OLATHE, Kan. – Entering Tuesday night's game inside the Bell Family Arena the tale of the tape would put No. 5 Rogers State and No. 16 MidAmerica Nazarene as an early season championship bout of sorts. When the final bell tolled it was the Hillcats standing over the Pioneers, 98-86.
In the first half the two teams traded jabs with nine ties and seven lead changes. No team led by more than seven points in the opening 20 minutes and Rogers State held the halftime lead 45-43.
Six minutes into the second stanza a Ken Holdman field goal stretched the RSU lead to 68-57, as the Hillcats held a double-digit lead for the next 12:30 of the contest.
MNU's Jacob French connected behind the arc with 1:35 remaining to cut the RSU advantage to 90-83. Coach Justin Barkley's squad went 8-of-8 from behind the arc in the closing minute of play to hold on for the 98-86 victory.
Five Hillcats totaled double-digit scoring led by Donald Williams with 25 points. The senior guard totaled 20 points in the second half as he hit 5-of-7 from behind the arc in the affair. Kendrell Thompson added 20 points for the contest as Justyn n Hammond came off the bench for 17. Ken Holdman finished with 16 points while freshman J.C. Hartzler had a career high 11 points and nabbed five steals.
RSU shot 57.9 percent from the field for the night while connecting on 58.8 percent from 3-point range. The sharp shooting continued when the Hillcats went to the charity stripe as they hit 78.6 percent for the game.
French had a game high 26 points for the Pioneers as MNU had three others finish with double-digit points. MidAmerica Nazarene (5-1) shot 54.8 percent from the field and made 5-of-12 from behind the arc.
The win was the 50th of third year Hillcat head coach Justin Barkley moving his career record to 50-21.
Rogers State (4-0) travels to San Antonio, Texas for the Halo Classic this Friday and Saturday facing Our Lady of the Lake and St. Thomas. Live play-by-play coverage will be provided at www.rsuhillcats.com/live.
