Photo by Kami Wood

McPherson, Kan. – The Central Christian College men's basketball team bounced back after their close loss to USAO on Thursday with a 74-70 win at home against the Texas Wesleyan University
Rams.  

The Tigers jumped out to a hot start, leading the Rams 11-0 at the 15:39 mark. The Rams however, didn't wilt, they slowly and methodically began chipping away at the Tiger lead and by the end of the half, the Rams had flipped the script, and led the Tigers 36-32.

The first part of the second half was much the same. The Tigers struggled to get shots to fall, and on the other end of the floor, they couldn't stop the Rams. The four point halftime deficit quickly ballooned out to 15 points with 15:05 left in the game.

After a time out by Coach Romero, the Tigers found new life on the defensive end of the floor, which invigorated their offense. Like the Rams did in the first half, the Tigers began to methodically chip away at the Rams' lead. With 2:46 on the clock, the Tigers had climbed all the way back and tied the game at 64. With just over a minute remaining, the Tigers led the Rams 68-66, and after a Rams turnover, Chris Whitten, who had struggled shooting the ball most of the game, hit a huge three pointer to put his team up 5, 71-66.

The Rams hit a three pointer on their next possession to get back to within two, but with only 12 ticks on the clock, they were forced to foul. The Tigers went 4 for 4 from the line in the final 12 seconds to keep the Rams at bay and secure a four point victory.

Key Statistic

The difference in the game was free throw shooting. The Tigers were 18 of 26 and the Rams were 14 of 16.

By the Numbers

For the game, the Tigers made 25 of 70 (36%) of their attempts from the floor.

From beyond the arc, they were 6 of 21 (29%)

At the free throw line, the Tigers were 18 of 26 (69%).

The Tigers outrebounded the Rams 46 to 41, and won the turnover battle 8 to 5.

Tiger Leaders

Points: Omari Maulana (20)
Rebounds: Andre Shelby (8)             
Assists: Chris Whitten (5)
Steals: Andre Shelby, Malachi Farr, Chris Whitten (2)
Blocks: Andre Shelby (3)

Coaches Quote:

"I am happy for our guys to win today.   We have had a couple heartbreak one possession losses in a row.  We had a great start the first five minutes of the first half, then I really felt we didn't play well the remainder of the half, our energy was lacking and execution was poor.  That continued into the first few minutes into the second half, where we found ourselves down 15 points.   But then, I thought our guys showed some leadership, ownership and resiliency that we had not showed most of the game to that point and the guys found a way to finish the game in a positive way.  Omari and Chris had back to back plays that were huge in the last two minutes of the game.  

We need to continue to improve from an execution standpoint on offense, we really were slow and stagnant today on that side of the ball.  On defense, we need to be more consistent." – Coach Romero

Next Up
 
The Tigers (7-8, 4-5), go on the road this week for a pair of SAC games down in Texas and Oklahoma. They will play Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas on Thursday, then travel to Goodwell, Oklahoma for a Saturday match-up with Oklahoma Panhandle State University.