MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Westminster beats Fontbonne by 15, Fontbonne had cut it to two several times, but Westmin runs away from them in the end...   This could be a problem for Fontbonne... while Jarred McCoy is a solid leader, there is no proven person to go to for a hoop.....

Greenville beats Blackburn by only 7....  this is a surprise to me... If Greenville wants a piece of the playoff pie, they'll have to be more consistant, especially at the defensive end.... BC shouldn't be scoring that many points...  now then, the box score is not yet up at SLIAC.org, so I don't know the flow of the game....

Thoughts on last night's game  (and trip) to Jacksonville....

Illinois obviously has smarter deer than Missouri....   on Tuesday, a Missouri deer doesn't get out of the way of my wife (or vice versa) and wham, $500 deductible please....  last night in Illinois here's a deer on the side of a rural desolate route 267...  thank god he spooked and broke LEFT rather than right, or it would have been a very long night for your's truly...

Mac's Coach Creal is really impressing me as the young and upcoming coach in the SLIAC...  he is scheduling tough teams and getting beat, but it is really preparing his team for conference.... he is getting crucial minutes down his bench to 9th and 10th men which keep more guys' heads into the game when they're not starters.

Jarrod husky went down on a very innocent play... simply jumped up for a ball high in the air and crumpled when he came down...  his anguish at the time, and inability to put much weight on his ankle  after it was retaped on the bench, makes me think it's a bad one and he'll be out until conference starts up in January, assuming no break.  His loss was huge... no one on Webster could defend Mac post man Colton Pettyjohn, who displayed some nice back to the basket pivot moves  for key hoops.. he was a non factor when I saw him vs Wash U...   and the Webster offense floundered in the 2nd half without Huskey to go to...

Willie Trimble had a good  game, until the last couple minutes... after being responsible for getting Webster back in it when they were down 10, he took a couple of very bad shots that really hurt in the last 3 minutes.... I was also disappointed that it looked to me like Drew Moore passed up a wide open 3 point attempt at 20 seconds left that would have been for the tie... instead,  disorganization followed and Trimble ended up taking a long poor attempt.

Nick Jones was again the 'quiet ' leader in the comeback effort... while Trimble and Huskie seem todraw the fans attention, Jones has really gotten the job done the last two games in the comeback efforts.

Alex Kuhl, though he had a couple of turnovers, did a heck of a job off the bench.. 4 for 5 from the field, and a couple of them were huge...

For Mac, it was really pretty much the Dylan Burton show... I told a couple of people he reminded me of Nick Jones after seeing him vs Wash U... but I'll change that to he reminds me more of Jake Vislay...  tremendous hops, and Coach Creal set him up  for numerous lob plays... he scored off it at least 4 times, with dunks or near dunks... BUT, he is a frosh and had a critical turnover and 2 missed fee throws that almost let Webster catch up....

And Jerrel Roberson and CJ McClellan ... same mold, tough nosed, savvy SLIAC players... always a pleasure to watch unless you are rooting for the other team...some Webster fans near me were yammering that CJ was playing 'dirty'.. baloney, he was just playing tougher than whoever was guarding him....

Great win for Mac, and it establishes them and Webster in my mind as the 2 teams to beat in the conference.... Westmin and Greenville are near that  level, Spalding is in that mix but still not eligible for the tourney...  the rest will have a rough time breaking into the top 5....  but then, anything can happen....

[hs_pg_qb]

Great write-ups Hope.

Keep em coming!  Its just about the only way I can follow whats going on in the SLIAC.

Thanks!

[hopefan]

HSPGQB.. post more often and you would be eligible to grant Karma!!!

[hopefan]

Well, the Blackburn at Greenville Box finally is up and THUD... that's hopefan falling out of his chair!!!  Blackburn was up 19 at half!!!  Then gives up 63 points to Greenville in the 2nd half and Greenville gets the 2nd half win.   Another surprise performance out of one of the teams that I had theoretically ruled out, as I thought this game would be Greenville from beginning to end-especially at Greenville.  

Blackburn was led by another incredible SLIAC guard performance... Brandon Roberts goes 8 for 11 from 3's, finishing with 32 points... Roberts was on my radar as I remember liking his performance last year the one time I saw BC... but I had no idea he could produce at that level!!!

Greenville seemed to get exactly the kind of offensive performance they want.. big night from KJ Hilliard with 29 (including 12 for 12 from the line), and Agomo, Seaton, and McBride all hit double figures... Traeger gets 8 rebounds, Neece does a nice job off the bench.  This group isvery capable offensively... it seems they just have to step up the defense....

Ouch just noticed the Foul line discrepancy... BC goes 4 for 8, Gville 24 for 29!.. thats another good sign for Gville as the driving to the basket offense is their game.. they were 2 for 15 from 3's, as mentioned before, they are not a good perimeter shooting team...

One other note... the box listed the crowd at 750... Great job Greenville... that's a nice number for a Wedneday night game right after the holiday.. and far more than what I saw at Mac...

[hs_pg_qb]

Hope-

Gotta see a game or two before I have anything meaningful to post!

[hopefan]

So the conference lineup tomorrow

Mac at Blackburn   BC had a great first half vs Greenville, but must have fallen flat in the 2nd half to lose a big lead....  Mac comes off a great win vs Webster, McClelland Robertson Coach Creal have to make sure they don't show up flat... the BC gym is tough to win at.. especially if that great Student section is still making some noise!... stii though, I think Mac wins, maybe a close high scoring affair

Font at Prin...   Font is pretty low, Prin is flying high with their win over Eureka... Font should have more size and athleticism, and should win this game unless Zimmerman goes off for another 40.  If Font loses this one.... well, ... it would be VERY disappointing.    Good luck Denny

Spalding at Westmin  ..  I'd love to see this game, but big dinner plans with Yjak and wife supercede travel to Fulton....  I haven't seen Spalding so this is a measuring stick game.  Great matchup of Tolson vs McAffe...  Long trip for spalding, home court advantage for Westmin, Vislay playing well... Westmin wins close...

Eureka at Webster   Webster plays tough D, should be able to contol the Eureka guards... interesting matchup between Eureka's Jorden Kindred and Webser's Willie Trimble...  It could be show time...  if nothing else, I'm anxious to find out about the injury status of Jarrod Huskie.  I'm thinking  this game is lopsided....

[hopefan]

Greenville scores 99 in beating Mid Continent (who?) in the first night of Greenville tourney...  interesting matchup tonight against NAIA William Woods....

[dansand]

Greenville scores 99 in beating Mid Continent (who?) in the first night of Greenville tourney...  interesting matchup tonight against NAIA William Woods....

Mid-Continent is coached by former Kentucky Wildcat Winston Bennett.

[hopefan]

Well that is an interesting nugget.... +1 Dan Sand  

[y_jack_lok]

Greenville scores 99 in beating Mid Continent (who?) in the first night of Greenville tourney...  interesting matchup tonight against NAIA William Woods....

Mid-Continent is coached by former Kentucky Wildcat Winston Bennett.

Very interesting, indeed. I saw Bennet play at UK a few times during our 1980's Lexington years. Is he a good coach?

[y_jack_lok]

Nice win for Webster over Eureka today. It was one of those games where it wasn't really as close as the final score, 64-52, would suggest. I kept wondering all game long what happened to the Eureka teams that used to crash the offensive boards so hard. They don't have as much height as they used to, but it was never a question of height before. They just used to always be in there scrapping for rebounds. Not today.

[hopefan]

If you are reading this, you probably already know the scores, but just in case...   my predictions were spot on

Westminster  68  Spalding 59

Fontbonne 84  Prin  83   (wonder what the last play was?)

Mac 94  Blackburn 91

and as Yjak reported   Webster 64 Eureka 52     Eureka has 1 big man and gets nothing from him.... more on this game later tonite or tomorrow

And Greenville wins its tourney, beating Willian Woods  88 72

no boxes yet on SLIAC.org to commennt on...

[Denny McKinney]

Woods hits a 15 footer with 0.5 on the clock. Zimmerman has 36. Fouls McCoy out. If PC gets a crew of officials that will bail him out whe he's 1 on 5 they will beat some people. They only lost to Oakland City by 7 thursday nite.

FU was lead by Garner 17 and Woods 16.... Next week Wash U on wednesday nite and Austin Peay on Saturday.

[WUPHF]

Next week Wash U on Wednesday nite and Austin Peay on Saturday.

Did you say Austin Peay?  Division I Austin Peay, from the Ohio Valley Conference?  The school with the infamous "Let's Go Peay" chant?

Wow!  That is so cool.  What an opportunity for the players.  I will be very interested to read your thoughts on that game.

[Denny McKinney]

WUH - Interesting week of basketball. Tough week on the Head Coach........ So no one is alarmed...... Dad will be wearing a chemo pump wednesday nite on the sidelines....... Will have to travel in a different vehicle to AP. because of low white blood cell count. Avoid a bus full of college kids germs. A long and painful ride. But, should be fun.