LIBERTY, Mo. – McKendree University men's basketball saw its three-game winning streak come to a screeching halt here Monday evening as the Bearcats were outscored 42-20 in the second half of a 77-55 setback to William Jewell College in Great Lakes Valley Conference action at the Mabee Center.
 
Monday's game was the second in less than 48 hours for the Bearcats as they opened GLVC play with a hard-fought 73-68 win at Truman State. Additionally, it is the second game in a stretch of four games in seven days for the Bearcats as they host Rockhurst (Dec. 1) and Southwest Baptist (Dec. 3) at home later this week in the Harry M. Statham Sports Center.
 
With Monday's setback, the Bearcats fall to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the GLVC, while Jewell improved to 3-5 overall and 1-1 in the league.
 
After scoring 35 points and shooting 47 percent from the field and 41 percent from the 3-point line in the first half, the Bearcats offense struggled to score in the second half as they went 7-for-28 (25 percent) from the field and 3-for-16 (18.8 percent) from the 3-point line and were held to season-low 20 second half points. The game was tied at 35-all at the half.

"William Jewell deserves a ton of credit. They outclassed us in every aspect of the game and that is entirely on me to have us better prepared," McKendree head coach George Suggs said. "As a group we have to realize how difficult it is to be successful in this league. It's my responsibility to get these guys ready and we were not ready tonight."
 
In fact, the Bearcats went nearly seven minutes without scoring in the second half and during that nearly seven minute scoring drought, Jewell turned 45-44 deficit into 60-45 lead.
 
Senior guard Bryson Bultman (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) finished with a game-high 20 points, including scoring 15 of those points in the first half. In fact, Bultman scored 13 of McKendree's first 15 points in the contest. With his 20 points, Bultman pushed his career total to 1,167 points, which is 40th on the school's all-time scoring chart.
 
In addition to Bultman's 20 points, senior guard Aleksandar Davitkov (Belgrade, Serbia/Partizan) added 12 points in the loss.
 
Jewell held McKendree's top two scorers – senior guard Eric Powell II (Lexington, Ky./Asbury University) and junior forward Milos Vicentic (Belgrade, Serbia/OKK Belgrade) – to a combined total of seven points as those two players came into the game averaging a combined 31.6 points per game.

The Bearcats jumped to a 9-2 lead just a little under five minutes into the game, before Jewell responded back with 14-8 run over the next four-plus minutes to take a 16-15 lead following a dunk by Kobe McKinley.
 
McKendree would score five of the next nine points, including capping the flurry with a trey from sophomore forward Caleb Zurliene (Aviston, Ill./Purdue Northwest) to tie the game at 20-all after the under eight media timeout of the first half.
 
Jewell used a 9-5 run following that media timeout to push out to a 29-25 lead with 5:11 left in the first half. The Bearcats, though, closed the half on a 10-6 run to force a tie at 35-all at the half, including Davitkov drilling a trey with 42 seconds left to tie the game.
 
McKendree opened the second half by scoring seven of the first 12 points to take a 42-40 lead following a basket by Zurliene nearly three minutes into the half. After McKinley retied the game after making two free throws and Heri Tshiyoyo scored on a dunk to give Jewell a 44-42 lead with 16:49 left in the game.
 
The Bearcats, though, would take its final lead of the game 17 seconds later as Davitkov connected on a trey to give McKendree a 45-44 lead with 16:32 left in the game.
 
Following Davitkov's 3-pointer, the Cardinals would score 16 straight points to take a 60-45 lead with 10:50 left in the contest. The run was aided by 10 consecutive points from Isaac Patterson, who finished with 10 points and five boards off the bench.
 
Bultman would finally end the scoring drought for the Bearcats on a shot in the paint with 9:09 left in the game to cut Jewell's lead to 60-47.
 
The Cardinals, though, would respond with a 15-7 run to push its lead to 75-54 with 2:44 remaining. Bultman would make 1-of-2 free throws with 2:27 left to pull the Bearcats within 75-55, but Jewell capped the game's scoring on a lay-up by McKinley with 2:10 remaining.
 
Jordan Jermain was one of five Jewell players that scored in double figures as he tallied 15 points and added nine rebounds, while Tshiyoyo and Mason Alexander each had 14 points and McKinley finished with 13 points.
 
For the game, McKendree finished shooting 36 percent (21-for-58) from the field and was 10-for-33 (30.3 percent) from the 3-point line. Both of those were season lows for the Bearcats. McKendree also struggled at the free throw line as they were 3-for-8 (37.5 percent) at the line, including an 0-for-3 effort in the first half from the line.
 
Meanwhile, Jewell shot 45 percent from the field and made 10 treys as they shot 42 percent (10-for-24) from long distance in the win. Jewell shot just four free throws in the game as they were 3-for-4 (75 percent) from the line.
 
Over their last two games, McKendree's defense has allowed 24 3-pointers as Truman made 14 in Saturday's game.
 
Jewell held a 49-28 advantage on the boards, including collecting 18 offensive boards that led to a 20 second chance points for the Cardinals. Tshiyoyo pulled down a game high 14 boards for Jewell.
 
Zurliene led the Bearcats with four boards, while Bultman and Davitkov each had three assists as McKendree had 10 assists in the game.
 
The Bearcats also committed 11 turnovers and Jewell finished with seven turnovers, including just three in the second half.