MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

80 77 Mac.  4 mins

[hopefan]

Huge 3 by Deavis Johnson.  Mac win87 79.  Things get tighter.

[hopefan]

Yesterday was a great day in the SLIAC for this fan who wants to see the standings squeezed... Conference leader*** Iowa Wesleyan suffers a stunning OT loss at resurgent Greenville, Mac nips Tourney position leader*** Westminster in a thriller in Fulton, Spalding and Webster break their tie, Eureka and Blackburn break their tie, and Fontbonne moves up in the standings when Prin's shot for the win rattles in and out at the buzzer..

Can't ask for much more...

So I went to Fulton to see Mac and Westmin expecting a defensive struggle marked by awful 3 point shooting... with Deavis Johnson and Brent Long having to score huge if Mac was to get a win... well, the old hopefan was totally wrong... fantastic 3 point shooting from both squads, balanced scoring from Mac...First half was all Mac, highlighted by a surge in the last minute with a hoop from Big man Marcus 'manmountain' Chausse, and a prayer 3 pointer at the buzzer from Kolin Kelltner to extend the half time lead to 49-32..Mac goes 7 for 13 from 3's in the first half, far better than their average, and out rebound Westmin 17-7, totally dominating the first half despite 9 turnovers... Westmin comes out on fire in the 2nd half, led by Tanner Gentges and Romo Tabb...this half it seemed to be Westmin that couldn't miss, the 17 point lead disappeared quickly and most of the 2nd half was played at a margin under 6 points... Westmin got within one but everytime Mac needed a crucial hoop, they'd get it, seemingly most of the time from Brent Long.. The key hoop though came at just under 2 minutes, with Westmin forcing the action defensively down 3, deavis Johnson hit a 3 as the shot clock ran down, extending Mac's lead to 6... that one broke Westmin's back, and Mac ended with the huge win...Key for Mac was balance scoring, 4 starters in double figures, and bench contribution of 24 points led by tim Frazier and Tyshawn Willis. Derek bourke was fantastic getting the start, bullying his way to a double double of 12 points and 11 rebounds..Westmin had a tremendous 2nd half, coming back from down 17, but a miserable final 2 minutes, missing 4 shots and turning over the ball once....

From the box scores
Fontbonne comes from behind to nip Prin 85-83... the combo of Jarred Greenlee and Ben Kissing go for 54 points and 27 rebounds to lead the Griffs to the win...the ending was a thriller, Fontbonne up 2 misses 2 foul shots with 8 seconds left, Prin elects to let Joey Sander handle the ball, he finally gets it to Parker Davidson who gets off a rushed 3 point attempt that rattles the rim...The Griffs win overshadows another huge scoring night for Adaku Anumu, 43 points for the 2nd straight night!!  Wondering if any D3 player playing on a non system team, ever had at least 43 on consecutive nights  (albeit, one of those games was against the system).

Greenville stuns Iowa Wesleyan in OT, 120-111... Greenville again forces a huge number of turnovers from their opponent, 31 from IWC, and the system beats the best team in the conference...Tim Daniel has 26 points and adds 6 steals, Michael Hohm picks up 7 more steals to key the win.   Incredible that IWC was up 9 with a minute left, but missed shots and a Technical gave Greenville a chance, and Shane Smith hit a 3 pointer to send it to OT.

Spalding beats Webster 76-67 in a game that wasn't nearly that close... Webster in a real spiral, not getting shooting or scoring from anyone...Frosh Point Guard Rylan Rowe leads the way for Spalding, 16 points, only 2 turnovers

Eureka wins at home over Blackburn...83-75... Good win for Eureka over an athletic BC squad... Eureka wins it at the line going 28 for 43 vs 10 for 16 for BC... the Feehan brothers combine for 43 as Shea Feehan addition to the lineup gets better every night...

[hopefan]

hopefan PLAYER OF THE WEEK

I quickly narrowed to 2 names.... pretty easily

Adaku Anumu, Principia... 43 points in each of 2 games for Prin

Tim Daniel, Greenville... 59 points, 15 of 27 from 3's, 1 turnover

Anumu incredible scoring, but not enough to get Prin a win, and a significant number of turnovers....

I give Player of Week to Tim Daniel... 2 crucial wins for Greenville, he has to be scoring like this for GC to get those wins.

[y_jack_lok]

From the box scores

Spalding beats Webster 76-67 in a game that wasn't nearly that close... Webster in a real spiral, not getting shooting or scoring from anyone...Frosh Point Guard Rylan Rowe leads the way for Spalding, 16 points, only 2 turnovers

Evaluating the Webster half of the box score in a bit more detail:

1) Adam Etter doesn't play. Hope he's okay.
2) Hunter Ward and Tevin Evans (who didn't play against Westminster) combine for 8 of 29 from the field (Ward 4 of 16, Evans 4 of of 13) including one of seven three pointers between them. Supports hopefan's point that Webster isn't getting enough good shooting performances. Ward does get to the line 8 times and makes 7 of them. Evans, no free throws..
3) The rest of the team is 16 of 32 with CJ Moore leading the way at 5 of 7, plus 4 steals and zero fouls in 23 minutes. Makes me wonder why he didn't play another 10 minutes. Maybe it was the 4 turnovers. I love to see CJ have success on offense because from what I observe no one on the team gives more effort than he does on both ends of the floor. He had frustrating shooting games against Fontbonne and Westminster -- sometimes he's just snakebit on those layups and put backs. It'll be okay in the end.

[hopefan]

Once again, what a week to look forward to, with SLIAC hoops schedules Tues, Weds, Thurs, and Sat....AND,,, Wash U at home on Friday and Sunday.... AND, the wife will be visiting our daughter in Kansas City all week!!!   That could lead ot 6 straight nights of going to games, though the weather forecast has some snow in it, which could lead to some nasty driving were I to choose going to Mac, Blackburn, Eureka.... we'll see...

Tuesday night, Westminster completes a horrendous stretch of 3 games in 4 days when they travel to Principia...Westmin hosted Nebraska Wesleyan today and got beat... I noticed several changes in the starting lineup and some big changes in distribution of minutes for Westmin.. I'd imagine that Coach Mitchell was resting some of the guys who played a lot on Saturday to have them fresh for the conference matchup with Prin... Westmin's overall speed and depth make them a favorite in this game, but once again, Prin can't be taken too lightly... Westmin has to know that Prin could have beaten Fontbonne on Saturday with a last second shot, and Fontbonne beat Westmin in the last seconds of their game.. this one could be close....

Wednesday has 3 games, with outcomes critical to every team

I'm going to try to see Greenville up at Eureka.. really looking forward to see Eureka's new facility... and with Greenville now really playing well, and Eureka enjoying the addition of D2 transfer Shea Feehan, this is one that's impossible to predict.  Eureka still has been playing with only 7, including 2 frosh and the 'inexperienced' Shea Feehan, so they may have big problems with the system.  But of course, key for Greenville is how they're shooting.. the second unit has to get their share of the scoring...both teams enter 4-4, neither wants to be 4-5...

Both St. Louis schools have tough assignments
Fontbonne goes to Mac... Mac will be flying high after their great win at Westmin.. just hope that they don't make 3 point shooting the major focus of their offense...they had a fantastic shooting day at Westmin, but that hasn't been the norm...I still think the key is the 2 man combo of Deavis Johnson and Brent Long... It should be a great Matchup vs Fontbonne's Ben Kissing and Jarrod Greenlee... Noticed Tyler Williams missed game vs Prin, hurts Fontbonnes depth and he's a key defensive player for the Griffs...Can Fontbonne handle Mac's 2-2-1 full court pressure?

Webster goes up to Iowa Wesleyan... Where was Adam Etter on Saturday?  I just don't see how Webster can compete in this game, as IWC is much like Spalding, who destroyed Webster.  Chris Fowler's ability to penetrate the zone and find open people may force Webster to go man to man... Webster needs a Bunch miracle in this one.....Still though, wouldn't it be just WONDERFUL if Webster could score the upset and squeeze those standings even more... Need Ward, Evans, Moore to be at their best, aggressive to the hoop basketball..

Then on Thursday, Spalding plays at Blackburn, a tough trip, a tough court to play on, and I'm rooting for BC in this one... they need it  badly to get them back into the standings mix....BC will have to figure out how to slow down the combo of Brandon Goeing and Nick Trisko... BC doesn't match well with Big Nick....I look for another close game here...

[hopefan]

Great SLIAC minds think alike... sometimes!... Tim Daniel also earns the SLIAC.org Player of the Week, to go along with the prestigious hopefan player of the week... hope he has room in his trophy case for all that gold!!!

Neither Daniel nor Adaku Anumu were selected to D3hoops.com Team of the week... wondering if their name was submitted?  Obviously either was deserving.....

[ecreddevils]

I'm going to try to see Greenville up at Eureka.. really looking forward to see Eureka's new facility... and with Greenville now really playing well, and Eureka enjoying the addition of D2 transfer Shea Feehan, this is one that's impossible to predict.  Eureka still has been playing with only 7, including 2 frosh and the 'inexperienced' Shea Feehan, so they may have big problems with the system.  But of course, key for Greenville is how they're shooting.. the second unit has to get their share of the scoring...both teams enter 4-4, neither wants to be 4-5...

I don't know, don't think EC will have too many problems with the system.  The short rotation could actually help, all of them are used to playing big minutes at a very high tempo.  Looking for EC to run their winning streak in the new facility to seven games.  The Prin game on 1/23 is a must win, have to pick off those road games and EC is 0-4 conference, 0-9 overall away from home.

[Pat Coleman]

47 nominations this week but none from the SLIAC.

[hopefan]

47 nominations this week but none from the SLIAC.

SON OF A BEEEOTCH!!!!!!!!!!!   

Hey guys, I try.....

[Mr. Ypsi]

47 nominations this week but none from the SLIAC.

SON OF A BEEEOTCH!!!!!!!!!!!   

Hey guys, I try.....

Pat, do you accept nominations only from schools, or could someone like hopefan nominate players?

[iwumichigander]

47 nominations this week but none from the SLIAC.

SON OF A BEEEOTCH!!!!!!!!!!!   

Hey guys, I try.....

Pat, do you accept nominations only from schools, or could someone like hopefan nominate players?

Hum, maybe hopefan should do volunteer work for the SLIAC commish?  First order of business, get the user id and password to D3HOOPS !!!😃😃😃😃

[hopefan]

Wow. Huge news from Font Prin game last Saturday.  Fight resulting in suspensions to both prin and Fontbonne. Two out for Prin tonight.

[y_jack_lok]

Wow. Huge news from Font Prin game last Saturday.  Fight resulting in suspensions to both prin and Fontbonne. Two out for Prin tonight.

Not the first time there have been problems between these two programs. I recall Denny being upset about a tripping incident up at Prin maybe 6 yeas ago. Obviously, different players for both teams now, though, so maybe just coincidental.

[hopefan]

Notes on Greenville-Prin   GC winning 129-100


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....

That was what I had written about Prin's game vs Greenville, the game prior to the Prin Fontbonne game..

Wow. Huge news from Font Prin game last Saturday.  Fight resulting in suspensions to both prin and Fontbonne. Two out for Prin tonight.

I did not see the video... but second hand info (from a couple darned good sources) had an interesting twist... each team had 2 players ejected from the game... however, upon review of the video by the commissioner's office, one of the Prin players who was ejected was exonerated and allowed to play last night, while another Prin player(not ejected) was picked out as having a role in the situation and was added to the suspended list.  This also points out that the suspensions are indeed coming from the Commissioner's office.   Now then, another word on the street is that the Officials of the game have been reprimanded (suspended?) for their part (lack of action previous to the situation?) in the situation.

NOW THEN.. note my post regarding the previous Prin game... Had I mentioned names from what I had seen in the Prin-Greenville game, I would have brought up 3 names... 2 of those 3 names are the 2 players who were suspended for the Saturday situation vs Fontbonne...AND, note my thought that the officials in the Greenville Principia game let far too much go on, and only Greenville's ability to resist retaliation prevented further problems in that game...

I have no idea if the problems in the Prin-GC game received any more attention than my brief post (let's say from either a coach's report or an official's report), but if they didn't, they evidently should have..... And this is in no way saying Prin was the instigator of the Prin-Fontbonne altercation.. I'm just saying a strong warning shot had been fired in the Prin-GC game...