LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree University men's basketball picked up its first win of the 2022 calendar year here Saturday afternoon as the Bearcats posted an impressive 74-73 upset victory over 16th-ranked Truman State in Great Lakes Valley Conference play on Alumni Day at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center.
 
With the win, McKendree improved to 6-4 overall and 2-4 in the GLVC, while Truman State had its six-game win streak snapped as they fell to 10-3 overall and 4-1 in the league. Saturday's victory was also the first-ever win for McKendree over Truman State as Truman State had won the previous seven all-time meetings in the series.
 
"Truman is a great team and the standard for the conference right now, so to come out and beat them is a tremendous effort," McKendree head coach George Suggs said following the victory. "That effort is what is takes every night to win and I can't wait for another opportunity."
 
Saturday's win was keyed by a Bearcat defense that held the Bulldogs nine points under its season scoring average of 82.2 points per game and also limited them to 29 percent shooting from the 3-point line. Truman State entered the game leading the GLVC in both 3-point shooting percentage (43 percent) and made treys per game (11.3).
 
While the Bearcats defense was strong, its offense put three players in double figures led by junior guard Bryson Bultman (Nashville, Ill./Nashville), who tallied 18 points and added seven rebounds to extend its streak to double figure scoring games to eight straight games.
 
In addition to Bultman, redshirt senior guard Brendon Gooch (Belleville, Ill./SIU-Carbondale) had his best performance of the season as he tallied a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, while sophomore guard Carson Parker (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) was third double-digit scorer as he tallied 14 points in the win, including scoring eight of them in the second half.
 
"There were contributions across the board, but Brendon (Gooch) deserves a ton of credit. Between his shot-making, his effort defensively, and his leadership, he did some amazing things tonight," Suggs added about Gooch's play.
 
While Saturday's win was the first victory for the Bearcats all-time over Truman State, the victory was also the second this season for McKendree over a nationally ranked foe as they closed non-conference play with an 80-67 home win on Dec. 14 over then 21st-ranked Union University.
 
The Bearcats led for nearly 35 minutes of the game and only trailed for a little less than three minutes midway through the second half as the Bulldogs used a 16-5 run after the Bearcats pushed its 40-37 halftime lead to 52-45 following a lay-up by Parker just a little less than five minutes into the second half.
 
Parker's lay-up, though, seemed to ignite the Bulldogs as they scored seven straight points capped by a trey from Keaton Mitchell to tie the game at 53-all with 13:19 left in the game.
 
The Bulldogs would take its first lead of the game at 55-53 following two free throws by Elijah Hazekamp with 12:41 remaining and added a trey from Masen Miller about 38 seconds later to take a 58-55 lead.
 
Truman's lead would eventually grow to 61-57 following another trey by Miller with 10:38 left in the game. The Bearcats would come right back and use back-to-back treys from redshirt senior guard Oliver Stephen (Edwardsville, Ill./SWIC) and Gooch to retie the game at 63 with a little more than nine minutes left.
 
Those two treys helped begin a 15-4 run that was capped by a dunk from senior forward Aleksa Popovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Cleveland State) to give the Bearcats a 72-65 lead with 5:51 left.
 
Another Popovic dunk with 4:32 left in the game helped McKendree push its lead back out to seven at 74-67 with 4:32 remaining.
 
Truman would try to mount a comeback and as they would score the final six points of the game, including Hazekamp hitting two free throws with less than a second left in the game to drop the Bearcats lead to 74-73.
 
Five Bulldogs scored in double figures in Saturday's contest with Miller leading the way with 15 points. In addition to Miller, Dylan Peeters added a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Mitchell had 12 points. Trey Shearer and Hazekamp each had 11 points in the loss. Hazekamp added nine rebounds for Truman State.
 
McKendree shot 52 percent from the field and 46 percent from the 3-point line as they led by as much as 14 points in the first half, before Truman scored the final 11 points of the opening half to cut the Bearcats lead to 40-37 at the half.
 
Bultman and Gooch combined for 24 of McKendree's 40 first half points as Bultman scored 13 and Gooch had 11 points in the opening half.
 
For the game, McKendree shot 50.9 percent from the field and 41 percent from the 3-point line and was 7-for-9 (77.8 percent) from the free throw line. In their two wins against ranked teams this season, McKendree is 20-for-44 (45.5 percent) from the 3-point line.
 
Truman finished the game shooting 45 percent from the field as the Bearcats have yet to allow an opponent to shoot over 46 percent from the field against them this season as they entered play on Saturday third in the league in field goal percentage defense (39.5 percent). The Bulldogs shot just 69 percent (11-for-16) from the free throw line.
 
McKendree was outrebounded, 40-27, including 16-6 on the offensive glass that led to 18 second chance points for the Bulldogs.
 
The two teams did a good job taking care of the basketball as they combined for a total of 19 turnovers as McKendree had a season low eight turnovers, while Truman committed 11 turnovers.
 
Both teams each had 16 assists in the game as Bultman had four, while Stephen and senior forward Luke Hensler (Okawville, Ill./SWIC) each had three assists. Hunter Strait and Hazekamp had four assists each to pace Truman.
 
McKendree will look to continue its winning ways as they remain home to host the University of Indianapolis for a 7:30 p.m. GLVC contest on Thursday, Jan. 13 at the Statham Sports Center. UIndy picked up a 63-56 win over the Bearcats in Indianapolis, Ind., this past Tuesday.