MBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Rose Basketball]

Earlham 70, Rose-Hulman 62

Rose: (4-5) Bednarko 16, Bibb 12, Yarachefski 12.

Earlham: (2-5) Henry 15, Welsh 14, Gregory 14, Collins 11

[Rose Basketball]

Rose-Hulman 70, Cincinnati-Clermont 60.

TERRE HAUTE, IND. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology improved to 5-5 on the men's basketball season with a 70-60 victory over Cincinnati-Clermont on Monday night at Hulbert Arena.

Senior Brian Bibb (Hoopeston, Ill.) led a pair of Engineers in double figures with 17 points and nine rebounds.  Junior Jared Moore (Indianapolis/Perry Meridian) added 11 points, six rebounds and five assists.

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/sports/mbasket/07msum10.htm

[fanofbeavers]

Dec. 19  Mount St. Joseph at Capital  7:00 PM  - Capital Wins
              Illinois Wesleyan at Hanover  7:30 PM - Illinois Wesleyan Wins


Thoughts on tonights games?

Dec. 20  Tri-State at Rose-Hulman  7:30 PM 
              Bluffton at Carnegie Mellon  7:00 PM 
              Transylvania at Centre  7:30 PM 
              Manchester at Washington & Jefferson (W&J Tourny)  8:00 PM

[Rose Basketball]

Dec. 20  Tri-State at Rose-Hulman  7:30 PM 
              Bluffton at Carnegie Mellon  7:00 PM 
              Transylvania at Centre  7:30 PM 
              Manchester at Washington & Jefferson (W&J Tourny)  8:00 PM

Because I am not familiar with Tri-State this season, I cannot accurately predict what will happen in tonight's contest.

I do know that Rose-Hulman is still a team trying to find itself. But, wednesday's contest did show signs of going in the right direction. Defensively, they are solid. As I have said before, if the Engineers can ever get some consistency on the offensive end, they will be a solid ballclub.Head Coach Jim Shaw has tinkered with the starting lineup a bit, in an attempt to find a combination that works.

With two more non-conference games on the slate before going to Defiance after Christmas, it is my hope that Rose uses those games to find the problems (turnovers, offensive production) that are bugging them thusfar. This team has the potential to do good things in the HCAC, but it's left to be determined if they can put it all together and make a run. It certainly won't be easy.

[Darryl Nester]

I was on the road for most of the day, but checking the 'Net from my sister's house, I see the HCAC went 2-2 tonight:
Bluffton over CMU, 69-65
Manchester over W&J, 59-57
TU fell to Centre, 54-56
RHIT fell to Tri-State, 60-53

[HCAC-TU]

Transy is just simply inconsistant and have no leaders on the floor.  Had something of a 5 point lead with just under a minute to go, then down at the end and didn't get a shot off.

Searle is back, playing well, but not enough for the Pioneers.  Searle and Feagan will still battle for an MVP of the conference award, but the guard play along with leadership might keep them from rolling the HCAC like they did last season.

They are capable, but will they find their swagger?

[Darryl Nester]

It's been pretty quiet in here for the past week, so I thought I'd at least note the results of the holiday tournaments:

Friday night:  DC, TU, BU, FC, and AU won; HC lost.
Saturday: DC, FC, BU, MSJ won
HC, TU, AU no report yet.

Wednesday night's BU/TU matchup should be exciting.  The Beavers have won 10 straight, but Transy is playing tough, and have taken 7 in a row from Bluffton.

(update) I forgot to add that RHIT lost Saturday.  And I now see that TU and AU won, while HC lost.

[Darryl Nester]

Halftime at Bluffton:  Beavers 31, Pioneers 27.

Balanced scoring for both teams: leading scorers are Cash (TU) and Wilson (BU), each with 7; seven players have scored for each team.

Interesting stat:  TU has 8 points off the bench (Gabbard 2, McCowan 2, Searle 4).  BU has ALL BUT 8 points off the bench (starters Anthony and Cunningham have 5 and 3; the other starters have yet to score).

[Darryl Nester]

Final (OT): BU 95, TU 92. (The Pioneers play their third straight OT game in conference competition.)

The Beavers let an 11-point lead slip away in the second half; TU tied the game at 80 with about 7 seconds left.  In OT, Tierney and Feagan added 6 apiece to the Transy total, while the Beavers got 4 apiece from Schwieterman, Cunningham, and Wilson, and a trey from Overmyer.

30 fouls whistled on TU, 29 on BU.  Both teams shot FTs well (and often):  The Pioneers were 27/33, while the Beavers went 34/37.

Feagan led all scorers with 32; Mike Anthony had 26 for the Beavers.

[Darryl Nester]

Other scores:
MSJ 82, FC 72
DC 60, RHIT 39
HC 74, MC 66

In conference play, road games are the difference among the top teams:
BU is 4-0
DC is 4-1 (loss at BU)
HC is 3-2 (losses at FC and DC)
MSJ is 3-2 (losses at MC and HC)
TU is 2-2 (losses at MSJ and BU)
FC is 2-2 (losses at BU and home vs MSJ)
MC is 1-3
RHIT is 1-4
AU is 0-4

With this is mind, it is worth noting that Bluffton has only played one conference road game (at RHIT).

[RO_24]

Great game in  Bluffton last night, even though it was a collapse at the end of the game, they tightened up and pulled it out in the end.  I was glad to see them stick together, and Anthony stepped up huge for them... Not sure I have ever been to a  game with that many fouls called and that many FT's attempted and made. 

Saturday at Anderson, need a big road win. 

Rose - What happened to RHIT last night?

[dc_has_been]

15 of 52 shooting happened to RHIT plus 1 for 11 on 3 pointers. 

[AndOne]

I saw Bluffton play in the season opening tournament and was impressed with their shooting. In talking with one of the players & his family after the 2nd game, I was very surprised to learn they had been predicted to finish last in the conference. I told the people I spoke to I'd bet that wouldn't happen. Looks like BU is really taking care of business. Wondering what made those who picked them to finish last or close to last were thinking when they made their picks. 

[Darryl Nester]

Anderson, Mt.St.Joe, and Transy all won at home (vs Bluffton, Defiance, and RHIT), while Franklin picked up the road win at Manchester.

[RO_24]

Darryl,
Did you listen to the game...I was about to throw things at the computer, it was getting so bad.  Hopefully they can get out of the lull they are in and play like they did in the last 10 minutes.  I think they should be fine, hopefully they just move on from this game and leave it in the past. 

What are the predictions for this weeks games?