BLOG 38: Big weekend for Bulldog men on the hardwood

By Sandy Gholston

Ferris State University basketball player Austin Randel dribbles the ball during an early-season game against Hillsdale (Photo/Sandy Gholston)

BIG RAPIDS – Ferris State University had an impressive weekend on the hardwood in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference … during one of the toughest road trips of the season.

The Bulldog men’s basketball team traveled to the Upper Peninsula to face Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech and traveled back across the Mackinac Bridge two wins richer. Ferris claimed an 87-81 win over Northern, on Thursday, and an 86-80 victory over Tech on Saturday to improve to 11-8 overall and 9-5 in the GLIAC.

It was a near-flawless road trip for the Bulldogs who needed the two wins to dull the sting of the 80-65 loss to Northwood (Jan. 24) that prevented Ferris from earning five wins in all five games of its most recent homestand.

It was impressive the way Ferris responded on the road trip playing against two hungry teams hoping to protect their home court. The Bulldogs needed to stay ahead of Tech and Northern in the standings and keep within a game of Grand Valley State (which also swept the U.P. trip with wins over Tech and Northern) in the standings.

Against NMU, it was nice to see the Bulldogs’ two sharpshooters from the perimeter in Austin Randel and Matt DeHart get going. Both shooters knocked down 3-of-5 attempts from outside of the 3-point line as DeHart totaled 13 points and Randel added 11. That outside shooting opens things up for Justin Keenan in the middle. Keenan finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

Against Tech, the Bulldogs again were strong from outside of the long line as Randel hit 4-of-6 and Darien Gay canned 4-of-4 from deep. Keenan led the Bulldogs with 26 points, Darien Gay added 22 and Randel was in double digits with 14 points.

It was an outstanding road trip for the Bulldogs who continue to play much-improved ball. Ferris is at Hillsdale on Thursday and Findlay on Saturday.

If you have any questions, ideas or comments feel free to contact Sandy Gholston at sgholston2@netzero.com