Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

Bearcats power past Lindenwood

They turn to their inside game to take over in second half

LEBANON -- Lindenwood University coach Brad Soderberg's worst fears were realized Wednesday in the Lions' game against McKendree University.

Possessing a decided height advantage but holding just a 33-32 lead at intermission, the Bearcats turned to their inside game in the second half, a strategy that helped produce a 73-62 victory over the Lions in a matchup of two top-12 teams in the NAIA Division I poll.

"We run this little inside game, and everybody knows we do. They double-down (defensively) and sometimes we're deliberate getting it in there," McKendree coach Harry Statham said. "We did it against Trinity (International), and we knew (Lindenwood) saw that. We were trying not to do that the first half.

"But we thought, 'We can pound it in there because we're bigger than they are.' We went inside a lot more the last half. (Sean) Rakers was good in there and (Kenny) Detmer was good in there."

Detmer, a 6-foot-7 senior from Aviston, finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. The 6-6 Rakers, a sophomore from New Baden, had 15 points off the bench and sophomore Karrington Pettiford had 14 points in a reserve role.

McKendree's size advantage helped it reach the free-throw line 24 times in the second half, and it connected on 18.

"It's exactly what I was concerned about," said Soderberg, in his first year at Lindenwood after stints at Wisconsin and St. Louis University. "I knew their strength --aside from (Eric) Hobbie, who I thought we did a good job on --was they're big and strong and (have) veterans down there.

"Needless to say, Harry's system is excellent. He knows how to get the ball to his good players down in the post. They're a good team."

Overall, the fifth-ranked Bearcats (2-0) were 23-for-32 from the free-throw line and outrebounded the 12th-ranked Lions (0-1) 41-35.

Lindenwood was unable to score for the first 7 minutes, 36 seconds of the second half. They endured a stretch of 8:45 without a basket.

"The thing that came back again was the struggle to score," Soderberg said. "I remember that from both SLU and Wisconsin. Sometimes it was really hard to score. But I was pleased with the way we defended in light of the fact that this was the first time they've run a system that was new to them."

McKendree scored the first 11 points of the second half to take a 44-32 lead. Pettiford had a three-point play and Rakers had a baseline jumper to give the Bearcats' their 12-point lead.

The lead grew to 55-38 with 9:16 left on back-to-back baskets by Rakers. Lindenwood was no closer than eight (55-47) from that point.

"This was definitely a huge test," said Rakers, who was 6-for-8 from the field. "We were all aware of (Soderberg's) credentials and how much success he had at SLU. Just in the last week, I've been hearing how excited they were to play us. That definitely motivated us."

Junior Richard Rose led the Lions with 17 points. Senior Toriano Adams had 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Lindenwood slapped McKendree with a 9-0 run in a span of 1:21 to grab a 19-10 lead with 10:13 to play in the first half. Junior David King drove through an undefended lane for a slam dunk, and Rose followed with a three-point play to give the Lions their nine-point lead.

McKendree responded with a 16-5 surge to move ahead 26-25. Pettiford hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to draw the Bearcats within 19-16, and Rakers finished off the drive with consecutive baskets --a layup and a short turnaround jumper.

The Bearcats went ahead 32-27 on a 3-pointer by Hobbie, a basket in the lane by Rakers and a free throw by Detmer. The Lions scored the next five points to tie the game before Detmer's free throw with 39.3 seconds left in the half put McKendree up 33-32 at the break.