Championship Ferris State Men's Basketball Season Ends In NCAA D2 Midwest Region Semifinals

Postgame Highlights 
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Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's basketball season had its season come to a close in the NCAA Division II National Tournament on Saturday (March 12) as the Bulldogs suffered a 90-74 setback to Hillsdale in the Midwest Region Semifinals held in North Canton, Ohio.

The Chargers used a 30-point performance from standout forward Patrick Cartier and limited FSU to a four-of-24 (16.7%) three-point shooting figure in notching the win to advance to the regional final.

FSU finished its season with a 22-9 overall record with the Bulldogs earning their first national tournament win since the 2018 national championship run by beating Findlay on Friday prior to the setback. The Bulldogs also claimed the GLIAC Championship this year and reached the national tourney for the sixth time in the past eight years.

Four seniors ended their Bulldog careers with Walt Kelser totaling a team-high 19 points. Fellow senior Dorian Aluyi added 16 points and 11 boards in a double-double effort. Two other Bulldogs also concluded their collegiate careers in senior big man Logan Ryan along with graduate senior guard Lee Higgins and all four were all-conference honorees this campaign.

Along with Kelser and Aluyi, FSU's Ben Davidson added 11 points but was the only other FSU player to reach double-fugue scoring. Overall, FSU shot 42.9% from the floor and also went 10-of-15 (66.7%) at the free throw stripe.

The Bulldogs built an early 11-4 edge, but a 14-4 Hillsdale run gave the Chargers the lead and FSU had to play catchup from that point forward. The Bulldogs trailed 41-34 at halftime, but cut the margin back to a single point in the second half before Hillsdale pulled away at the end.

The Chargers finished shooting 51.6% overall and made nine-of-24 (37.5%) three's to go with 17-of-21 (81%) free throws. Hillsdale also posted a 39-36 rebounding margin and had 13 turnovers to 11 for FSU. HC finished with a 21-11 advantage in points off turnovers.

With the win, Hillsdale improved to 22-7 on the year and avenged a decisive early-season setback to the Bulldogs in November.

This year marked the second time in school history in which both the Bulldog men's and women's basketball teams made the NCAA Tournament in the same campaign and the first in which both teams played in the tourney in the same year as the previous occurrence was in 2020 when the tourney was cancelled due to COVID-19.