LIBERTY, Mo. - The William Jewell men's basketball team got 27 points from its bench on Saturday to slip past McKendree University, 64-60 in Great Lakes Valley Conference action for their first win over the Bearcats since 2022. Jewell improves to 8-7 overall and 4-3 while the Bearcats, who are receiving votes in the national poll, fall to 11-4 and 4-3 in conference play. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After the Cardinals got off to a slow start offensively Ashton Jermain kept Jewell in the game with back-to-back three pointers to go from down seven to within one before Bradley Lighbourne's free throw knotted things up. McKendree outscored the Cardinals 20-13 over the next 11-plus minutes but Jermain again came up big hitting two more triples in the final 56 seconds to make it 31-28 at the half, in favor of the Bearcats. 
• Jewell came out of the intermission and immediately threw a punch, going on an 18-4 run, led by four three pointers from three different players, to take a 46-35 lead midway through. The Cardinals maintained a double-digit lead until late as the McKendree defense turned things up a notch and held Jewell scoreless for more than two minutes as they chipped away and eventually tied the game at 58-all. Jermain, Justice Sutton, and Kanuakyi Gudza connected on six free throws in the final 45 seconds to secure the four-point win.  

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Jermain finished with a career high 21 points on 5-of-7 from three point land while Kyle Scharbrough added 13 points. 
• Isaac Patterson grabbed a team high six rebounds with Gudza dishing out six assists. 
• The Cardinals forced McKendree into a season high 18 turnovers which led to 17 points. 

UP NEXT
Jewell is on the road next weekend for two key GLVC match ups at UIndy on Thursday followed by a stop at Lewis University at Saturday afternoon.