MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[pbrooks3]

Little sweat for Birmingham Southern in dispatching Dallas in the opening round of the SCAC tournament today 82-59.  The #8 Panthers get the winner of Austin-Centre in today's next game.  I believe Birmingham Southern is the overwhelming favorite to win this tournament and take a 27-1 mark into the D3 tournament beginning next weekend.  This team has been far and away the most accomplished team in SCAC play in recent years; they are on an 18-game roll right now.  They are deep, offensively efficient and well-coached. 

[pbrooks3]

Centre men hung on to defeat Austin this afternoon 56-52. It was anything but pretty as Centre survived a bout of awful free throw shooting - 8-21 - to sneak out a win. Colonels started the game poorly in falling behind but quickly seized control midway through the opening stanza. Chris Taylor made key plays as Centre was able to build a double-digit lead going into the half. Centre continued clanging foul shots in the 2nd half which enabled Austin to fight their way back. Fortunately Donavan Whiteside was able to convert some shots at the line in the clutch to enable Centre to escape to the 2nd round where they will battle heavily favored Birmingham Southern. Taylor led the Colonels with 13 points.

[pbrooks3]

Nitty-gritty time as the SCAC tournament moves to semi-final action today. 

Centre plays the host team, Birmingham Southern, and then West #1 Trinity takes on Rhodes.

I like BSU in their contest.  They are so deep, balanced and playing on the home court. In short, one of the best in D3 this year.  Centre has had to remake its team this season with the graduation of their 6'8" center, Alex Lloyd.  The Colonels are more uptempo and defensively they are not as intimidating as before. Stats bear this out, too.  The Panthers' ability to work the angles offensively and get the ball in and out of the paint for decent looks will be the deciding factor in this game.  Look for Birmingham Southern to win by 12-15.

I believe Rhodes may be playing its best basketball of the season right now.  Rhodes had a very successful final road trip beating both Sewanee and Centre last weekend.  Look for them to beat Trinity by 5 to reach Sunday's final.

[pbrooks3]

Completely missed on the Centre-BSU game today  (76-57 Centre).  Centre had a solid game plan and executed it effectively in perhaps the team's best game of the season. The Colonels were much improved on their perimeter defense than the last time they played the Panthers when they scorched the nets from outside the arc. It also helped that Centre got off to a decent start and never allowed BSU to get their offense in gear. The Panthers seemed impatient from the get-go and Centre dictated pace throughout this one. The Colonels shot the ball incredibly well from everywhere. They even found their free throw touch in nailing all 18 attempts. Greg Ross was on his game knocking down 28 and getting 9 rebounds.   Tremendous effort by Centre in reaching the SCAC final for the 7th time in a row.

[Ralph Turner]

Congratulation to Trinity, 61-50 winners over Centre.

[Ron Boerger]

Congratulation to Trinity, 61-50 winners over Centre.

A young team that has come on strong in the second half (11 straight), typical Cunningham squad with no stars (no all-SCAC first teamers, two sophs made All-SCAC second) but great team play.   They will probably get a pretty tough draw but look out next year, only two seniors and only one gets much playing time (Ryan Beal; 8 ppg/5 rpg). 

[pbrooks3]

Congratulation to Trinity, 61-50 winners over Centre.

A young team that has come on strong in the second half (11 straight), typical Cunningham squad with no stars (no all-SCAC first teamers, two sophs made All-SCAC second) but great team play.   They will probably get a pretty tough draw but look out next year, only two seniors and only one gets much playing time (Ryan Beal; 8 ppg/5 rpg).
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Drove to Birmingham this morning to see this game.  These kids played controlled basketball and solid defense.  Their length bothered Centre.  I told Coach Cunningham that I had "disrespected" his squad; they  quietly jumped to the front of the pack.  Their record does not reflect the quality of their play over the past 3-4 weeks. Do agree they will get a poor draw but perhaps they will surprise someone else, too!

[pbrooks3]

A fair amount of chatter on the boards this morning on the Pool C teams.  Many are saying Birmingham Southern will be left out when selections are announced later today.  Too bad if it happens, but it won't be a total shock.  The South region always struggles for respect when balanced against some of the other areas in the country which are top-heavy with D3 schools.  Birmingham Southern's only 2 losses came against Centre.  Centre is no world-beater this year, but they also have the distinction of putting the only blemish on Cabrini's stellar record.  I am hoping that the selection committee takes this into account when weighing in on Birmingham Southern.  We'll know shortly.

[pbrooks3]

Congratulations to Birmingham Southern - they are in the Transy pod for the opening round as the #3 playing Wittenberg (#2) of the North Coast Conference. Transy will host #4 Carroll.

[Ron Boerger]

And Trinity heads to play at UMHB, who like BSC lost only two games all season, both to the same team (McMurry [19-8]).  Gonna be a difficult matchup for the Tigers.

[pbrooks3]

Wonderful win for Pat Cunningham's team in the 1st round of the tournament against Mary Hardin Baylor 68-66.  Congratulations to Trinity on advancing. Unfortunately highly rated Birmingham Southern didn't fare as well at Transylvania against a fine Wittenberg team. Birmingham Southern bows out having had a tremendous season with only 3 losses on their ledger.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity was getting open on threes and hitting them like crazy in the first half (~60%); in the second half UMHB played more physically and committed harder on defense, out-rebounding TU by double digits and getting to the line twice as often.  Fortunately the Cru missed a lot of those extra charity shots (10 of 24) and Beall's long three at the end took a friendly high bounce off the rim before dropping through.   Beall is the only senior on the playoff roster; the other starters were three sophomores and a freshman.

It doesn't get any easier today with a 25-3 Whitworth team that has six guys 6-6 or taller, including Felix Friedt (a senior from Düsseldorf, Germany) who lit up McMurry for 35 last night.   The Pirates are also on a 12-game winning streak.  Idris Lasisi (a senior from Leuven, Belgium/North Idaho College), a 6"2" G/F, leads the team in scoring.

[Ron Boerger]

hooray for open WiFi at UMHB arena!  20 minutes to start time here, Pirates are warming up, Trinity has yet to appear.  Not expecting a big crowd tonight.

[Ron Boerger]

shots not falling, Trinity turning the ball over early.  8-3 Whitworth 15:32 1st

[Ron Boerger]

whitworth hitting the long ball tonite, up 27-18 with 3:50 before half.. Lambert not a factor yet.