KCAC

[Men's Basketball] Bulldogs hold off Men's Basketball Falcons 71-62

McPherson, Kan. – The McPherson College Bulldogs took the lead in the first half and held off the Friends University Falcons from there to win 71-62 in KCAC action tonight in McPherson, Kan.The Falcons managed to lead early by six and was up 19-18 when seven points from Owen Braxmeyer keyed a 12-3 spurt that gave the Bulldogs an eight-point edge with five minutes left in the opening half.Five points from Alex Gray (FR) helped the Falcons pull back within three before McPherson carried a 36-31 lead into the break.The Bulldogs started the second stanza strong with a 9-2 burst to extend to a 12-point lead of 45-33 less than three minutes after halftime.Ian Konek (JR/Long Beach, Calif.) then caught fire and hit three buckets to spark a run of 10 straight points for the Falcons over the next three minutes that suddenly trimmed the deficit to just two.After the Falcons hung tight and climbed within one following four straight points from Trey Reid (FR/Wichita, Kan. ), a cold spell offensively allowed the Bulldogs to score the next eight points, including six from Rock Hardison to push the lead to nine at the 4:55 mark.That proved to be enough of a cushion for the Bulldogs to hang on down the stretch, as the closest the Falcons could climb from that point was seven after a score from Reid snapped McPherson's 8-0 burst.Reid led the Falcons (7-16, 6-11 KCAC) with 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, while Tim Barbieri (JR/Abilene,Kan. ) pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds. Gray had a team-best three assists for Friends.Ja'Quan Chestnut paced the Bulldogs with a double-double of 18 points and 17 boards, with Braxmeyer finishing with 13 points and eight rebounds. Josh Rivers scored 10 and recorded a game-high 11 assists for McPherson (15-9, 10-8 KCAC).The Falcons (39.7 percent) outshot the Bulldogs (36.4 percent) overall from the floor and also held a 47-45 edge on the glass that led to a 38-25 advantage in points in the paint.But 18 turnovers and an 11-0 edge off of those miscues proved to be the difference in the game for the Bulldogs.Next up is a home matchup vs. No. 4-ranked and conference front-runner Oklahoma Wesleyan University Saturday night (Jan. 29) at 7 pm inside the Garvey Center.