McPherson knocks off Coyotes in KCAC Tournament
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

McPherson College got 22 points from Cody Dickerson and 17 from Shawn Young as the Bulldogs knocked off Kansas Wesleyan 70-55 in quarterfinal action of the KCAC Men’s Post-Season Tournament at Muir Gymnasium on Thursday night.

The biggest applause from the raucous crowd in attendance, a large majority consisting of McPherson’s football team, came after the game when Kansas Wesleyan Athletic officials recognized Bulldog coach Roger Trimmell for his 26 years of coaching and dedication to “Dogball” at McPherson.

Wesleyan jumped out to an 11-4 lead with 15:31 to go in the first half on a bucket from Willie McCarty. Young answered back with a three, but Tony Boone put the Coyotes up by ten on a triple with 13:34 left.

Dickerson answered back with a three, but Trey Sims returned the favor to put the Coyotes up 20-10 with 12:48 left.

McPherson would get as close as six at 22-16 with 10:41 left in the half on another three from Dickerson, but an 8-3 run from Wesleyan saw the Coyotes take their biggest lead of the night at 30-19 with 4:26 left in the first half.

That’s when things began to unravel for the Coyotes. A 10-2 run to close the half for McPherson saw the Bulldogs pull within three, 32-29 at the break.

McPherson (16-12) would go up by eight, 45-37, with 11:17 to go in the game, extending the Bulldog run to 26-7 after being down 11 with 4:26 to go in the first.

Dickerson gave McPherson its first ten-point cushion on a three with 2:34 left at 56-46, and the Coyotes could get no closer than eight the rest of the way when Clay DuBois’ stickback made it 56-48 with 2:22 left.

Forced to foul, Wesleyan (14-14) sent McPherson to the line, where the Bulldogs calmly hit 14-of-16 from the stripe in pulling away for the 70-55 win. McPherson’s last 14 points all came from the line as Dickerson’s three with 2:34 left was the final field goal for the Bulldogs.

Wesleyan was led by Trey Sims who recorded a double double with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Romero Hood added nine points and Eric Hammond had eight. DuBois and Hammond each added nine rebounds to help the Coyotes outrebound McPherson 44-30. The Coyotes struggled to find the bucket shooting just 23.7 percent in the second half after a 46 percent effort in the first to finish the game 22-of-66 for 33.3 percent. The Coyotes were just 5-of-26 from three point range for 19.2 percent.

Dickerson’s 22 led all scorers as the Bulldogs were 21-of-46 from the field for 45.7 percent and sizzled from long range going 9-of-16 for 56.3 percent. Mitch Arnett had eight rebounds to lead the Bulldogs.

KWU finishes its season at 14-14 overall.

McPherson advances into Saturday’s semifinal round, traveling to Wichita to take on no.2 seed Friends University, who defeated Tabor 69-58 on Thursday evening.

-- KWU SI --