MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[BunchTime]

Good day for the Gorloks, not only by taking care of business but now in much better position to secure a spot in the conference tourney.  Lots of ball left, though.  Big game Monday for the Gorloks vs Spalding. A Webster win and things get really interesting down the stretch for the top spot. My guess though is the conference tourney is heading back to Louisville. Even if Webster wins, my prediction is Spalding wins out and Mac drops one, maybe the one at Fontbonne. 

[Denny McKinney]

ECRed - GC and WU are the targets. FU's loss means a tie for 5th and FU has tiebreaker.  GC's win at Mac and SU's close call v. PC, leaves me wondering if anyone wants to Host this thing.

[hopefan]

Let's update after yesterday

1) Spalding  12-4    remaining  : at Webster; Westmin
            Hopefan comment.... They squeak by Prin, while Mac can't hold off Greenville..  If Mac and Spalding both win out, tiebreakers depend on who finishes higher, Webster, Fontbonne, or Eureka... If Webster or Eureka took 3rd, Spalding would be in, If Fontbonne or IWC took 3rd Mac would be in.  3rd place is a total crapshoot however, dependent on all 3 of Webster's matchups...

2) Mac   11-4    remaining : IWC; at Fontbonne; at Prin
            Hopefan comment.... Mac has to take care of business, win out.  Then see Spalding's writeup above... Obviously Mac is rooting hard for a Webster win over Spalding so Mac could finish alone in 1st by winning out....

3) Webster   10-5    remaining  :  Spalding; Eureka; at Greenville ...
            Hopefan comment... clearly the toughest remaining schedule, but NOW I can imagine they'll catch Mac or Spalding.. Doesn't do anything to finish 2nd vs 3rd, but if they win out and Mac were to lose to Fontbonne, there could be a 3 way tie for 1st among Mac, Spalding, Webster... Everyone would have split, and who knows how the standings would finish below.... AND, what about Griffin injury?

4) Greenville   9-6   remaining  :  at Prin;  Blackburn; Webster
            Hopefan comment.... BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN....Take care of business, win out, and they are in.. WHERE THEY SHOULD BE... Need to beat Prin and BC to set up BIG game with Webster... That could be a game for 3rd and 4th, OR it COULD be an elimination game...

T5) Fontbonne  8-7 remaining  : at Westmin; Mac; at Blackburn
            Hopefan comment... Not out of it, but now must beat Mac to stay in contention... two losses to IWC are disastrous....They need to win out ans sit back and watch the rest of the results... they are not yet eliminated...

T5)  Eureka   8-7  remaining  :  at Blackburn; at Webster; IWC
            Hopefan comment....  Loss to Westminster just about kills Eureka... They have to win out, beating Webster, then sit back and do tiebreaker calculations.... However, there is a light... if they beat Webster, and finish tied with Webster for 4th (with a Webster loss to Greenville or Spalding), they would win that tiebreaker with a sweep over Webster....

What a GREAT finish.. EVERY Game is CRITICAL...

[Denny McKinney]

Hopefan - looking at Johnson and Whitlocks stat lines, doesn't appear GC could handle them. But, Mac still shoots a ton of 3's. Any comments on the game you saw. Thanks for the updates yesterday.

[hopefan]

Greenville - Mac......   Two failures by Mac... a very poor 1st half, 10 turnovers, shot poorly, mostly due to poor shot selection.. then, after a great comeback, taking the lead by 5, again questionable shot selection on key possessions... go with got you there...BUT at 70-70, approx 5 minutes left, from then on, Whitlock, no FGA, Johnson has 1 attempt, misses and off reb and scores.... last 5 shots in game were 3 point attempts that missed.. could have gone inside, but instead, GC went further ahead... Once again, live by the 3, die by the 3.. it didn't have to happen yesterday...

GC... fantastic game... finally shot the ball well... looked VERY good... this team can beat any team in the conference, in the tourney... Stevonte Young 2 huge 3's to win it... Dewitt, Albertson, Hohm off the bench with key hoops... Elmo Smith was THE MAN... Ehresman steady, penetrating the defense, drawing fouls, or finding Harris or Daniel open...Now in better position to make tourney, they are a threat...

Deserving mention of his own, in a losing effort... Deavis Johnson.. incredible effort... 23 points, 21 rebounds including 9 offensive rebounds, 7 assists...  UNFORGETTABLE...

Quick from others..
Fontbonne nipped by IWC... Font led whole game, key FT miss in regulation lets IWC tie it, multiple missed fts/shots in last 45 seconds by Fontbonne gives IWC the win...had to have been a heartbreaker for the Griffs.... IWC's Chris Fowler goes for 30!!!, I'm amazed Fontbonne guards couldn't at least stop a 5'8" guy from scoring, forcing him to give up the ball, but it was his day....

Webster takes care of business against BC... now has the huge trio of games vs contenders Spalding, Greenville, Eureka... WHAT A WEEK!!!  Wonder what happened to BC's Chris A Davis since the Greenville game.. he's disappeared...Still a member of the team?     Griff, one rebound in 15 minutes worries me.. I saw much better action on the boards from Mac and GC than what I think Webster can get if Griff not able to hit it hard....

Eureka stunned by Westmin.... inexplicable... hooray for Coach Mitch to get a big win at this point in the season.. Eureka had its chance...Eureka down 1 with 14 seconds, misses, WC converts  fts to win.... a shame for EC, they had done some things to deserve a shot at tourney...  now, they have to win AND scoreboard watch...

Spalding beats Prin by 3... I love the underdog, would have yipped the whole way home from Mac if Prin had won this one...  not to be, and Spalding missed several shots in the last two minutes letting Prin have a chance to tie, but it didn't happen....

[hopefan]

The Mac - GC game is the last game I'll be seeing in person this season... Will be going under the knife to fix my innards tomorrow morning... will lay me up for 4-6 weeks... hoping I can wake up Tuesday to a detailed writeup of the Spalding-Webster game by WU Fan or Yjack... I'll be reviewing box scores and conference standing and continuing to post in another couple days, though this situation is a first for me.. might be 'floatin' for a while.. to all the Coaches and Players who read this site, thanks for another great season of SLIAC hoops and best of luck the rest of the way....

[Denny McKinney]

Hope my friend. I could give you a pretty good idea of what life will be like. I will say one thing. You will have a bigger respect for women who have C-Sections. The worst pain of recovery, by far. You'll do fine, I'm sure.
I go back for last surgery in 3 weeks. This time no abdominal muscles will be disturb. Same 4-6.

Good Luck, Sir

[y_jack_lok]

The Mac - GC game is the last game I'll be seeing in person this season... Will be going under the knife to fix my innards tomorrow morning... will lay me up for 4-6 weeks... hoping I can wake up Tuesday to a detailed writeup of the Spalding-Webster game by WU Fan or Yjack... I'll be reviewing box scores and conference standing and continuing to post in another couple days, though this situation is a first for me.. might be 'floatin' for a while.. to all the Coaches and Players who read this site, thanks for another great season of SLIAC hoops and best of luck the rest of the way....

Sorry to report that I am supposed to be picking up my wife at the airport at the time of the game -- weather permitting. There is also the possibility of a snow out of the game. And your surgery could be snowed out as well. Perhaps you have temporarily dodged the knife. 

[SliacChamp]

Webster U Website saying classes cancelled after 3 PM, but Men's and Women's Basketball Games are still a go.

[WU FAN]

Just in case anyone was wondering tonight's big SLIAC matchup between Webster and Spalding WILL be played despite the nasty weather and schools closure.  If you can't make it out you can also follow the games via live stats, the Galaxy Radio station, or the Gorloks All-Access broadcast.

[SliacChamp]

Webster leading 26-22 at half vs SU.
Not much to talk about, lots of turnovers and very sloppy.
Ward knocked some shots down but also took some terrible ones.
Tough start for Goeing from SU.
Shocked by the crowd size with the snow, but the game was played to a mostly silent gym. Needless to say Webster fans are not getting rowdy like at Fontbonne.

[y_jack_lok]

Webster beats Spalding. Getting crowded at the top of the SLIAC standings.

Mac 11-4
SU 12-5
WU 11-5

[SliacChamp]

Webster wins 56-47. Bench scores 29 of 56 points. Danny Zehner another solid game off of the bench. Taylor Walton also played well grabbing rebound after rebound for the Goroks.
Worry note of the night: Ahmad smith looked half asleep and played like it as well. Terrible shot after terrible shot. One in particular came with Webster up 11 late in the game and he launched a three that barely hit the backboard early on the shot clock.

Overall great win for the Gorloks as they celebrated Coach Bunch's 200th win, which came over Fontbonne.

[y_jack_lok]

Webster wins 56-47. Bench scores 29 of 56 points. Danny Zehner another solid game off of the bench. Taylor Walton also played well grabbing rebound after rebound for the Goroks.
Worry note of the night: Ahmad smith looked half asleep and played like it as well. Terrible shot after terrible shot. One in particular came with Webster up 11 late in the game and he launched a three that barely hit the backboard early on the shot clock.

Overall great win for the Gorloks as they celebrated Coach Bunch's 200th win, which came over Fontbonne.

This is awesome! Congrtulations, coach.

[WU FAN]

Last night's WU vs SU game further convinced me there isn't a single good team in the SLIAC.  Webster is very streaky, MacMurray who had been looking good after the break is 2-2 in February with both losses coming to bubble teams at home, Spalding was tenacious but very sloppy and have lost 4 of their last 5, Greenville was extremely unimpressive earlier this year when I saw them in person, just nothing from anyone.  This last week + is going to be fun from a fans perspective because nearly anyone can still come out on top or at least make the SLIAC Tournament.  Just don't hold your breath for the long awaited win once the champ makes it to the NCAA game.