a two-game road trip this coming Thursday, Jan. 27 in Liberty, Mo., with a 7:30 p.m. game against William Jewell. The road trip will conclude on Saturday with a 3 p.m, game in Kirksville, Mo., against 21st-ranked Truman State. The Bearcats picked up a 74-73 win over then 16th-ranked Truman State in Lebanon on Jan. 8. That victory against Truman State began McKendree's current four-game win streak.