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All-KCAC Honors | Weekly
KCAC Honors
Men finish 19-10, tie for fourth in KCAC
A five game skid down the stretch put a damper on what had appeared to be a special season for the Bulldogs. McPherson opened its 2004-2005 season going 7-1 in the month of November, with wins at Johnson & Wales University in Denver plus road wins over Southwestern Christian, Mid-America Christian, and Central Christian College. The only blemish on the November portion of the season was a 67-63 loss to York on the second day of the McPherson Classic.
Senior Brian Hooks joined teammate Roy McDonald as members of the Bulldogs’ 1,000 point club on November 20 when he scored 18 points in the Dogs’ 76-67 win over Mid-America Christian in the Southwestern Christian Classic. That made Hooks the 17th male in McPherson College basketball history to score 1,000 or more points.
A 2-2 split marked December and the opening of the Bulldogs’ KCAC schedule, and sent McPherson into the holiday break with a 9-3 overall record.
Returning from a break of almost a month, the Bulldogs put together a five-game win streak to move their overall record to 14-3, before an upset loss in Leavenworth against the University of Saint Mary slowed their momentum. Home court wins over Bethany and Bethel plus a second win over Kansas Wesleyan moved McPherson to 9-3 in the conference race and into a tie for KCAC lead with six games remaining on the conference slate.
But back-to-back wins of three and one points over Bethel and KWU seemed to take the legs out from under the Dogs as they fell for the first time ever to Central Christian College on the final day of January.
The loss to CCC seemed to sap the confidence of the Bulldogs and set a tone for the next two weeks. Road losses at Tabor, Ottawa and Southwestern sandwiched a one-point Sport Center loss to Sterling. Now, 9-7 in the KCAC and 17-9 overall, the Bulldogs were facing for the first time the real possibility of a play-in game in the KCAC post-season tournament or at least a road game in the quarterfinals. To avoid either of those scenarios, McPherson had to win-out, and then get some help by having one or more of the teams ahead of them in the conference standings stumble in the final week.
The Bulldogs took care of their part with wins over Friends and Saint Mary. Combined with a Bethany loss the final night of the regular season, McPherson came away with the #4 seed and a first round, home court berth in the conference post-season tournament.
11-7 in KCAC play, good for a fourth place tie, the Bulldogs entered the post-season 19-9 overall. After going 20-10 in 2003-2004, the Dogs’ 39 wins over last year and this was the best two-season total in school history, and the Dogs entered the playoffs with the chance to become the first McPherson men’s team to put together two 20-win seasons, back-to-back.
Hosting Bethany in the quarterfinal round, McPherson fell behind midway through the second half, and while getting a couple of good looks in the final seconds of the contest, both shots fell away and the Bulldogs saw their season end as they fell to their intra-county rivals by one, 73-72, ending their year 19-10.
Brian Hooks (14.1 pts, 6.5 rebs, 2.5 assts) led the Bulldogs post-season honors as he was a unanimous first team All-KCAC selection by the conference’s coaches. Roy McDonald (11.9 pts, 4.7 rebs, 3.0 assts, 2.0 steals) was named to the all-conference honorable mention squad for the third time while junior Lee Gustafson (13.4 pts, 8.2 rebs) was also an honorable mention selection.
McDonald concluded his collegiate career with 1,393 points, and Hooks with 1,339, to finish as the #7 and #8, respectively, all-time career leading scorers in McPherson College history. McDonald set a new McPherson school record for career assists as he ended his season with 432, three more than Jonathan Coachman’s record of 429 set between 1992 and 1995. McDonald and Hooks both passed the previous record for career games played (112) as McDonald played in 117 games, and Hooks 116, during their four years in the red and white of McPherson College.
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