LEBANON, Ill. - The men's basketball team dropped their first game of the season on. Their home-floor against Ferris State University on Saturday, November 16th, at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center in Lebanon, Illinois. 

Score: McKendree University 61, Ferris State University 93 

Record: Bearcats 3-1, 0-0 GLVC | Bulldogs 5-1, 0-0 GLIAC 

HOW IT HAPPENED

Looking to steal a road win, Ferris State opened on a 7-0 behind a couple of buckets from senior guard Ethan Erickson which included a deep three-point shot. Senior guard Joey Niesman (Oswego, Ill.) and senior guard Kevin Stein (Chester, N.Y.) would both get McKendree going by driving to the rim and earning a couple of layups. Fellow Bearcats in junior Noah Franklin (Cobden, Ill.) and junior guard Cha'Vez Woods (Louisville, Ky.) also contributed a couple of close-range jumpers to bring the deficit within three. 

Within the final 10 minutes in the first half, McKendree connected with a few shots from distance from Niesman, senior guard Destin Whitaker (Romeoville, Ill.), and freshman forward Wyatt Zellers, but the Bulldogs would be too hot to handle as both teams would head to the locker room with the visitors up 47-28 at halftime. 

McKendree would make a nice push with a couple of back-to-back three-point shots from Whitaker, as on the other side of the court, Bulldog senior forward Reece Hazelton opened up with seven. The Bearcats would share the ball at an efficient rate and found Zellers inside for a couple of easy layups to keep the team into the game. 

Both teams would round out the final minutes of regulation trading buckets as Ferris State would hold on to their substantial lead and claim the road victory, 93-61. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Stein led McKendree in scoring with 13 points, shooting 5-12 from the field, along with a team-high five points and two blocks on the defensive end. 

• Whitaker and Zeller complimented the Bearcats' performance with 12 and 11 points respectively and both were a combined 5-7 from deep the whole game. 

• The other Whitaker, freshman guard Jaxson for Ferris State led his team in scoring with a game-high 16 points on shooting 6-9 from the floor, including 4-6 from distance.  

• McKendree shot 43.4% from the field, 26.1% from distance, and 52.9% from the stripe while the Bulldogs ended with 58.6%, 43.8%, and 78.3% respectively. 

• The game was won by the Bulldogs from 20 points off of turnovers, as well as 58 of their points coming from their bench squad. 

• It was a close battle in the paint, where Ferris State had the 40-32 advantage on the night. 

UP NEXT

McKendree will be back on the court on Thursday, November 21st when they host the inaugural McKendree DII Classic Presented by State Farm at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center with the first matchup coming against the University of Alabama in Huntsville with tip-off set at 7:30 PM CT. 

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