McPHERSON, Kan. — Trailing by 21 with five and a half minutes to play, the Bulldogs outscored the Ottawa University Braves 21-3, but ultimately fell 85-82 inside Holman Fieldhouse Saturday night (Nov. 23).
Eight points by Jamil Hardaway, including a pair of threes sparked the comeback, then Aaron Williams Jr. and Curtis Rose joined the party with triples of their own to quickly trim the lead to 85-78 with less than two minutes to play.
Four free throws by Rose and Collin Storr, followed by a defensive stop with seven seconds left to play, gave the Bulldogs a chance late, but MC was unable to find the game-tying triple.
Rose led the way with 22 points, thanks to an efficient 8-for-12 shooting night, while connecting on all three of his shots from beyond the arc. Jamil Hardaway continued his hot shooting with five more threes running his total over the last four games to 19, en route to 17 points. Williams added 16 points, and Charles Snyder rounded out the double-digit scoring with 10.
MC matched their season-high with 13 assists, with Rose, Hardaway, and Snyder each finishing with three assists.
The Braves jumped out to an early 14-7 lead, but a 9-2 run by the Bulldogs leveled the score at 16. But that was the closest the game would be for the rest of the half, as the Braves shot 6-for-10 from beyond the arc, and were 52.6 percent from the field to take a 51-38 lead into the break. Deondre Buggage finished with 18 of his 22 points in the first half.
Ottawa was 0-for 7 in the second half from the three-point line, but still shot 50.0 percent from the field.
The Bulldogs are back in action Tuesday (Nov. 26) when they travel to Fulton, Mo. to take on (RV) William Woods University. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
