Ferris State Stays Unbeaten In GLIAC Play With Hard-Fought Home Win Over Davenport

Postgame Interview 

Big Rapids, Mich. - The nation's fourth-ranked Ferris State University men's basketball team faced a stiff challenge on Saturday (Jan. 11) from Davenport, but managed to keep its perfect Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) mark intact as FSU pulled out a 74-68 win inside Jim Wink Arena.

Davenport jumped out to an eight-point lead less than five minutes into the game and held a 34-32 edge at halftime before the Bulldogs fought back and ended up outscoring the Panthers 42-34 over the final 20 minutes for the win.

Ferris State is now 16-1 overall and remains on top of the GLIAC standings with a 6-0 league record.

The Bulldogs shot 42.9% from the floor, but were only six-of-19 (31.6%) from the three-point line. However, FSU also went 20-of-26 (76.9%) at the free throw line and made several critical tries late from the charity stripe to put the game away.

Senior guard Ethan Erickson and junior guard Tyler Hamilton both finished with 14 points each for the Bulldogs while junior center Nathan Claerbaut had 13 points and freshman Jaxson Whitaker netted 10 points off the bench. FSU also got eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds from junior Mykel Bingham.

The Bulldogs won the rebounding battle by a 41-29 margin and pulled down 13 offensive caroms, leading to a 15-6 edge in second chance scoring. FSU also came up with nine steals and three blocked shots.

On the flip side, Davenport shot 44.6% for the day and went six-of-20 (30.0%) behind the three-point arc in addition to 12-of-21 (57.1%) at the free throw line. Jovan Tucker led DU with a game-high 24 points and Matyas Vrabel contributed 12 points in the setback as the Panthers dropped to 5-9 overall and 1-5 in the GLIAC.

Along with Bingham's 11 rebounds, the Bulldogs also got six boards from senior Kenny Turner. The trio of seniors Deng Reng and Jimmy Scholler along with Claerbaut all added five boards apiece. Scholler also dished out six assists as FSU totaled 18 in the game,

The game featured nine lead changes and the score was tied nine times overall.

Ferris State concluded a four-game homestand, going 4-0 to start the New Year at Wink Arena. FSU will visit Parkside on Thursday (Jan. 16) evening for a conference matchup before taking on Purdue Northwest on Saturday (Jan. 18) on the road.