Eagles Very Nearly Battle Back against Bulldogs

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Trailing by 17 points at halftime, Avila men's basketball (2-10, 1-9 KCAC) came so close to pulling off a killer comeback, pulling all the way back to within two points with less than two minutes to go – but McPherson (11-4, 6-3 KCAC) managed to do just enough down the home stretch to pull out a 72-61 victory on Wednesday night in Mabee Fieldhouse.

An 11-point final margin might seem to suggest that McPherson won the game with a minimum of fuss. But while the Bulldogs were in control on the scoreboard for the majority of the contest, as the second half stretched out the result was very much in question, and that's very much a credit to the work done by head coach Tyler Bredehoeft, his staff, and his team.

An Avila team absent more than one key player trailed by 17 at the half and by as many as 21 points in the first few minutes of the second period against a McPherson program the Eagles have historically had next to no success against (last season's Avila victory was the team's first in the modern history of the series). But Wednesday night's Eagle team never gave up on the game, and very nearly pulled off the biggest comeback of the season.

Avila's low-water mark on the night came after Curtis Rose hit two free throws – a recurring theme – to give the Bulldogs their largest lead, 45-24, with 16:23 to play in regulation. The Eagle offense had been scuffling to that point in the contest, but that finally started to change when Jaren Miller scored a second-chance bucket off his own miss, and Cooper Smith followed with seven straight Avila points to get the offense going.

The Eagles then got threes on three straight possessions from Miller, Smith and James Ross III to cut the deficit down to single digits for the first time since midway through the first half. Two straight buckets from Jerome Mabry restored a double-digit cushion with more than half the period expired, but the Eagles kept pushing. Jared Larson and Miller hit threes to kickstart the next Eagle surge, and after a Collin Storr free throw with four minutes left, the Bulldogs stayed stuck at 63 points for three minutes.

That gave the Eagles the chance they needed. Matthew Boldt hit a shot in transition and then set up Ross for a deep ball, bringing the Eagles within six. Later, after an Avila timeout, Robert Lee III converted a Ross steal into a fast break layup, and the Eagles had climbed all the way back to within two points, 63-61, with 1:21 left on the clock.

Unfortunately, that's as close as the Eagles would get. A couple critical turnovers doomed the Eagles' chances of any further rally, and the Bulldogs were lethal from the foul line down the stretch. Yet again, free throws proved critical to the Eagles' undoing: McPherson shot 20-of-24 (83%) from the line as a team, while the Eagles were afforded just six trips to the stripe in the entire game, making just two. An 18-point edge at the line helped lead the Bulldogs to the 11-point win.

Rose, Storr and Quinn Collins all tied for the team lead with 12 points on a characteristically balanced day from the Bulldogs. All nine Bulldogs scored, and every player recorded at least two rebounds. Miller led the Eagles with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting, and Smith was right behind with 12 on 5-of-9.

Up next, Avila men's basketball will head out to Lindsborg, Kansas to take on Bethany in a doubleheader that might prove critically important for both Avila basketball programs. The women kick off the doubleheader at 3 PM with the men to follow at 5; as always, you can watch all the action live and for free on the KCAC Network.