MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

GC shoots!!!  Final 129 100 gc

[hopefan]

The Rams are gone?   Who needs 'em? 

I've got D3hoops!!

I've got SLIAC hoops!!

It's competition...  It's fun... you get to say hi to the coaches, even to some of the players, even the commish..
What's not to like???

aaahhhh hopefan get a life they say...   hey, this is fine with me!!

[hopefan]

Notes on Greenville-Prin   GC winning 129-100

Though Prin stayed with GC in the first half, the game went much the way I thought it would in the 2nd... Prin was out of it from the get go, as legs tired and turnovers piled up...  that didn't keep Prin's Adaku Anumu from adding 20 2nd half points to the 23 he already had in the first half...

I checked the SLIAC Record books to see if anything in this game approached a record in a conference game.. Anumu's 43 points were short of 53 scored by Jeff Reis of Webster in 2001, Greenville's 129 were short of the 136 they scored vs Mac in 2005 (when I believe Mac was playing their own version of the system),  TIm Daniels had 9 3's, far short of Patrick McCoy's 13 in a game for Fontbonne in 2008.  Anumu's 18 field goals came up just short of Reis's 20.

I give Anumu credit, many of his hoops were in traffic, either floaters or maneuvering around people... few were wide open layups... Parker Davidson had a great first half, with most of his 23 points coming on strong drives over people, hopefully he'll realize that this could/should be the strongest part of his game and quick hanging out on the perimeter most of the game.

Kudos to Conner Savoye... the only senior on the team, plays only a couple minutes per game if that, the program hasn't won.. but he's been loyal, has a great attitude,loves the game.. and he had a nifty assist last night on a no look bounce pass... I wish him the best of luck with his aspirations to get into sports broadcasting.. he'll get a taste of it next year doing Prin games..

The pace of the game clearly did not match up with the abilities of Justin Ball... really out of synch...

For Greenville.. the dunk of the game, and likely of the season, goes to Junior Shane Smith... he had a mid court interception, goes down court, glances over his shoulder to make sure the defense isn't close enough to interfere, turns a little sideways to position himself, and windmills as impressive a jam as you could imagine.  Smith is a super athlete, goes to the basket well, but just has a horrible jump shot/ foul shot (an absolute hard line drive)... I think he's savvy enough to make it better, and if he does, he's all conference level next year... he should take advantage of being on the same team as the best shooter in the conference (with PICTURE form), Tim Daniel, and learn... 

Greenville looked great last night in the 2nd half, and did the same vs Fontbonne.. can they do it against the top 4 or 5 in the conference.. I still have my doubts... my major doubt...the 2nd unit plays the system too, but Jamal Daniels, a real offensive threat in the paint, is the only consistent offensive threat.  Kenny Green would be, but he doesn't seem to be seeing the ball often enough... and the 2nd unit went only 7 for 34 last night, 22%, a common occurrence.. the young kids have to improve shooting % in game situations, and get BETTER shots.

You gotta love Andrew Scott... his game does not fit the system, but he plays harder than anyone (well Michael Hohm is up there too).. Scott does his thing by crashing the boards every possession, 8 offensive boards last night, passing up open 15 footers so the perimeter shooters (Daniel and Brown and Hohm) can get good looks at 3's... a real team player...

GC really misses Brian Ehrsmann - still really don't have a fit at point...

Daniel shot WELL last night... the form is so sweet, it's almost a surprise when he misses, especially if he has time to square up...

This game got VERY chippy in the last 5 minutes... I blame it on the refs... If Prin had pulled some of this stuff against almost any other team in the conference, I'd say there would have been a confrontation...  GC is not that way.... The refs noticed, but to my way of thinking were not strong enough in addressing it....

[hopefan]

A quick look at potential standings given tonight's matchups...

Not worrying about Iowa Wes****..

The winner of the Wester-Westmin game will be alone in first**** at 5-2

The winner of the Eureka-Fontbonne game, and the winner of the MacMurray-Spalding game, and the loser of the Webster-Westmin game will be tied for 2nd at 4-3 along with Blackburn if they beat Iowa Wesleyan

The loser of the Eureka-Fontbonne game, and the loser of the MacMurray-Spalding game, and Greenville will be tied for the next spot, along with Blackburn if they lose to Iowa Wesleyan at 3-4

Prin will be 10th at 0-7

**** IWC not eligible for Conference Tourney

8 teams of 10 are in a real battle for 4 spots....  EARLY!!!...

[Gregory Sager]

The Rams are gone?   Who needs 'em? 

I've got D3hoops!!

I've got SLIAC hoops!!

It's competition...  It's fun... you get to say hi to the coaches, even to some of the players, even the commish..
What's not to like???

aaahhhh hopefan get a life they say...   hey, this is fine with me!!

Dude, you're my hero. Kicking around the back roads of Middle America twice a week, watching teams from an overlooked league (even by D3's modest standards) clash in tiny gyms before sparse crowds, chatting up anybody and everybody in the stands about basketball, tirelessly and enthusiastically promoting the league's coaches and players on the Internet, and doing it all while maintaining rooting neutrality whenever the league's teams play each other -- you're what the fan experience is all about on this level, as far as I'm concerned. Seriously, big ups to you for what you do.

[hopefan]

The Rams are gone?   Who needs 'em? 

I've got D3hoops!!

I've got SLIAC hoops!!

It's competition...  It's fun... you get to say hi to the coaches, even to some of the players, even the commish..
What's not to like???

aaahhhh hopefan get a life they say...   hey, this is fine with me!!

Dude, you're my hero. Kicking around the back roads of Middle America twice a week, watching teams from an overlooked league (even by D3's modest standards) clash in tiny gyms before sparse crowds, chatting up anybody and everybody in the stands about basketball, tirelessly and enthusiastically promoting the league's coaches and players on the Internet, and doing it all while maintaining rooting neutrality whenever the league's teams play each other -- you're what the fan experience is all about on this level, as far as I'm concerned. Seriously, big ups to you for what you do.

Appreciated, Greg

[allamericanredhead]

We have lost a great man with the passing of the SLIAC's first commish, Walter Schoenke. A true gentleman. A trained scientist he was also a very wise businessman who loved sports. He was a good friend for many a year and a lot of what the SLIAC is today is to his credit for building a solid base. A private joke: who has the beaver tale? Now, even though he has dropped his account (again) I know Dennis is out their creeping still trying to figure out who I am. Big hint here Dennis, and I mean BIG hint. 

[hopefan]

Last night in the SLIAC..

At the Webster game... expected a great doubleheader, and if I was a Westminster fan, it could certainly be labelled great, as the Jays swept Webster on the Gorlock's home court.   If, however, you went looking for 2 hotly contested, well played games, you went home disappointed as I did...
First thing noticed... no Tevin Evans in uniform for the Gorlocks.. while some hold his type of game in disdain, it's exactly what the Gorlocks needed last night.. someone to penetrate to the basket and get to the foul line.. As it was, Taylor Walton and CJ Moore took care of that task in the first half, keeping the score close, but neither of them could buy a hoop in the second half as Westmin built a lead that Webster wasn't going to approach.  Joe Henry, Tehvyn Crenshaw, Rabassa Turner did little to contribute to scoring, though Evan Milligan got some minutes and had some nice hoops.  Where was the guy who is supposed to score if Webster is going to win?  Ask Westmin's Tanner Cochrane.. he was tight on Hunter Ward the whole night, and Ward quickly reverted to doing nothing but catching and passing the ball, even in the final minute when Webster desperately needed quick hoops...
Great defense (albeit against a less than potent offense) won it for Westmin... interesting point, throw out Principia scores, and the lowest offensive output by any team in a league game this year to date is 61 points, TWICE by Webster, in losing to Fontbonne and then Westminster.  Two unexpected difference makers in the game were Jimmy Villalobos who shot extremely well in the 2nd half and finished with 20 points, and big man Matt Murphy... Murphy was just to big to handle for the much smaller Webster inside people, and Westmin did a nice job of finding him around the basket.. His performance was totally unexpected as he came into the game averaging 3 ppg and had recently seen his minutes drop significantly...he scores 12 points last night.   Westmin scores 67 points to win, and the 'bench' has 49 of them!!!  Coach Mitchell has created a more than interesting game plan for driving Westmin to the top of the SLIAC standings, using the bench and sticking with those that play well...  Westmin record, 5-2 in conference, 0-5 nonconference...

From the boxscores:
Spalding  over Mac  84 70...  Brandon Goeing has a big night with 27 points and Nick Trisko goes 7 for 8, 17 points, James Turner contributes 17.  I imagine Frosh point guard Rylan Rowe played well too, going 31 minutes with 0 turnovers against Mac's pressure defense.  Spalding outrebounds Mac, but the big stat of the game would seem to be spalding's  23/24 performance from the line.  Same old story for  Mac, Deavis Johnson and Brent Long do the job for Mac, 48 points  between them, but everyone else goes 1 for 13 from 3's, 8 for 30 from the field... not good enough to win.

Fontbonne over Eureka 86-79... This was a stunner, and huge win for Fontbonne.. given the absence of leading scorer, contributing rebounder Ben Kissing.  Fontbonne started 4 guards, and these are in no way big guards, with Jarrod Greenlee the only player over 6'1".. and big man frosh Bryce Zimmerman played only 13 minutes off the bench!!  Rich Dorhauer had a great shooting night 5/8 from 3's, Cody Etinger stepped into starting lineup and gets 17 points and 10 boards, and the little giants stick with Eureka on the boards... only negative stat is a woeful night at the line, 11/25.  Eureka is led by Parker Gibson's best night of the year, 20 points 11 rebounds (Gibson needs to rebound for Eureka), the Feehans get 36 between them, but overall, a mediocre shooting night and nothing from the bench except Shea Feehan does Eureka in...

IWC nips Blackburn, 82-81... Every time I looked at the score during the evening, Blackburn was winning, but IWC gets the victory. Play by play shows a Chris Davis basket putting up Blackburn by 1 at 0:58, a Steve Archibald hoop regaining the lead for IWC at 0:41, and turnovers by both teams and a missed IWC FT from there on...stats were very similar for both teams, Chris Fowler led IWC with 20 points, Jamie Moore gets 22 for BC.. scoring pretty balanced from both teams... must have been a great game....

[hopefan]

a quick look at Saturday matchups...

Critical game to the conference standings is Mac at Westmin... Westmin coming off a huge road win at Webster is the conference leader*** at 5-2, Mac, with a disappointing loss at Spalding is 3-4... a Mac win here would be huge for the conference, pulling Westmin back to the pack with 3 losses and in a tie with the winner of Webster at Spalding, and Fontbonne if they beat Prin.  A westmin win keeps them up 1 game against those 2 teams, and up 2 or 3 games against the pack... my thoughts.. this is a pretty even matchup.. both teams play tough defense, and score more from the inside than the perimeter... I'll root for a combined 50 from Johnson and Long and hope anyone else from Mac can push the points over the hump for a Mac win..

A battle of two current runnerups to Westmin in the standings has Webster at Spalding... I'm currently throwing my hands up in the air with Webster, saying they just can't win playing like they did vs Fontbonne or Westmin, which means they'll probably put things together and score the win.... but from the practical side, Coach Gray has brought Spalding along nicely, they seem to be playing much better at the right time, point guard Rylan Rowe taking care of the ball, and the threesome of Goeing, Trisko, Tuner scoring consistently... I like Spalding in this game...

Fontbonne vs Prin... Kissing or no Kissing for Fontbonne, Fontbonne should beat Prin, though they better not come in struttin'...
Prin could get hot and score, but if Fontbonne keeps a decent pace to the game, I feel Prin will run out of gas...

Blackburn at Eureka...  two teams 3-4, the winner will still be in comfortable position in the standings, the loser will have added pressure of being behind at least 4 or 5 teams in the battle for a conference tourney spot.  Both teams playing pretty well, but losing highly contested games.  Eureka has to get more production from bench Hank 'at the bank' Thomas and Austin Ahnafield (did not play?).  I't still tough to win with only 6 guys contributing...   This one would seem to be a tossup...

IWC at Greenville.... I'd like to say things looking up for Greenville, but in reality their first half vs Prin was less than mediocre.... IWC will not wilt in the 2nd half like Prin did... It would just be totally cool if Greenville could score the upset win at home, putting them right back in contention in the standings... Someone in their 2nd group has to hit some 3's... 25% shooting will result in another loss.....

MIA on Wednesday..... Tevin Evans (WU), Ben Kissing (Font), Austin Ahnafield (EC), Alex Bott (Mac)... wonder if we're dealing with quick injuries, long lasting injuries, or Academic suspensions?  WU already showed the loss of Davian Joseph...

[hopefan]

At Westmin, will post some score updates thru the afternoon

[hopefan]

Mac's Alex Bott out rest of season, personal reasons, not injury or academic.  Hope to see him back next year!!

[hopefan]

Font's Ben Kissing playing today.  Glad all ok.

[hopefan]

AMAZING.  Mac 49  Westmin 32 half. Despite Mac 10 turnovers

[hopefan]

Tevin Evans back for webster, but Spalding winning big

[hopefan]

Mac 63 59.  11:45 big WC comeback