BLOG 43: Things just got a lot tougher for Bulldog men

By Sandy Gholston

Ferris State's Darien Gay handles the ball in Thursday's win over SVSU (Photo/Sandy Gholston)

BIG RAPIDS – Thursday’s devastating injury to star big man Justin Keenan, the leading scorer in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, puts Ferris State University’s men’s basketball team in a challenging position.

The Bulldogs worked hard to earn an 80-69 win over Saginaw Valley State, Thursday, in spite of playing most of the second half without the services of Keenan, whose status is unknown at this time as Ferris prepares to take on a red-hot Lake Superior State University team (coming off an 80-70 win over Grand Valley State University on Thursday) at 3 p.m. on Saturday in Jim Wink Arena.

Ferris, currently, is battling for positioning in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs (like a lot of other teams). As things stand today (Feb. 20), Ferris is solidly in the conference playoff field at 11-8. The Bulldogs are tied with Hillsdale for the fourth spot (with the tiebreaker going to the Chargers). But, a lot can change between now and the time the seeds are set in stone for the tournament.

Below the Bulldogs (in the standings), Northwood and Michigan Tech are 9-10 and below that Ashland, Wayne State, Saginaw Valley and Northern Michigan all still have realistic playoff aspirations.

Playing quite a bit without Keenan, Thursday night, head coach Bill Sall’s Bulldogs had other players step up in major ways as Josh Youn had a big game with 20 points, six rebounds and three assists. Ferris also had a nice contribution from Verdell Billingsley (playing with an injured wrist), who had 11 points and eight rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench. Darien Gay added 11 points and nine assists while senior forward Jason Holder had a strong game with nine points and 10 rebounds.

With the status of Keenan unknown, the Bulldogs will need team-wide contributions against an excellent Lake Superior team that is second in the conference at 15-4.

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