Both Ferris State basketball teams hit the road this past week in a matchup against Lake Superior State, the men’s basketball team fell to the Lakers while the women claimed their 10th straight victory in a dominant win.
Men’s Basketball
The men’s team (17-6, 7-5 in conference) struggled in their matchup against the Lakers as they fell to defeat 87-74. The Bulldogs’ rough first half on defense hurt them in this game as they were not able to fight back being down 52-39 at the half.
The Lakers shot 65.5% from field goal range and 58.3% from three-point range, leading to them having the double-digit lead over the Bulldogs at the half. In the second half, the Bulldogs’ defense was able to slow the Lakers down as they shot 45.8% from the field and 27.3% from three-point range. Offensively, the Bulldogs only shot 43.1% from the field and struggled from three-point range shooting 20%.
Assistant coach Josh Fleming thought the Bulldogs were not able to match the Lakers in Saturday’s loss.
“That day, they were the better team,” Fleming said. “It just seemed like we were a step behind at every move. And I mean, we lost some of their shooters, they made us pay for it. We couldn’t do the same thing that I’m on the other end.”
The Bulldogs were led by senior Ben Davidson with 20 points, junior forward Deng Reng with 11 points and senior guard Amari Lee with 10 points.
Senior forward Desean Munson believes that defense is what the team can continue improving on to help them throughout the rest of the season.
“Defense wins championships,” Munson said. “That’s all and that’s the biggest. We can have as much offensive talent but if we allow the opposing team’s offensive talent to perform better, it’s always going to be tough competition.”
Women’s Basketball
On the other hand, the nationally ranked No. 7 Bulldogs women’s basketball team (17-2, 11-1 in conference) finished their game with a victory over the Lakers with a final score of 94-55.
The Bulldogs have not lost a game in over a month, with their last loss coming on Jan. 3. The blowout is Ferris’ fifth game this season where they’ve beaten their opponents by 30+ points.
Head coach Kurt Westendorp explained what a win streak means to him.
“Win streaks are great because it means we’re playing consistent basketball and finding ways to win against some really good teams,” Westendorp said. “Hopefully we can keep it rolling with more consistent play.”
The Bulldogs played well on both sides of the ball in this matchup. Offensively, the Bulldogs shot 52.9% from the field and 40.9% from three-point range, and defensively they held their opponents to just 32.7% from the field and 36.4% from three-point range. The team outrebounded their opponents 44 to 26 and won the assist battle 22 to 12. They also forced 16 turnovers that turned into 24 points.
The team had 13 players score in the game and totaled 45 bench points. Three players led the Bulldogs with double-digits with senior forward Chloe Idoni collecting 19 points, sophomore forward Mya Hiram with 17 points and junior guard Kadyn Blanchard bagging 15 points.
Hiram believes that continuing the Bulldog winning streak is healthy for the team.
“Being able to keep our streak going and playing at such a high level and pace builds a lot of confidence going into the last of the regular season games,” Hiram said. “We have a couple of more games at [Jim Wink Arena] so that always helps having our fans there. I think we’re all excited for that.”
Both teams will be returning home for the weekend series as they take on Saginaw Valley State and Wayne State. The women’s games will be on Feb. 15 against the Cardinals with game time set for 5:30 p.m. and on Feb. 17 against the Warriors with game time set for 1 p.m. The men’s team will be taking the court after the women’s games with game time set for 7:30 p.m. against the Cardinals and 3 p.m. against the Warriors.