Bulldogs’ high scoring output pushes them to victory

Season-high 94-point performance propels Bulldogs past Storm

Junior Tyler Hamilton goes up for a shot in front of two Storm defenders. Abe Kraus | Torch Photographer

Ferris State men’s basketball picks up their third win of the year behind a season-high 94-point outburst.

The No. 25 Ferris State Bulldogs (3-1) took down the Lake Erie College Storm (1-1) by the score of 94-72 to finish out the GMAC/GLIAC crossover.

Ferris was more than efficient on offense, shooting a season-best 57.4% from the field (35/61) and putting up a season-high 94 points.

Lake Erie is a team whose full-court presses and makes teams uncomfortable, forcing the Bulldogs to turn the ball over 19 times.

This playstyle came as a surprise to head coach Andy Bronkema, who has never seen the Storm play defense like that and had to switch the gameplan at the morning shootaround on Saturday.

Head coach Andy Bronkema was pleased with how his team handled the switch.

“I am proud of our team for being able to win games in different ways,” Bronkema said. “We were able to get a lot of easy looks once we broke the press and got behind them.”

The first half for the Bulldogs was an extremely efficient one, Ferris shot 60% from the field (21/35) and held the Storm to 37.5% (12-32). After a few early turnovers, the Bulldogs were able to hone it in offensively and score 52 points, which ties a season-high for Ferris. 

Lake Erie was able to stick with the Bulldogs for a lot of the half but the Ferris offense was too much near the end and the Bulldogs took a 52-39 point lead into halftime. 

The second half was much of the same, after starting the half with a few quick baskets, Lake Erie strung together a couple of possessions to shorten the Ferris lead. 

However, that did not last long, as the Bulldog offense began to break the Storm’s press with ease and get easy looks at the rim.

Ferris had four scorers in double digits. Senior guard Ethan Erickson led all scorers with 21, and junior guard Tyler Hamilton was next in line with 14.

The Bulldogs will return home this Wednesday at home versus the Lewis University Flyers. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.