The Beloit College men's basketball team lost a non-conference matchup to MSOE 94-75 Wednesday evening in Flood Arena. The Raiders are picked to win the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference crown this season.
The Buccaneers jumped out to a 15-5 lead early bolstered by back-to-back three-pointers from
Mason Jones and
Michael Polakoski off assists from
Andrew Walters and
Darin Empereur respectively. The Raiders whittled away at the lead warming up offensively as the first wore on. Beloit re-captured the lead, 36-35, with less than two minutes left but a technical foul put MSOE on the line and gave them possession for a four-point swing. The Raiders hit the final jumper of the half for a 41-36 lead at intermission.
Tristan Shoup took over the Bucs' offense to open the second half scoring the first nine points for Beloit to tie the game, 45-45, with 15:39 left to play. From that point, MSOE knocked down three straight threes in less than two minutes to take a 54-45 lead with under 14 minutes to go.
Mason Jones nailed a three for the Bucs to stop the Raiders' run but MSOE's lights-out shooting from that point on extended the lead and sealed the win.
The Raiders shot a blistering 67-percent (20-30) from the floor and hit 8-12 (67%) from three-point range in the second half. Beloit hit 14-31 (45%) from the field but struggled from downtown hitting 5-16 (31%). For the game, MSOE shot 55-percent from the floor and made half of their long range jumpers while Beloit shot 43-percent from the floor and 39-percent from deep.
Shoup and Walters led the Bucs with 18 points each. The pair were efficient offensively each knocking down at least 50-percent of their shots Wednesday. Walters made it a double-double adding 12 boards while dishing out a team-high four assists and recording two steals. Jones joined his teammates in double figures with 11 points bolstered by 5-6 from the charity stripe and added six rebounds.
Up Next: Beloit returns to Flood Arena for their final two games of 2019 hosting UW-Whitewater Wednesday followed by Alma Friday.
