The No. 14 ranked Ferris men’s basketball swept the home stand with interconference wins over the Davenport Panthers and their arch-rival Grand Valley State Lakers to climb the standings in the GLIAC.
Currently sitting as the number two seed, the Bulldogs (15-3, 5-2 in conference) are three games back from the top seed. With 11 games remaining in conference, the Bulldogs are still in a position to capture the GLIAC regular season championship and claim the first seed in the GLIAC tournament.
In the first game of the weekend slate, the Bulldogs faced Davenport, which they would win with a final score of 90-61. It was defense, rebounding and assists that helped the team pull away and win by a big margin.
The game was chippy for the Bulldogs, as this game had a few stoppages due to some scuffles on the court. Head coach Andy Bronkema believes GLIAC basketball drives competitiveness.
“I thought it was a hard-fought game,” Bronkema said. “Two teams really competing and giving it everything they have on the floor, so when you’re in the GLIAC, that’s your expectation.”
The Bulldogs shot 49.3% from the field, 30.8% from three-point range, and 87.5% from the free throw line. They were able to out-rebound the Panthers 47-27. They also had more assists with 29 to Davenport’s 16 while the Bulldogs won the turnover battle forcing 17 turnovers that created 24 points.
There were 13 different players that scored for the team, led by junior Ethan Erickson with 15 points, with 10 players playing over 10 minutes in the game. The Bulldogs had contributions from 14 players who logged minutes in this game. Bronkema admires how selfless his team is and the talent of those who come into the game late.
“I’m just proud that they all bought in and they’re playing for each other,” Bronkema said. “It’s a lot of guys to try to get in, you can even see at the end when we put a few guys in haven’t really made the 10-11-man rotation and their talent, how close they are and so not everybody’s into that, they play hard and our guys are sold. They want to put winning before any self-interest.”
Following the win over Davenport, the Bulldogs quickly shifted their focus to their rival Grand Valley, in which the Bulldogs walked away with a tough 86-73 victory.
The first half saw the Bulldogs lead by one point after being down by 10 points at the 15-minute mark. In the second half, the team had a much better defensive performance that helped them pull away with a big victory.
The defense forced four steals, eight blocks and 19 defensive rebounds that had the Jim Wink Arena crowd up and on their feet for the Bulldogs. The team’s depth was put to the test in this game due to some injuries to junior Reece Hazelton and senior Amari Lee. The Bulldog bench scored 51 points and was led by Erickson with 18 points and DeSean Munson, who saw extended minutes finished with 17 points while shooting 80% from the field. Munson is a full believer in the “next man up” mentality.
“It’s never a good thing when your teammates get injured or anything,” Munson said. “Team sports are the next person is up when that happens. I was the next person up off the bench and I did what I did, I played ball. We see it every day in practice, it’s what we work on.”
As the season continues to push forward with a lot more tough GLIAC matchups, the team will be looking to keep this success going as they make a run for the GLIAC regular season championship. Munson thinks the team must remain cohesive if they want to make a deep run.
“I think if we continue to gel together, stay together, stick together, hold each other accountable, bring each other up, keep each other up, I think we can have a great run,” Munson said.
The Bulldogs will look to keep that run going as they hit the road to take on Wayne State on Jan. 25 with game time set for 7:30 p.m. and then they travel to Saginaw Valley State on Jan. 27 with game time set for 3:00 p.m.