MBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[wc4252]

I'll go with

Bluffton
Franklin
Hanover
AU

[zander]

MSJ
Rose
Hanover
Defiance

[Jackets Backer]

Bluffton

Rose

Hanover

If Anderson and Defiance were playing anywhere else I'd go with the Ravens. I'll say Jackets ride the homecourt advantage and avenge loss to Ravens.

[dc_has_been]

Big day in Defiance!  I'm back on their bandwagon after the Bluffton loss just like I am everyweek when they lose during Football season.  My wife always asks me why I enjoy sports so much when all it does is make me upset . 

[cave2bens]

Big day in Defiance!  I'm back on their bandwagon after the Bluffton loss just like I am everyweek when they lose during Football season.  My wife always asks me why I enjoy sports so much when all it does is make me upset . 

"Because I can" - coupled with the insidious "whatever," provides an effective counterbalance to the "k" factor (constant) of feminine unpredictability.     +k for self-assessed honesty - LMAO!

Oh my, Buzz  .  Anderson as a pick?    A four-letter alias is too short to substitute for "Murphy", so is there some insider info unshared with our local scribe, JB? 

Here's to the local hornets taking a page from the behavioral, genetic playbook of their Africanized cousins and swarming the black birds - Focus all 40, Jackets, and close the deal!

[Darryl Nester]

Bluffton over MSJ, 77-63.

For the Beavers:  Hill with 27, Fisher 18, Farley 14 (plus 8 rebounds and 5 blocks).
For MSJ: Huffman 17, McCord 12, Faust 10.  (Leading scorer Michael Romes was left the game in the 2nd half in obvious pain, with 6 points.)

[Darryl Nester]

Defiance downs Anderson, 91-75.
Franklin over RHIT, 62-59.
Hanover over Transy, 68-65.

Two close games, two double-digit wins.

[cave2bens]

Defiance-Anderson was really tight until about eight minutes left when zebras missed several obvious calls in a row - to Anderson's benefit.    Rather than packing it in, the Jackets responded with a couple of threes from downtown, a couple of slams, and then never looked back. 

[Buzz]

Well as the dust settles on another exciting night of HCAC hoops, the tourney field is really taking shape with the top six teams distancing themselves from the bottom three of MSJ, RH and Bluffton.

Franklin gets 21 points, 7 rebounds and 4 helpers from Clay Starrett, including a couple big FT's to ice the 62-59 win at Rose.

Bluffton gets 27 from Mychal Hill, as the soph. guard is netting 19.6 per over his last five. Beavers win 77-63 over MSJ, but can they sustain this with four of their last six on the road?

Hanover 68-65 over Transy for their third-straight W. The Panthers hit 13-of-22 from deep and are really playing well..but 1-4 on the road in league play.

And the big game of the night had the Hive rocking as Defiance used a 24-6 run late in the second to end No. 10 Anderson's 14-game streak and hand the Ravens their first HCAC setback. The Jackets finally put together 40 strong minutes to earn a signature victory 91-75.

So, updated HCAC standings...

Anderson 9-1
Defiance 6-4
Hanover 6-4
Transy 6-4
Manchester 5-4
Franklin 5-4
-------------------
MSJ 3-7
Rose-Hulman 2-8
Bluffton 2-8

And our pick-em standings after 3-1 showings from Buzz, DC Backer and WC and a 2-2 night for Zander

Buzz 18-6
DC Backer 16-8
WC 8-5
Has Been 3-2
Indy 5-4
Zander 2-2

I wish the DC v Hanover game on Saturday tipped right now. Should be a very fun double-dip on Saturday with 2nd-place up for grabs in the women's and men's contests.

[Buzz]

Darryl - Any guess as to what Romes injury was? That could be devestating for MSJ. Hopefully it is something he can get back from fairly quickly!

[dc_has_been]

What a day!  It was my daughter's first bday which was a success & DC takes down the Ravens!!!   I'm still hoping they maintain & take the #2 spot going into the tourny. 
Another win for the Beavers!  I want everyone to pay attention to the scores when they play at home.  IMO they are a tough team to play at their place.

[Darryl Nester]

Darryl - Any guess as to what Romes injury was? That could be devestating for MSJ. Hopefully it is something he can get back from fairly quickly!

There was no obvious incident that led to the injury--he was clearly in lots of pain, though.  The trainers appeared to be working on his knees before he left the floor. Perhaps someone from MSJ can fill in the details?

[BUBeaverFan]

Fear the Beavers!   

It has been a very rough year for the Beavers, getting even a couple of wins to close out the season will give the underclassmen and Coach Neal something to build on for next year.

[Jackets Backer]

Gotta agree, Bluffton is not what their record indicates. The Fisher kid will be a major force in the HCAC.

Another big one for the Jackets Saturday with Hanover in town. They've played DC tough the last three meetings with Miller coming in with great game plans. Hanover's kind of junked those meetings up and slowed the pace to a snails crawl. Who can get the tenor in their favor will come out on top. DC's been great at home, but Hanover's well coached and playing really well. Should be a good one.

Buzz, you've got to be taking some heat like Cave said after picking against the hometown Jackets!!!! Ouch. I'm going to make my move in the pickem Saturday.

[Buzz]

haha, yeah, I definitely missed that one, but I said if Defiance put it all together for 40 minutes, the Jackets could pull the upset. That's exactly what happened. DC had an outstanding gameplan coming in, got a total team effort, attacked the AU bigs, played physical, stayed poised and didn't lose focus for the entire 40 minutes. DC needs to match that performance the rest of the way, and if they do...it will be a very fun ride for fans of the Purple and Gold.

Couple of side notes...

Nick Sales reached the 1,200-point plateau last night. He's played in the shadow of Anthony Pettaway most of his career but is cementing his own legacy this year. In a few more games, he'll be just one of five players in DC history to have 1,200 points and 800 rebounds. He's currently at 746 boards with at least six games left. I guess that's not a lock, but give him at least one HCAC Tourney game, and he just needs to average 7.7 per...his career clip is 7.5 per night and is getting 7.9 per contest this season...so it's within reach.

If Saturday's second-place showdown with former mentor Jon Miller and his red-hot Hanover squad was not enough to talk about, the Jackets will be going for win #1,300 in the history of the program. 1,299 wins to 827 losses for a .611 winning %.