LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree University men's basketball used a season-high 14 three-pointers and clutch free throws down the stretch to hold off a second rally by Rockhurst University in earning a 72-63 victory over the Hawks in Great Lakes Valley Conference action here Saturday evening at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center.
 
With the win, McKendree improves to 11-5 overall and 7-5 in the GLVC, while Rockhurst falls to 10-13 overall and 5-8 in the league. The win was also the fourth consecutive for the Bearcats at home and its sixth overall home win on the season.
 
Along with hitting a season-high 14 3-pointers, the Bearcats also shot 48 percent from the field and 42 percent from the 3-point line, including shooting 56 percent from the field and 53 percent from the 3-point line in the second half as McKendree outscored the Hawks, 43-35 in the second half.
 
"I am proud of our effort in a very physical game tonight. We knew they would come in and be very tough inside and make us spread the floor," McKendree head coach George Suggs said following the win. "Our toughness late game to respond when they made a run was excellent. Every game in this league is tough and this one took a lot of heart."
 
McKendree's win was keyed by 20 points each from redshirt senior guard Brendon Gooch (Belleville, Ill./SIU-Carbondale) and junior guard Bryson Bultman (Nashville, Ill./Nashville), while junior guard Aleksandar Davitkov (Belgrade, Serbia/Partizan) added 14 points and came two rebounds shy (8) of his first career double-double.
 
Bultman and Davitkov combined to score 28 of McKendree's 43 second half points as Bultman scored 17 points after halftime and Davitkov added 11 points. Gooch had 13 of his 20 points in the first half.

With his 20 points, Bultman extended his double-digit scoring streak to 14 consecutive games and tallied his eighth game this season of scoring 20 or more points. In addition, he pushed his career scoring total to 879 points and is now just 121 points shy of becoming the 52nd member of McKendree's 1,000-Point Club.
 
After holding a 29-28 lead at the half, the Bearcats opened the second half by scoring the first 11 points to push its lead to 40-28 just 128 seconds into the second half. Nine of the 11 points came from the 3-point line as Davitkov, Gooch and senior forward Luke Hensler (Okawville, Ill./SWIC) each hit a trey during the run.
 
The Hawks would come right back and score seven of the next nine points to pull within 42-35 with 15:48 left in the game. The Bearcats, though, would answer back as they used a 13-8 run over the next four minutes to push in front 55-43 following a turn-around jumper by Bultman. The run began with a trey from redshirt senior guard Oliver Stephen (Edwardsville, Ill./SWIC) and was capped by Bultman's basket.
 
Rockhurst, who has now lost two straight games after having its three-game win streak snapped with a 90-64 loss on Friday at Southern Indiana, wouldn't go away as the Hawks used a 12-6 over the next seven minutes to cut McKendree's lead to 61-55 with 3:31 remaining in the game. The Hawks' run was capped by a trey from Rich Byhre, who finished the game with 18 points.
 
About 57 seconds following Byhre's 3-pointer, Stephen would connect on a turn-around jumper in the paint with 2:34 left in the game to give the Bearcats a 63-55 lead. On RU's next trip down court, Byhre would hit another trey to cut McKendree's lead to 63-58 with 2:16 left.
 
That would be as close as the Hawks would get as Davitkov gave the Bearcats a 66-58 lead following his trey with 1:31 left. After two free throws by Byhre with 1:08 remaining drop the Bearcats lead to 66-60.
 
The Bearcats would close out the game by scoring six of the final nine points, including hitting four consecutive free throws in the final 40 seconds.
 
Along with Byhre's 18 points, Nick Volz led the way for the Hawks with a team-high 20 points and added seven rebounds, while Maxim Romanov added eight points and six rebounds.
 
McKendree held a 36-29 advantage on the boards as Bultman led the way with nine boards and he also dished out four assists as McKendree had 16 assists for the game.
 
McKendree's defense held Rockhurst to 41 percent shooting from the field and 41 percent (7-for-17) shooting from the 3-point line.
 
Both teams were strong from the free throw line as the Bearcats went 8-for-9 at line (88.9 percent) and Rockhurst was 8-for-10 (80 percent).
 
McKendree had 13 turnovers that led 17 points for the Hawks, including committing seven of those turnovers in the first half. Rockhurst finished with eight turnovers for the game.
 
The Bearcats will look to extend its home win streak to five straight games on Monday, Feb. 7 as they host Southwest Baptist for a 3 p.m. GLVC game at the Statham Sports Center. Southwest Baptist enters the game having won three straight games following its 70-66 win on Saturday at UMSL.