The Ferris State men’s basketball team split its weekend series on the road first losing to rival Grand Valley State on Feb. 22 and then defeating Davenport on Feb. 24.
Currently sitting as the number three seed in the GLIAC standings, the Bulldogs (20-7, 10-6 in GLIAC) are one game behind the second seed with just two games remaining on the schedule in the regular season.
This weekend, the Bulldogs hit the road with their first matchup against rival Grand Valley State (12-14, 9-7 in GLIAC), which ended in an 87-77 loss. The team could not complete the comeback to walk away with their regular season sweep over the Lakers. In the first half, the Bulldogs found themselves in a deficit as they trailed by 12 points at the half. In the second half of the game, the Bulldogs were able to outscore their opponent 41-39, which was not enough to get the win.
In the loss, head coach Andy Bronkema was not pleased with the slow start from the Bulldogs.
“We get off to bad starts against these guys,” Bronkema said. “You know if we could pinpoint it we would but we haven’t been able to so digging ourselves a hole and then you know probably what I would like to see a little bit more is just somebody putting their foot down and doing the next right thing and just stopping the run a little bit short.”
The Bulldogs got a chance to fix their bad start, as they transitioned to their next game, as they took on the Davenport Panthers (9-17, 4-12 in GLIAC) in a 75-64 win.
It was a much better performance defensively in the first half for the Bulldogs in this matchup, as they held the Panthers to 27 first-half points, on 10-for-25 shooting from the field and 4-for-14 from three-point range.
The Bulldogs were able to out-rebound their opponents 41 -34 and won the turnover battle 11-15 with 11 points off turnovers. Offensively, the team struggled from three-point range going 4-for-16 from three but was able to get to the free-throw line and capitalize as they went 25-for-27.
In the win, Bronkema liked the team’s defensive effort even though they struggled on offense.
“Our shots weren’t falling. We still played hard on defense,” Bronkema said. “I think that’s a hard thing to do in basketball, guys are usually energized by the basketball, we always say it has healing powers, but we didn’t see shots go in and we still played great defense that was kind of our message at halftime keep that up and we were able to keep it up in the second half.”
Late in the game, the Panthers took the lead with 2:45 remaining in the game, but the Bulldogs were able to make tough shots and crucial free throws down the final stretch of the game to pull off the win.
Bronkema noticed the Davenport run late in the game and gave a message to his team.
“We kind of let an eight to 10 points lead, and they took the lead,” Bronkema said. “You know went to an immediate timeout, looked them in the eye, and said ‘Hey, enough is enough.’ It was one of the first times where I just saw a full team and looked them in the eye and just knew we were going to be alright and it was a comfortable feeling for a coach.”
The Bulldogs now will be returning home for their last two games of the regular season and with a chance to end the regular season with two home wins and a possible chance to move into the number two seed in the GLIAC standings as the tournament approaches.
Senior forward DeSean Munson describes the opportunity the team has and a message to Bulldog nation.
“Having the chance to play beyond these last two home games is our biggest priority,” Munson said. “Not looking ahead or past opponents, so we need all Bulldog support at home next week to help us win and establish that momentum going into March.”
The Bulldogs return to Jim Wink Arena and will face off against Wisconsin-Parkside on Thursday, Feb. 29 with game time set for 7:30 p.m. and then a matchup with Purdue Northwest on Saturday, March 2 with game time set for 3:00 p.m.