KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The McKendree University men's basketball team struggled on the road here Saturday afternoon as the Bearcats saw its season-high five game win streak snapped following a 78-63 setback against Truman State in Great Lakes Valley Conference action on Alumni Day at Pershing Arena.
With the setback, the Bearcats fall to 10-5 overall and 6-5 in the league, while Truman State, who wore throwback Northeast Missouri State uniforms in Saturday's game, improved to 13-5 and 7-3 in the GLVC.
McKendree entered Saturday's game riding its longest win streak since also winning five straight games during the 2017-18 season, but the Bulldogs made sure that streak stopped at five as they shot 53 percent from the field and were 18-for-20 from the free throw line against the Bearcats. McKendree's win streak began thanks to its 74-73 home win over the then 16th-ranked Bulldogs on Jan. 8.
The Bulldogs shot 13 more free throws than the Bearcats shot on the day as McKendree finished the game 7-for-7 from the free throw line, including shooting only two free throws in the first half.
Despite getting outshot from the free throw line, the Bearcats mounted a charge in the second half thanks to the 3-point line as they finished the game shooting 35 percent from long distance as they were 10-for-29 on the day, including a 5-for-13 effort in the second half.
Truman, who led by as much as 24 points just three-plus minutes into the second half, watched the Bearcats cut that lead deficit to 11 points at 64-53 following a lay-up by senior forward
Aleksa Popovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Cleveland State) with 7:08 left in the game. Popovic's score capped a 23-10 run by the Bearcats. The run was keyed by three treys, including two from redshirt senior guard
Oliver Stephen (Edwardsville, Ill./SWIC).
That would be as close as the Bearcats would get, though, as TSU used two free throws from Cade McKnight and a trey from Elijah Hazekamp with 5:13 remaining to push the Bulldogs lead to 69-53.
McKendree would try to make one more push as they used a 10-7 run capped by a three-pointer from senior forward
Luke Hensler (Okawville, Ill./SWIC) to push within 12 at 75-63 with 2:06 left in the game.
TSU would hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 90 seconds to cap the scoring and seal the win.
Junior guard
Bryson Bultman (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) once again led the way for the Bearcats as he scored 19 points, including scoring 15 of those points in the second half. In addition to Bultman, who has now scored in double figures in 13 straight games, Hensler added 14 points, including going 4-for-8 from the 3-point line and Popovic tallied 10 points and four rebounds off the bench.
While Truman shot 53 percent from the field, the Bearcats shot 44 percent from the field, but shot just 36 percent from the floor in the first half as they trailed 44-25 at the half.
McKnight and Hazekamp combined for 46 points and 14 rebounds in the win as McKnight tallied 24 points and had six rebounds and was also 10-for-10 from the free throw line, while Hazekamp scored 22 points and had eight boards in the win. The third double-digit scorer was Eric Northweather, who finished with 16 points and six boards.
McKendree will look to start a new win streak this coming week as they return home to the Harry M. Statham Sports Center for games on Thursday, Feb. 3 against Southwest Baptist at 7:30 p.m. and on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 3 p.m. against Rockhurst College.
MORE TO COME
