ROLLA, Mo. – The (RV) men's basketball team looked composed and collected throughout what is now arguably their best win in the past couple of seasons, as they came away with the commanding 70-59 win over No.9 Missouri S&T on Thursday, January 22nd at the Gibson Arena in Rolla, Missouri in GLVC action.
Score: McKendree University 70, Missouri S&T 59
Record: Bearcats 14-4, 7-3 GLVC | Miners 13-3, 7-2 GLVC
HOW IT HAPPENED
Sophomore Rini Harris (O'Fallon, Ill.) was the offensive catalyst for the hungry Bearcat squad, who were approaching their second ranked opponent of the season, as the guard swatted the Miner layup off the backboard with force, which led to him driving into offensive territory and sliding in a lay-in for himself. The following possession for his team allowed Harris to knock down a three-pointer from the top of the key to go up 5-0 in the early goings.
The Miners responded by hitting a pair of triples on back-to-back possessions, to which initiated a 16-6 run to take their largest lead of 16-11. Swerving through the contact, Harris would put a stop to the Missouri S&T scoring spurt with an and-one play as freshman guard Andrew Moore (Montgomery County, Mo.) pushed one in to tie the game back up to 16-all.
McKendree could not miss at all from the field, as sophomore forward Joshua Schönbäck (Kierling, Austria) drilled the corner three-ball and followed up on his own miss on the next offensive possession to answer Missouri S&T with a monumental 18-3 run over the course of four and a half minutes of action. Also within the Bearcat spurt saw senior guard Caleb Burton (O'Fallon, Ill.) hit his third three-pointer of the season as Moore kept his focus on the attack and too earned himself the three-point play from the stripe after drawing the foul inside.
Up by double digits with a little over eight minutes left in the first half, fifth-year forward Noah Franklin (Cobden, Ill.) would keep the separation from the two teams by scoring seven of the last 11 points for his squad, as they headed into the extended break up 44-39.
It would take a good minute for the two sides to generate some consistent offense, especially for the Miners, who did not get their first field goal of the second half of play until 5:25 into the action, to where McKendree utilized into a 13-5 run and gave themselves a +13 advantage after Moore and sophomore forward Wyatt Zellers (Scottsburg, Ind.) continued the hot streak for the Bearcats from beyond the arc.
With Missouri S&T repeatedly trying to claw themselves back to a one-possession game, Burton would not let that happen, as the senior player answered the bell each time by hitting the clutch three-point shot, along with a couple of freebies to give him eight points in the second half alone. An outlet pass by Zellers with 1 minute left in regulation ended up in the hands of Franklin, who would one-handed tomahawk the ball into the rime on a breakaway to seal the win in the hostile road environment, beating the Miners 70-59.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Harris led the Bearcats with 20 points on an efficient 8-for-12 (66.7%) shooting while also stuffing the stat sheet with eight rebounds, four assists, two steals, and three blocks.
• Moore also showed his presence throughout the night with 13 points, seven boards, a trio of assists, and one steal and blocked shot.
• Although not recording a true defensive state, Franklin came up monstrous inside, finishing with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds, plus an assist.
• Rounding out the double-figure scoring for McKendree was Burton, who notched a McKendree-high 11 points without missing a single shot while going 3-for-3 from the floor (and three-point range) and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe.
• McKendree shot 51.9% from the field, 41.2% from deep, and 60.0% from the line.
• The Bearcats led in quite a few specialty categories including second chance points (16-9), bench points (20-3), points in the paint (38-20), and fast-break points (9-4).
• McKendree tied their season-high of total rebounds with 46, which last came at home versus Rockhurst University on December 1st.
• December 1st versus the Hawks was also the last time the Bearcats had four-plus players reach double digits, as that day featured Woods, Moore, Franklin, and Harris each reaching the mark.
• The Miners' 59 points are the fewest they have scored all season.
• This is the second ranked win for McKendree this season, as they are now 2-0 with the last win of such came on November 26th against then-No.21 Concordia University, St. Paul in an 80-66 win as part of the DoubleTree by Hilton Thanksgiving Classic.
• The last time the Bearcats won against a top-10 team was two years ago, also in a true road game at Ferris State University on November 22nd, 2023, where they won 71-68 in Big Rapids, Michigan.
• This victory versus No.9 Missouri S&T marks the 8th win over a top 25 team from the national NABC Coaches Poll.
UP NEXT
McKendree will be back in action on Saturday, January 24th, as they remain in the state of Missouri to take on the defending GLVC postseason champions of Lincoln University at the Jason Gym in Jefferson City, Missouri, with tip-time slated for 3:00 PM CT*.
Fans can tune in live or on-demand on the Blue Tigers' GLVC Sports Network with a subscription/download purchase required, as live stats will also be provided. Tickets can be purchased on Lincoln's athletic website.
*Due to a high potential for inclement weather, the game date and/or time may be altered.
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