Second-Half Rally Falls Short For Ferris State In Men's Basketball Senior Night Setback

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's basketball team rallied in the second half, but it was not enough as visiting Hillsdale held on for a 88-70 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) victory over the Bulldogs on Thursday (Feb. 18) inside FSU's Jim Wink Arena.

The Chargers jumped out to an early double-digit advantage and led 47-30 at halftime behind the hot shooting of sophomore guard Stedman Lowry, who knocked down 24 points and hit seven three's in the opening half of play.

However, after Hillsdale pushed the margin to as many as 20 points less than two minutes into the second half, the Bulldogs rallied. FSU cut the deficit down to only six points at 69-63 on a three-point shot by senior guard Jibreel Jackson inside of five minutes remaining.

But, the Chargers responded with back-to-back baskets offensively followed by a pair of free throws to push the margin back to 13 points and FSU could not recover down the stretch in falling to 19-7 overall and 13-7 in the GLIAC.

The Bulldogs did a better job on Lowry in the second half as he scored only five points the rest of the way, but the Chargers got 12 second-half points from the GLIAC's leading scorer in Kyle Cooper to help offset the difference.

Along with Lowry's game-high 29 points, Cooper added 19 points and 10 rebounds in a double-double showing while Nate Neveau added 14 points off the bench and Jason Pretzer totaled 10 points to go with eight rebounds.

Behind the first-half shooting of Lowry, the Chargers hit on 51% of their shots overall, including a 12-of-26 (46.2%) effort beyond the three-point stripe. They went 16-of-18 (88.9%) at the free throw line in improving to 15-9 overall and 11-9 in the GLIAC with their third-straight win.

Ferris State, which celebrated Senior Night in conjunction with the final regular-season home game, was paced by junior guard Quentin Ruff, who netted 19 points on six-of-eight shooting in addition to hitting five-of-seven tries from downtown.

Ruff was joined in double-figures by senior forward James Chappell, who had 13 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out a squad-high six assists. Fellow senior center Jared Stolicker added 10 points and eight boards with five blocked shots.

In addition to Chappell and Stolicker, the squad's two other seniors also were honored prior to the game in forward Josh Fleming and Jackson. Fleming scored nine points while Jackson added six points in the setback. Together, the senior quartet has the Bulldogs only a single win away from posting back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since the late 1980's at FSU.

Overall, the Bulldogs shot 39.4% from the floor and went nine-of-22 (40.9%) from three-point range along with nine-of-11 (81.8%) at the free throw line.

Hillsdale owned a 39-31 rebounding edge and pulled down nine offensive boards as both teams finished with 10 second chance points. It was also close in the paint where HC totaled 32 points to 30 for the Bulldogs.

Ferris State managed to force 13 Hillsdale turnovers and had only eight of its own, leading to a decisive 16-2 margin in points off turnovers. As a result, FSU also had 10 blocked shots and eight steals with Hillsdale netting six steals and two blocks. The Chargers dished out 22 assists, including a game-high eight from point guard Zach Miller, to 19 for the Bulldogs.

Ferris State will hit the road on Saturday (Feb. 20) as FSU visits divsional leader Saginaw Valley 
State for a 8 p.m. (ET) league tilt in University Center, Mich. The game will be carried live on Sunny 97.3 FM and the Bulldog Sports Network online at FerrisStateBulldogs.com.

Following the trip to SVSU, the Bulldogs will then visit archrival Grand Valley State for their season 
finale next Thursday (Feb. 25) night in Allendale.