QUINCY, Ill. – The men's basketball team was neck-and-neck with Roosevelt University in the first half but went on a pair of monumental double-digit runs in half number two to capture a 66-49 win over the Lakers at the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home Classic on Tuesday, December 16th in Quincy, Illinois.
Score: McKendree University 66, Roosevelt University 49
Record: Bearcats 7-2, 2-1 GLVC | Lakers 0-7, 0-2 GLIAC
HOW IT HAPPENED
In their third-consecutive road outing out of five straight, McKendree started out strong with freshman guard Andrew Moore (Montgomery County, Mo.) powering his way for the games first points inside the paint. Sophomore guard Rini Harris (O'Fallon, Ill.) followed the newcomer in knocking down his fourth three-pointer of the season to assist the Bearcats to a 9-2 lead in the opening minutes.
A 8-3 spurt by Roosevelt quickly closed the gap and cut their deficit to two points, but Moore was there to keep the Lakers from tying the game by sniping in a shot from beyond the arc as guards Cha'Vez Woods (Louisville, Ky.) and Moses Wilson (Aurora, Ill.) added to that momentum with a couple of earned lay-ins. To go back up by nine.
Yet, the Lakers would not go away, as they dropped in 15 points over the course of eight minutes leading into the final media timeout of the first half and found themselves down by just one. Defense would present itself for a few minutes thereafter, but a couple made free throws from a foul call gave Roosevelt their first lead of the contest.
Wilson once again got inside and responded with a layup with a fierce pass from Moore to regain the lead with a hair under two minutes left. The Bearcats had put the clamps on the final seconds, making the Lakers heave a well-contested shot and hold a 28-27 lead into the break.
Roosevelt wasted no time coming out of halftime by scoring eight straight to get their largest lead thus far by six. However, Head Coach George Suggs and company would not take that run lightly, as the team went on a blazing 17-2 run answer in a six-minute span while going 7-for-11 from the floor to give themselves a comfortable 46-37 lead.
Shortly after a monumental run, the Lakers went havoc from long distance and canning four triples over a course of four minutes with 10 minutes left in regulation and pulling within three. But that would be the last time Roosevelt would see the bottom of the net for the remainder of the game, as McKendree would go on to score the game's final 14 points and hold the Lakers scoreless in the final 5:51, with Harris firing from all cylinders with a 14-point second half outing and giving his squad the favoring 66-49 win at the Classic.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Harris led McKendree with 18 points on an efficient 7-for-12 (58.3%) shooting, including a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, and supplemented greatly with eight rebounds, two assists, a pair of blocks, and three steals.
• Moore followed with 14 points on 5-for-8 (62.5%) from the field and 2-for-4 from three, plus also eight boards along with a trio of assists and two takeaways.
• Woods returned to his squad with netting 10 points on 4-for-7 (57.4%) shooting as he also finished with a rebound and an assist.
• Sophomore forward Wyatt Zellers (Scottsburg, Ind.) snatched a career-high nine rebounds, with eight of them coming on the defensive end.
• McKendree shot 52.1% from the field, a season-high 42.9% from deep, and 55.6% from the line.
• The Bearcats outrebounded the Lakers 40-20.
• McKendree held the advantage in second-chance points (7-2), bench points (12-11), fast break points (8-5), and points in the paint (36-14).
• Harris, Moore, and Woods have combined for 63.6% of their team's scoring.
• The team's 7-2 overall start to the season remins their best since the 2017-18 season (started 10-2)
UP NEXT
McKendree will be back in action on Friday, December 19th when they start a two-game trip in the Wolverine State, as they will face the Bulldogs of Ferris State University at the Jim Wink Arena in Big Rapids, Michigan at 6:00 PM CT.
No live stream or live stats will be provided. Tickets can be purchased from the Ferris State athletics website, with various pricing options available.
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