Photo by Jerry Montano

McPherson, Kan. – The Central Christian College men's basketball team lost a heart breaker on Thursday evening, in their first home game of 2024. The Tigers hosted the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, losing to the Drovers 85-83 in the closing seconds of the game.

It was a frantic game from start to finish as the Drovers employed a full court press for the vast majority of the game. The Tigers were prepared and did a nice job of getting behind the press and into the half court. At the intermission, the Tigers were up by five, 42-37.

Early in the second half, the Tigers extended the lead to double digits, leading the Drovers by 13, 56-43 at the 15:04 mark. The Drovers then went on a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to four points, 56-52 with 13:14 remaining.

At the midway point of the second half, the Tigers' advantage had been erased, and the Drovers retook the lead 61-59. The Tigers retook the lead, and stretched it back out to eight points at the 5:01 mark, but again the Drovers responded with a 6-0 run to get right back in the game.

With just under a minute remaining in regulation, the score was tied at 83. The Drovers retook the lead with 19 seconds left on the clock. The Tigers had the ball and ran their offense, looking for Chris Whitten who had a monster game with a career high 37 points, but the Drovers blanketed him. Jevarrick Butler cut to the middle of the lane and Omari Maulana found him with a pass. Butler had to get a shot off quick and tried a finger roll to tie the game and send it to overtime, but the ball rolled off the front of the rim and time ran out.

Key Statistic

Though the Tigers did a nice job for the most part of handling the Drover pressure, they did cough the ball up 20 times which resulted in 23 points for the visitors.

By the Numbers

For the game, the Tigers made 32 of 73 (44%) of their attempts from the floor.

From beyond the arc, they were 8 of 23 (35%)

At the free throw line, the Tigers were 11 of 16 (69%).

The Tigers outrebounded the Drovers 43 to 38.

Tiger Leaders

Points: Chris Whitten (37)
Rebounds: Isaiah Perry (13)              
Assists: Jaeden Whitten (4)
Steals: Omari Maulana, Malachi Farr (3)
Blocks: Andre Shelby (2)
                                                                                                         
Coaches Quote:

"Tough loss for our team, another close one we felt kind of slipped from our hands.  Our guys are really battling and putting us in good positions.  However, the last two games, we have been up double digits and given up a big run after being up in those moments.  We need to be better throughout the game not allowing runs to balloon, that's on us as coaches and players.  

We really have not competed versus that style of play this year.  We anticipated defensive change ups by USAO and some full court pressure, there was times were we handled those with good composure and times were USAO did some things that frustrated us.  We have been solid most of the year taking care of the basketball, tonight we let their pressure force us into some careless ones in critical moments of the game. 

We had a good look at the stop we needed at the end of the game but didn't finish the play by rebounding the ball.  Then we got a great look in the paint we didn't convert.  

Our guys have a healthy amount of frustration but we need to harness that into continued motivation for improvement.  When we lose close games, it is our job as coaches to find a way to help get our guys over the finish line, so I will take responsibility for myself and our staff to do our part as well." – Coach Romero

Next Up
 
The Tigers (6-8, 3-5), are back at home on Saturday, taking on the Texas Wesleyan University Rams. Tip-off is slated for 2:45 pm.