MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Hoosiersfan2323]

The lockdown defense of Blackburn continues to be a difference-maker as Kollar's boys beat MacMurray tonight. Wasn't pretty down the stretch but an impressive win nonetheless.

[y_jack_lok]

The lockdown defense of Blackburn continues to be a difference-maker as Kollar's boys beat MacMurray tonight. Wasn't pretty down the stretch but an impressive win nonetheless.

That lock down defense gave up 82 points and MacMurray shot 51.8%.

[hopefan]

What a disappointing night in Eureka... I could go into a lengthy post partum about sportsmanship, but it would fall on deaf ears... let's just say that Eureka lost any chance of winning this year's season ending sportsmanship award, and the bad thing is, 90% of the attendees thought it was funny.. the officials didn't.. I didn't..  and... no hopefan, don't throw any individuals under the bus.. got in trouble for that last year, lost a good friend...

Eureka just took apart Greenville from the get go... Brady Sanders seemed to make every critical pass, break through every double team that was thrown at him... in my mind, the unsung hero of the game...that led to countless easy shots for Shea Feehan and Hank Thomas.. Feehan finishes with 34, Thomas 28... more nice work off the bench from Austin Juergens and Koby White along with Sanders... And two of the starters I didn't mention go for double doubles, Weigand and Dehm...   For Greenville, wow, when the system generates points, it is so much fun to watch, but when it generates 44 missed 3's and a stupifying number of unmakeable forced shots in the paint from any imagineable angle or posture, it is UGLY... all the new faces, maybe it was just an off night, but only two looked good shooting the ball, Isiah Price, who went 5-6 from 3's, and Riley Simmons, who went only 3-11, but showed a nice touch... The critical thing lacking last night though was very few quick turnovers leading to easy points... Eureka simply broke the pressure most of the time.

And disappointing comes up in two other games with the performances of Webster and MacMurray..

Webster just get crushed by Westmin, and without seeing it, it seemed to play out as I thought it might, Webster must have been taken completely out of their offense by Westmin defense... 47-22 at half... wow..Webster's young team held in check by the veteran Bluejays...This is where the term lock down defense really applies...Kobe Wands goes for 28, Westmin gets 12 3's , 12 for 26, 46% is a major difference maker...

You can't come out flat at a place like Blackburn and have much hope of making up a 19 point deficit... Mac cut it to 4 a couple of times, but couldn't come all the way back.. Brent Long has a huge game, 32 points, 8 boards, but Mike Cameron has 8 turnovers, Kendall Davis goes 6 for 22 fro the field...Blackburn continues to shock the SLIAC world, 4 starters in double figures led by Duncan King with 24, Malcomb Scott gets 16 (seriously?), I'd imagine that was a career night for him.. bench throws in 20 more points... BC just really has it going ...Can't begin to imagine the smiles in the basketball office....

In the final game, Fontbonne leads most of the way vs Spalding, but can't hold on in the final 10 minutes... Rylan Rowe starts to dig his way out of whatever dog house he was in, comes off the bench to get 14 points, Spalding finishes with 5 in double figures, led by Brandon Williams with 21... Fontbonne gets a great game off the bench from frosh Jarrod Woodcock 17 points 3-4 from 3's (Denny McKinney, hope he's reading), and Luke Deline continues to impress with 14 points, 7 rebounds....Stats were very even between the two teams, but is it an even game between the 9-10 teams in the conference, or can they both match up with others in the league... we'll begin to find out on Saturday...note, Fontbonne's Jack Lake doesn't play...injury??

SO... disappointing performances from Mac, Webster, Greenville... hope they'll turn it around on Saturday...EC, WC, BC get the early jump....

Oh incidentally  fantastic lady's game at Eureka.. GC down double digits, comes all the way back to win 85-80... EC red hot from 3's in first half goes cold in 2nd, GC rides the shooting of guards Meredith Crosier, Maria Reinhard to the win... great atmosphere in this one....

[hopefan]

I don't usually agree too well with the Coach's voting at the end of the season for All Conference, so I'm going to do an indepth look at performance each night.. awarding points to deserving individuals, (as i see it), with these guidelines...

Winning team each game gets max of 10 points to distribute to individuals.. there can be less
Losing team each game gets max of 7 points to distribute to individuals... there can be less
Max points for single individual in a game is 5
Conference games only


so for instance... 5 point performances in the first night went to Brent Long, Mac;  Shea Feehan Eureka; and Kobe Wands Westmin
4 point performances went to Goodman and Davidson Prin, and King BC..
and so on down the scale

Will be interesting to see how it plays out... I'll reveal leaders every 4 games....once again, strictly hopefan's thoughts... comments to the contrary are always welcome....

[Greek Tragedy]

So subtraction by addition? Seems like Davis' addition is really hurting Mac. He's shooting 28%.

[hopefan]

So subtraction by addition? Seems like Davis' addition is really hurting Mac. He's shooting 28%.

Yes so far a real mystery as to why things aren't working out. It seemed like a perfect fit. Coach Creal was VERY optimistic. Hopefully things will turn around quickly. Tough game on Saturday vs Eureka and of course that is where Davis came from.

[hopefan]

Fun day tomorrow in the SLIAC... I'm sure hopefan is the only SLIAC fan to recognize (or perhaps even care), that each of the five winners from Wednesday face a loser from Wednesday... That leads to the lopsided proposition that 5 teams could be 2-0 in conference after Saturday's games, or the juicy proposition that 10 teams could be 1-1  (always hopefan's theoretical ideal conference finish... 10 teams finish 9-9..)

Anyway off Wednesday's activity, there doesn't seem to be much hope that Wednesday's losers will become Saturday's winners, as none of the loser's lost on last second shots... only Fontbonne reaaly waged much of a war in falling, Mac came from far behind but never caught up...
The matchups look like this..

Iowa Wesleyan takes the LONG trip to Spalding.... Wez played much better with both Elijah Johnson and Steven Drey supporting Brock Butler, and the supporting cast seems willing to let them carry the scoring load.. a wise decision...  But Spalding is a tough place to play, and Spalding did show some heart in coming from behind to Beat Fontbonne...Still, if Johnson and Drey both play, I think Iowa Wez has enough to win...

Prin comes to Webster... I think Webster finds their offensive flow again as Prin plays with the ironman five +1 again... they can't play the tough D that Westmin did without getting in foul trouble... big question is, can Prin get the ball inside Webster's zone.. Goodman and Paulson penetrate to the basket extremely well, they should be looking to dish to Davidson and Ross...  I think the veteran players of Prin over the youthful Gorlocks get the edge in what could be a game in the 80's....

Blackburn at Fontbonne... BC playing so well, can't imagine Fontbonne will be the team to find the answer....still when I think of the individual matchups, it seems like a pretty close game...

Eureka at MacMurray... Mac won't stop Feehan/Thomas... Eureka has the athleticism to stop Long/Davis... until Mac shows me, I can no longer go with my gut that they have the best team in the league... they need to get things fixed...

Westminster at Greenville... Westmin has shown that they can play at a high level in the conference... Greenville hasn't done that yet with all of their new faces... gotta go with Westmin...


Want 10 teams at 1-1 at day's end?  Root for Iowa Wesleyan, Webster, Fontbonne, MacMurray, and Greenville!!!

[Greek Tragedy]

After Wands went for 40 fantasy points this week, I picked him up (again) in both the Keeper League and the Draft League. I'm expecting similar numbers today against Greenville. Two of my SLIAC guys, Wands and Butler have averaged less than my other guys (Feehan is averaging almost 42 fantasy points a game), but with conference play starting up, I'm anticipating a bump in production, even when they aren't playing Greenville. I recently dropped Brent Long and I know another manager dropped Kendall Davis. I'll keep a close eye on scores and stats to see if their increases warrant a spot on my star-studded teams, neither of which are in 1st place...yet.

[hopefan]

I want to write so much about yesterday's SLIAC action... feel bad I'm late as some are maybe getting up to see what hopefan has to say and not finding it, but it will be there in a while.

[y_jack_lok]

I want to write so much about yesterday's SLIAC action... feel bad I'm late as some are maybe getting up to see what hopefan has to say and not finding it, but it will be there in a while.

Yep, surprised not to see a SLIAC report yet. If it means you slept in, then no problem. Otherwise you might get cited for dereliction of duty as your 5 a.m. posts are becoming legendary. 😁

[WUPHF]

Especially after that Webster-Prin game...

Definitely an instant classic.

I would have paid to see an overtime or two.

Noticed the box score has that technical on Trevaughn Goodman. Interesting.

[hopefan]

First of all... yep, the conference ALWAYS surprises me, I'm not a learner from history, my thoughts on what was to happen yesterday were pretty much off... but also as I said, that's what makes the SLIAC so much fun... Then, with Webster starting early, I was treated to a double dose of last second magic, first as Webster took a gift wrapped win from Prin, then down the street to watch Fontbonne come down the chimney with a wrapped present for Blackburn... lets face it, Fontbonne and Prin wear an underdog label at this stage in most games... it broke my heart to see both lose in the manner they did...

hopefan commentary...  the best players in the conference should act like it... I've now seen two of the best players in the league (maybe the BEST two players in the league), act like _____ (uh, hope I'm allowed to say that) at the end of games... it's time to grow up a little and not combine your skills with rotten displays of sportsmanship...

now on the plus side, wow, while the league may be down a little this year, I'm snowed by the positive play of so many freshmen and new faces... seeing Fontbonne in person was an eye opener.. the level of play was no different than what I've seen in other SLIAC games.. Fontbonne will compete every night vs SLIAC competition, and they will win games...

SLIAC frosh that have already impressed:
Webster : Wilcox, Ettienne, Crespo, Macias
Principia : Sellers
Fontbonne : Coddington, Baker, Woodcock, DeLine* (DNP last year)
Greenville : Bateman
Spalding : Holt, Bendingfield, Watts
Westminster : Brandt
Iowa Wesleyan : Fernandez, Flute

Add to that a large number of transfers in.. including Kobe Wands Westmin and White Blackburn, several at Greenville... well lots of new faces are making a huge positive impact...

The games :
Webster vs Prin... things started out right off the bat with the absence of Webster's Nigel Wilcox.. who knows.. but this changed the way Webster had to address the game.. no sky hooks from the middle they had to go with 3 guards, and this worked huge to their advantage as frosh Christian Crespo caught fire in the 2nd half from 3's (3-3) finishing with 24 points...and with the middle opened up, Tankins and Etienne had a little more room to work, both scoring double digits... Josh Johnson added 19 points, but shot selection, well, remains questionable... BUT  this game was more a story of Prin giving it away.. They looked dominant in the first half, particularly Tre goodman who powered his way to the hoop at ease, and Ross and Davidson were dominating the boards... Prin comes out cold in the 2nd half, missing numerous close in shots, and Webster takes the lead. Prin comes back retakes the lead up 8 after frosh Sellers hits a 3 pointer at 4:44 and up 7 at 3:03, Prin collapses...3 turnovers, a couple missed shots, and a Technical by Mr. Goodman puts Webster up by 6 as Tankins, Johnson and Crespo take advantage to score... then the real excitement.. Micah Paulson hits a 3 at 33 seconds, Prin fouls and Webster misses the front end of a 1 and 1.. mayhem ensues as Prin dashes the ball up court, but the ball is knocked back into the backcourt by the defense, double teams etc, and it finally pops out to Prin frosh Payton Sellers wide open on the arc.. he shoots, he scores, BUT right on the buzzer and ruled no good without argument, and it's over with a 3 point win for Webster..

SO.. I check scores on my way out to the car, and see that Fontbonne is beating Blackburn at halftime.. well, heck, let's go down to Fontbonne and see the second half... without the detail that I provided with the Webster game, yes, this one was another give away.. Fontbonne had the game won, lost a 7 point lead with turnovers and a couple of bad shots... but the ending was SAD...Fontbonne up 5 with 50 seconds, BC hits a big 3 to cut it to two, Fontbonne doesn't use the clock, misses a quick shot, BC comes down and pushes the ball easily into Big man Malcomb Scott who scores the bunny to tie with 10 seconds left.. Fontbonne pushes the ball down court and calls timeout with 5 seconds... the out of bounds play appears to be setup to go inside to big man Jamahl Wilburn, but when that is not open, a Fontbonne Guard rushes to the ball for the inbound pass, and fumbles it out of bounds... BC ball 4 seconds, ball goes into Karsten Hayes who powers the ball to the basket almost uncontested (GEESH.. HELP DEFENSE) the ball hangs on the rim for a split second and falls through at the buzzer....

The transformation of Blackburn's Malcombe Scott.... I didn't even recognize him!!! I don't know how he and Blackburn did it, but he is now a legit 6"8" low post offensive threat... just stunning the difference from a couple years ago!!!

That's enough for now... Greenville shocks at Westmin, Spalding has not problems beating Brock Butler (Drey and Johnson disappeared... I don't get it), and Eureka hammers the tumbling MacMurray team  (Feehan and Thomas combine for 65 points, one less than Mac's total output)...

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ Great description of the WU-Prin game. I think some Webster defensive adjustments early in the game (from man to zone) helped slow down Goodman on his penetration, though Prin found other ways into the zone. I wasn't paying attention to the Gorlok defense the whole game, but they played well enough.

BTW, the Westminster- Greenville game was at Greenville.

[WUPHF]

I think some Webster defensive adjustments early in the game (from man to zone) helped slow down Goodman on his penetration, though Prin found other ways into the zone. I wasn't paying attention to the Gorlok defense the whole game, but they played well enough.

At a point in the first half, it seemed as though Goodman decided to feed the post on those drives.  He registered 5 assists in this way, but Webster caught on and forced 5 Goodman turnovers. 

I said this at the game, but I could not have been more impressed with Parker Davidson.  I was surprised that he finished with only 11 rebounds.  I thought for sure he had more.

[hopefan]

Not sure that this will change plans of any SLIAC board readers, but this Thursday's game  St L Christian at Principia has been cancelled...  STL Christian is not fielding a team this fall...  that means only 2 games during the week, St Louis Pharma at Fontbonne on Tuesday and Robert Morris Peoria at Webster on Thursday... then a full slate of SLIAC matchups on Saturday..