By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com
MCPHERSON – For the first time in several seasons El Dorado showed up at the Roundhouse in McPherson with a team to match up with McPherson stride for stride and that they did on Friday before the Bullpups pulled out a 12-point, 80-68 home victory that was like a heavyweight slugfest.
After the Bullpups led by just one-point, 19-18 at the end of the first quarter, they were able to put a small cushion of six points between them and the Wildcats at 38-32 going into the halftime intermission.
Coming out of the break, McPherson added seven points to their lead in the third quarter before El Dorado played them one point better in an offensive explosion of a fourth quarter where the two teams put up 45 points total with the Bullpups holding on for the final 12-point win.
Despite the high scoring game, the Bullpups seemed to dominate the stat sheets as they out shot the Wildcats 52% to 43% from the field and held a commanding 15 rebound edge in the paint with 41 rebounds to just 26 for El Dorado, including a solid 14 offensive, second-chance opportunity rebounds for the Bullpups.
Both teams were whistled often by the officials as they combined for 43 personal fouls and 53 free throws.
El Dorado came in with talent unlike they have had for a while and it showed as four Wildcats combined for 62 of their 68 points with LJ Berkstresser hitting for 20 while Jeremiah Kemboi had 15, Barry Summers had 14 and Jaydon Sundgren put up 13.
It was a true team effort for the Bullpups as they recorded 18 assists on their 29 field goals made.
Leading the Bullpup offensive attack was senior Seth Madron who nearly had a double with a team leading 18 points and nine rebounds to go with three assists, three steals and a pair of blocked shots.
Also reaching double digits in the scorebook for McPherson was Mason Miller with 15, Cory Muehler with 12 and Kreighton Kanitz who had 11 before fouling out.
Miller also pulled down seven rebounds and blocked a pair of shots while dishing out a large majority of the team assists were Muehler along with Gabe and Owen Pyle as they each dished out four.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR BULLPUPS?
The win evens the season record for the Bullpups at 2-2 as they now prep for a big road trip on Saturday to Kansas City where they will battle with Basehor-Linwood.
El Dorado at MCPHERSON BULLPUPS
SCORING: 1 2 3 4 FINAL
El Dorado 18 14 13 23 68
BULLPUPS 19 19 20 22 80
TEAM STATS: El Dorado BULLPUPS
Shooting 23/54 (43%) 29/56 (52%)
3-Pointers 6/20 (30%) 7/13 (54%)
Free Throws 16/25 (64%) 15/28 (54%)
Rebounds (Off/Def) 26 (9/17) 41 (14/27)
Assists 7 18
Turnovers 13 18
Steals 8 9
Blocked Shots 0 2
Personal Fouls 21 22
MCPHERSON BULLPUPS INDIVIDUAL SCORING & STAT LEADERS:
Scoring (80 Total Points): Seth Madron – 18; Mason Miller – 15; Cory Muehler – 12; Kreighton Kanitz – 11; Owen Pyle – 8; Gabe Pyle – 6; Braeden Ediger – 5; Dawson Feil – 5.
Three-Pointers Made (7): Owen Pyle, Cory Muehler – 2; Kreighton Kanitz, Dawson Feil, Gabe Pyle – 1.
Rebound Leaders: Seth Madron – 9; Mason Miller – 7; Gabe Pyle, Kreighton Kanitz – 4; Cory Muehler, Dawson Feil, Sam Becker – 3.
Assist Leader: Gabe Pyle, Cory Muehler, Owen Pyle – 4; Seth Madron – 3.
Leader in Steals: Seth Madron, Owen Pyle – 3.
Leader in Blocked Shots: Seth Madron, Mason Miller – 2.