The Ferris State men’s basketball team picked up two interconference wins in their two-game homestand against the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals on Feb. 15 and the Wayne State Warriors on Feb. 17.
Ferris’ last two losses have come against the GLIAC’s top two teams, as they lost to Northern Michigan on Feb. 1 and Lake Superior State on Feb. 10. The Bulldogs (19-6, 9-5 in conference) currently sit in third place in the GLIAC standings.
In Thursday’s game against Saginaw, the team prevailed to win the game 78-72, as they got revenge on the Cardinals from the loss earlier this season.
The Bulldogs needed to respond with a good second half after being down by four at the half. It was the team’s defense that was crucial in getting the victory. The Cardinals shot 50% (16-for-32) on field goals and 41.7% (5-for-12) from three-point range in the first half. In the second half, the Bulldogs defense held the Cardinals to 34.4% (11-for-32) from field goal range and 37.5% (3-for-8) from three-point range.
Junior guard Jimmy Scholler believes the team’s emphasis was on having a better defensive outing.
“We kind of were really hyper-focused on our defense,” Scholler said. “We kind of struggled with that for the past couple of games and we did a really good job in the second half of turning that around.”
The Bulldogs then shifted their focus to Wayne State, which the team would win after being down by one at the half. The team’s bench played a big role in this game as they scored 39 points. Defensively, the Bulldogs made big stops and big shots that helped them pull away with the win outscoring the Warriors 41-32 in the second half to win the game 77-69.
Senior guard Amari Lee and junior guard Ethan Erickson, who came off the bench, made big-time contributions. Erickson scored 26 points, with 18 of those points coming in the second half and Lee added eight points off the bench. Lee’s assists showed up big for the Bulldogs, as he led the team with seven assists.
Erickson speaks on the bench’s big game and gives a shoutout to the starters and what they do making it a full team effort.
Erickson thought that both the starting and bench players were able to play cohesively in the win.
“It might have been our bench scoring but a lot of our starters are the ones setting the screens and getting us open,” Erickson said. “So, thanks to them.”
The team’s effort got them two wins at home, as they enter the last two weeks of regular season play. The team is getting healthier after injuries to Amari Lee and Ethan Erickson, who have since returned to play. The Bulldogs are still without junior forward Reece Hazelton, but the team’s health is trending in the right direction at the best time as the regular season ends.
Head coach Andy Bronkema says he likes the effort he saw from his team in moments from the game and wants to see more of it.
“In this homestand here, I didn’t think we played as hard in the first half as we did against Saginaw,” Bronkema said. “But in the second half, we played hard [and] we played smart. We’ve got this thing going now where the guys just are figuring out, ‘Oh that’s what it feels like, that’s what it feels like just to give everything I have and I have nothing left’ and that’s why it’s so important, so I want to continue that theme.”
Continuing that theme is what the Bulldogs hope to do, as they prepare to go on their final road trip of the regular season. Ferris will face off against rival Grand Valley State on Thursday, Feb. 22 with game time set at 8 p.m. The Bulldogs will continue their weekend on the road with a matchup against Davenport on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 3 p.m.