March 16, 2025
Ferris State men’s basketball team falls to UMSL in tight NCAA DII Tournament opener
The Ferris State University men's basketball team’s season come to a close on Saturday as the Bulldogs suffered a 81-79 setback to University of Missouri-St. Louis in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournament.
The Tritons, who were seeded fourth overall, topped the fifth-seeded Bulldogs in the neutral site encounter in Springfield, Illinois to reach the regional semifinals.
The defending regional champion, Ferris State closed the year with a 25-9 record. The game also marked the final contests for five Bulldog seniors who helped lead Ferris State to the NCAA Tournament each of the past four years.
In Saturday's matchup, UMSL jumped in front early and took a double-digit lead in the opening half. The Bulldogs eventually trimmed down the margin and tied up the game in the second half at 47 points apiece. Missouri-St. Louis responded with an 11-3 run and pushed the advantage back to double-digits.
The game was not over, however. Bulldog senior guard Ethan Erickson, a Business Administration major, engineered a valiant comeback and eventually helped Ferris State pull within a possession. UMSL closed out the game and held on for the win.
Erickson, from Grand Rapids, totaled a team-high 24 points in his final collegiate game while going five-of-nine from the three-point arc. Fellow senior Reece Hazelton, a Master of Business Administration major, added 11 points and a squad-high seven rebounds while junior Tyler Hamilton, a Marketing major, recorded 10 points in the game.
UMSL got 25 points from Matt Enright in the win. Four Missouri-St. Louis players reached double-figure scoring. The opposition shot 58.3% from the floor and managed to make eight-of-18 (44.4 percent) three's along with 17-of-24 (70.8 percent) free throws.
On the Bulldog side, Ferris State shot 46.8 percent from the field and made 13-of-27 (48.1 percent) three-point tries in addition to eight-of-12 (66.7 percent) free throws.
The Bulldogs were also outrebounded 31-29 for the game and UMSL's 15 turnovers were four more than FSU's total of 11 miscues.
Along with making the program's fourth-straight national tournament appearance, the Bulldogs also reached the NCAA Tourney for the ninth time in the last 11 years.