LEBANON, Ill. - The men's basketball team held on to come out victorious at home against Maryville University in Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) action Saturday, November 30th, at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center in Lebanon, Illinois. 

Score: McKendree University 74, Maryville University 66 

Record: Bearcats 4-3, 1-0 GLVC | Saints 1-5, 0-1 GLVC 

HOW IT HAPPENED

Both teams opened up their conference opener in the Saturday afternoon game, trading on the first few baskets, with each converting on a layup and a three-point shot to steady it at five a-piece within the first five minutes. After McKendree's senior guard Kevin Stein (Chester, N.Y.) knocked down his team's second long ball of the game, Maryville answered on an 11-0 run, with graduate guard Keyyaun Batchman getting five of them and junior forward Lucas Burton contributing on four. Down by eight early, the Bearcats would push back with back-to-back three-pointers from junior guard Cha'Vez Woods (Louisville, Ky.) and junior guard Landon Zurliene (Fairfield, Ill.) to cut it to two, but freshman guard Henry Meyer would respond with his own shot from beyond the arc to give his Saints a 19-14 lead 10 minutes into the game. 

Junior forward Noah Franklin (Cobden, Ill.) and senior guard Joey Niesman (Oswego, Ill.) each split on McKendree's next eight points to Maryville's six which would tie the game once again at 22. The Saints will close out the half with 12 more points, led by freshman guard Andre Klaver with seven of them as the Bearcats would put in 10 more points behind an array of players to be down 32-34 going into halftime. 

With the home crowd by his side, Franklin ignited a personal 5-0 run to start half number two and grab a slight three-point lead. Senior guard Dewayne Vass would bring Maryville within one point and would be subsequently followed by each team getting four points inside the arc and keeping the matchup close. After missing the first six games of the season with an injury, senior forward Hayden Meakes (Adelaide, Australia) exploded for back-to-back triples, upping the McKendree lead to seven. The next 4:36 of game time was back-and-forth scoring between the two squads before Burton slammed in a well-passed alley-oop from graduate guard Lawrence Brazil III to bring the Saints within four. 

With a little over six minutes remaining, sharpshooting senior guard Destin Whitaker (Romeoville, Ill.) and shifty sophomore guard Justin King (Mascoutah, Ill.) dropped in a three and a layup respectively to put their squad ahead convincingly by nine. After back-to-back inside layups from King and Stein with four minutes left of regulation the home team would convert on several free throws to ice the game 74-66 and give the Bearcats a 1-0 start to conference-play. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• The leading scorer for McKendree was Franklin, who had 15 points on an efficient 6-7 shooting including going 1-1 from three and pulling down five rebounds. He was also a big defensive presence with a pair of blocks and steals each. 

• Stein and King each notched in 12 points in the win with the former earning his third six-assist game of the season along with seven rebounds while the latter had a team-high nine boards and three takeaways on the defensive side. 

• In his debut, highly touted Meakes finished with 10 points on 4-8 shooting and 2-5 from deep plus an assist. 

• Like the Bearcats, Maryville concluded with four double-digit scorers, led by Klaver with 14 while Batchman came close behind with 12. Burton and Meyer rounded out with 10 each for the Saints. 

• McKendree shot 52.9% from the field, a season-high 47.6% from distance, and 83.3% from the stripe while the Saints ended with 42.2%, 26.1%, and 80.0% respectively. 

• Despite the convincing loss, Maryville out-toughed McKendree in the paint with a 44-34-point advantage. 

• The Bearcats were a plus-five on second-chance points in the win. 

• McKendree's +13 rebound margin was their highest of the young season. 

UP NEXT

McKendree will be back on the court on Monday, December 2nd when they play their first conference game on the road against Rockhurst University at the Mason-Halpin Field House in Kansas City, Missouri with tip-off set for 7:30 PM CT. 

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