MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[y_jack_lok]

Eureka beats Millikin 68-62 at Millikin. What do we make of that? It's Eureka's 6th game (inculding an exhibition), but only Millikin's 3rd. In addition to Webster on Saturday, Millikin plays Blackburn at home on December 16th. And Millikin already beat MacMurray at MacMurray. Should give us some idea of how the top half of the SLIAC compares to the bottom half of the CCIW. Last year Millikin was 4-0 against SLIAC teams (I'm counting Euerka as a SLIAC school, even though they weren't officially a member of the conference then). At the moment Millikin is 1-1 this year against SLIAC schools.

[Gregory Sager]

Sager, it sounds like you were not at the game Tuesday. There were probably less than 10 NPU fans there, so I guess you were in good company. You would have been proud of your team Tuesday night. I was personally hoping your Vikings would pack it in after Eureka hit them with that 25-4 run to start the half, especially with, as was pointed out, it being their 3rd game in 4 days. That darn Nick Williams just killed us down the stretch and Capalbo was automatic anytime he was left open.

Yeah, I missed the game. With late comebacks, you always have to take either a glass-half-full or a glass-half-empty attitude. Either you applaud the comeback itself, or you bemoan the poor play before it that put the team in the hole in the first place. I suspect that we fans tend to emphasize the former while the coaches tend to emphasize the latter.  At any rate, I am proud to see that NPU was able to ramp it up and make that late comeback under the aforementioned circumstances of road-weariness and the absence of Gordon. And it particularly pleases me to see two freshmen -- Williams and Capalbo -- play key roles in the win. As a North Park fan, I'm expecting big things from them in the future.

As for tonight's game, I'm just hoping everyone makes it back safe and sound from Millikin. Maybe the Red Devils will even bring back a W. Who knows?

Kudos on the win. As Titan Q said, Millikin is a team that certainly has some talent. The fact that the win came in the Big Blue's own gym makes it even sweeter if you're a Eureka supporter. That's definitely a quality victory for the SLIAC as a whole as well as for the Red Devils in particular.

[Mac Attack]

From what I understand, our baseball coach was also the SID. A few weeks ago, several coaches were let go, including the baseball coach. That's when the SID work pretty much shut down, and to my knowledge, no one has picked up the slack. According to the AD, who is a top-notch person, MacMurray wants to have their coaches teach at least nine hours a semester and have at least a graduate degree. I would assume that is why the baseball and golf coaches were let go. I think the football coach was dismissed because of the team's poor play the past 2-3 years, but not sure. I applaud the MacMurray AD for rolling up his sleeves and working hard to revamp MacMurray's athletic department. Our new basketball coach is terrific, and I'm betting we will see similar coaches in the other sports before too long. In the meantime, we need to get on top of the SID work. Hopefully that will be taken care of as soon as possible.

After a wretched first half against Millikin, MacMurray gave the Big Blue all they wanted in the last 20 minutes. Highlanders outscored Millikin in the second half and most folks in the gym thought if the game would have gone another five minutes, MacMurray would have won. But basketball is a game of 40 minutes and to beat Millikin, MacMurray needed to play at its best from start to finish - and didn't. I've been telling folks all along that Eureka was one of the team's to beat in SLIAC. This was a big win for the Red Devils and has to establish them as possbly the team to beat in the conference.

Weather couldn't be much worse in central Illinois. Hopefully everyone is careful if they have go out and about.

[Mac Attack]

From Thursday night...

Maranatha Bible College 70
Lincoln Christian 63

[pantherpride06]

Looks like with the weather, I will not be able to travel up north to help out my buddy Brandon at his tourney.  Since I'm sticking around here, might as well make it game 106 at Blackburn on Saturday afternoon.  Check in on Beaver_SID and see how his finals went.

Obviously my faith in Lincoln Christian (no pun intended) fell through the roof like so many tree here in southern Illinois.  Oh well.

[sully309]

Patherpride, clearly there are larger forces at play here. Someone didn't want the streak to end! You didn't miss anything at Eureka, anyway, as both games were called off Friday.

It's exciting to see conference play start this weekend, but I'll be more interested to see what happens between Webster and Millikin. Will Webster make it 2 in a row for the SLIAC over Millkin?

[Mac Attack]

Lincoln Christian d. Northland Baptist 90-60

[hopefan]

As I think about it, the SLIAC opener today, Greenville at Blackburn, could be a really good game  -  two very similar teams, with good speed, a large number of similar sized guys who can either shoot well from the perimeter  or go to the basket, and virtually no inside game to speak of.  I know BC is the favorite, especially with home court, but I have a feeling Greenville could really compete.
Panther or Blackburn SID, would be fun to get some updates during the game  if you have a laptop handy....  Dynasty - get those Crazies pumped!

[pantherpride06]

I'd take the old computer along, but I'm on the bench, one, and two, I'm not sure about internet service there.  That's something Beaver_SID will have to do.  As soon as I get back to Greenville, Ill try to get scores up if Beaver_SID hasn't beat me to it.  It will be interesting to see what our post-game write-ups will sound like. 

Pretty excited to see the old Panthers back in action today.  As stated before, could be a big game.  OH, LCC won me a game this week, not making me look like a total fool!

GO PANTHERS!

[fcnews]

Northland Baptist ? Mac Attacks schedule for the week had Moody Bible playing LC. We need a re - count cause I picked MBI.

[Mac Attack]

Didn't mean to offend all of you Northland Baptist fans. I assumed it was a four-team round robin - but nooooooo. The teams at this tournament are spread out like a warm supper. I'll throw this game out of the Pick 'em because of incorrect teams - all four of us picked MBI.......

[Mac Attack]

Wrong again. beaver_sid picked LC to win last night. I have to give him the point. Everyone else who would have picked Northland Baptist raise your hand and I'll give you the point......

[fcnews]

Millikin 83 Webster 68
Westminister 66 Central, IA. 64
GC 88 BC 75 Wow!!

[Mac Attack]

Big congrats to Greenville for winning a tough one on the road. For those who were taking notes, remember my formula. Win the games you should at home and on the road - and steal one or two. I think the Panthers just stole one.

Good home court win for Westminster. Need to win those, non-conference or not.

Webster loses at home to Millikin by 15. MacMurray loses at home to Millikin by 12. Is Webster and MacMurray more evenly matched than previously thought? Looks like Webster climbed within two in the second half (closer than Mac ever got), but faded in the stretch. Apparently solid games from Spinner and Hoggatt.

[BunchTime]

Wasn't at the game today, but after looking at the box score I noticed that the only 2 players (Spinner and Hoggat) that were a really a scoring threat were plagued with foul trouble as they both ended the game with 4 fouls in just about 20 minutes of action.  Also, the Gorloks played the Big Blue even for the first half and then trailed nearly the entire game by about 6-8 points.  They cut it the deficit to 2 midway in the 2nd half but Milliken quickly responded!  

Another showing of the disparity that exists between the CCIW and the SLIAC as Milliken is predicted to finish in the bottom half and Webster predicted to win the SLIAC, yet they still won by a comfortable double digit lead!