LEBANON, Ill. – The men's basketball team ended a three-game skid after being on the road in as many games, where they now pick up a win once again against William Jewell College in Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) action on Thursday, January 9th at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center in Lebanon, Illinois. 

Score: McKendree University 85, William Jewell College 63 

Record: Bearcats 7-6, 4-2 GLVC | Cardinals 5-8, 2-3 GLVC 

HOW IT HAPPENED

The two teams would open up aggressively within the opening minutes of the matchup as McKendree junior forward Noah Franklin (Cobden, Ill.) and WJC's sophomore guard Justice Sutton would go head-to-head to rev up their respective teams. Franklin dropped in the first six of the Bearcats' points while Sutton contributed on seven of the Cardinals' first nine. Finding themselves down by only three, McKendree utilized a series of layups to go on a momentum-shifting 10-0 run and would give themselves a 16-9 lead with 12:55 to go in the first half. 

Both sides would continue to hit on all angles of the court and not let either side get too hot for the defense to handle, until with a little over four minutes left, the Cardinals buried three straight triples, with two coming from senior guard Luke Jordan as WJC would retake a three-point lead on the road. Yet, the Bearcats would not be taken control of on their home floor, as Franklin took matters into his own hands and converted on an old-fashioned three-point play moments after the visiting barrage of three-balls. With five seconds left of the period, Bearcat senior guard Destin Whitaker (Romeoville, Ill.) swiped the ball away from the defense and threw a crisp outlet pass to Franklin, who would two-hand jam it in as time expired to cap off a 7-0 run and lead heading into halftime, 35-31. 

Franklin continued his impactful momentum into the early stages of the second half by dominating the paint and charity stripe but was also accompanied by junior guard Cha'Vez Woods (Louisville, Ky.) who was found open on the wing for a pair of three-point shots as McKendree continued to battle WJC with all it had. With under 11 minutes left, Whitaker caught the Cardinal defense lacking and got fouled on a three-point shot attempt, to which he converted on all three freebies. Just moments later WJC's junior guard Bradley Lightbourne would halt to what was a 21-13 scoring run by the Bearcats as he succeeded on an and-one opportunity to be down 47-56. 

With the game starting to get out of reach for the Cardinals, senior guard Kevin Stein (Chester, N.Y.) gave the Bearcats a personal 10-3 by his own to up their lead to a comfortable 16 points with under nine minutes to go. A step-back three-pointer from freshman guard Grant Fridley (Trenton, Ill.) put the dagger into the souls of WJC as a humungous 50-point second half led to McKendree getting back into the win column and defeating the Cardinals, 85-63. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• McKendree finished with four double-figure scorers, and to little surprise, Franklin ended with the most with 19 points on 8-16 shooing while collecting five boards and a pair of blocks. 

• Stein ended with a close 17 points on 7-13 from the field and 3-4 from deep while corralling a career-high 10 rebounds. 

• Senior guard Joey Niesman dropped in a quiet baker's dozen 13 points with 5-9 from the floor and 3-6 from distance plus five assists and three steals. 

• Woods rounded out the double-digit scoring with 10 points and shot 3-7 from three while snagging a trio of boards. 

• Sutton led WJC with 17 points on 7-10 shooting, along with two blocked shots. 

• McKendree shot 49.2% from the field, 45.5% from distance, and 68.4% from the stripe while the Cardinals ended with 39.0%, 28.1%, and 72.7% respectively. 

• The Bearcats held WJC to zero points off of turnovers as they converted on 16. 

• McKendree was +15 in bench points, +16 in points inside the paint, and +5 on second-chance points. 

• The Bearcats' 45 total team rebounds are the most thus far into the season and a program-best since they pulled down 48 against Mission University (formerly Bible Baptist College) on January 1st, 2024. 

UP NEXT

McKendree will be back on the court on Sunday, January 11th when they host Truman State University at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center in Lebanon, Illinois with tip-off set for 3:00 PM CT. 

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