MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[fcnews]

Hoggat and Niebrugge don't appear in the WU recap. Can't find boxscore. Hmmm. Yjak you got anything?

[fcnews]

Blackburn shot the ball extremely well today 9-19 from behind the arc. Leading the way for the Beavers was Tommy Baro's 17 pts. (5-6 3's) and Doehring 10 pts. Fournie held Waters to 3 pts. during his duty, Bryan had another 4 late in the game.

FU had four in double figures. Fogerty 20, Storandt 18, Branch 17 and Abozen 14. Chad Fournie had 9 points and 11 rebounds (8 offensive). Abozen has now played 85 minutes with only 1 turnover. The Griffin's only had 8 turnovers.

Big game Wednesday night.

[WU_SID]

Hoggatt and Niebrugge only had five points apiece. Niebrugge went down with an injury early in the second half and didn't return. It wasn't pretty but the guys found a way to pull it out. Prin came to play today especially Zimmerman with 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting and was 6-of-8 from downtown.

[BunchTime]

Hey, as they always say, a win's a win!  Some games are going to be like that, and I am just happy that they pulled it out!

[WU_SID]

I think people sometimes forget how tough it is when you get to conference play and start playing teams the second time around. The teams at the bottom of the league will always try and knock off the big dogs in the spoilers role. At this time of year you just have to find ways to win night in and night out because even the bad teams will make you earn it if you show up not ready to play.

[y_jack_lok]

I haven't looked at his conference only stats, but based on today's performance against Webster, Principia's Todd Zimmerman could be another candidate for NoY. The big bucket of the game was a 3 by Turk with the score tied at 60 and just under a minute to go. Turk had a bad shooting day, but hit one at the right time. Free throws the rest of the way were the difference. With the score  67-60 and not much time left Prin's Zimmerman hit a 3 from beyond NBA range. A very impressive performance by the young man.

[y_jack_lok]

Impressive shooting by Eureka today -- 57%, 24-42. They took 27 fewer shots than Maryville but made one more.

[pantherpride06]

Final from Jacksonville, Ill.

Greenville 83, MacMurray 70 (Final)

Wow.  Per conversation tonight with someone, I talked about the Panthers and didn't think they could fight to get into the fourth spot, even after this win.  HOWEVER, i looked at the box score and grinned from ear to ear.  What I had been talking about all season happened today.  Do you remember what it was?

Fine, I'll tell you.  The Panthers got production out of all five starters, attesting for all but eight Greenville points.  Christopher Simmons was a MONSTER today with a double double, five assist, three steals, and a block.  WOW!  Greenville Comet Stephen "Master of the" Groves shined today with 15, and LaPhonso Ellis knocked the Highlanders down with 20.

If I sound excited, I am.  Greenville had some consistency out of the starters, which is huge for what the Panthers are trying to do.  It looks like the Panthers played the starting five most of the game and the bench saw little time.  This is not ideal by all means, however the five on the floor today, with exception to Ben Hensold, are going to be the boys to get Greenville back to the Championship Tournament for the first time this decade.  Panthers have not been since 1999 when they bowed out to #5 Webster in the first round.

If the Panthers can continue what they did with some help from Hensold and quality relief minutes from the bench, Greenville looks to be headed in the right direction.  Don't stumble down the stretch.  I've watch too much of that in the last two weeks here in the West.

GO PANTHERS!!!

[sully309]

Eureka 71, Maryville 70 (OT)

I dropped some hints to Hopefan directly after the game played at Maryville earlier this season, and I told anyone that would listen to me that (though I didn't post here to provide bulletin board material) EC could beat Maryville at home the 2nd go-round. Well, it wasn't easy, that's for sure.

The fact this was a huge game and close down the stretch masked how ugly the play was for the most part. There were 48 combined turnovers and some bad losses of concentration by both teams.

Maryville was sluggish at the start and is seemed Coach Rogers was searching his bench to find someone to light a fire under his team. I believe it was less than 10 minutes into the game that 12 players had played in the game for MU.

Just like the first match up, Maryville fired away from 3-point range. This time, they only made 6 out of 34. Their 13 missed free throws didn't help either. The Saints did an outstanding job on the offensive glass, getting an obscene 26 offensive boards against Eureka's 24 defensive rebounds.

The Red Devils did some nice things as well. Mainly, Zasada had an awesome game with 20 pts, 12 reb. and 7 steals. McComb played well again, but oddly left his 3-point shot at home for the day. Wildenradt, Beecher and especially Darnall have had much better games. Wildenradt and Darnall both made some clutch plays however to pull this one out.  EC also got some contributions from McCoy, Black and Kowalski off the bench.

Kowalski made a free throw to tie the game with 49 sec. left in regulation.  McCoy ran over an EC player planted in the lane for an offensive foul, but EC turned it over on the last possession to send it to OT.

After Zasada fouled out, EC took a 3 point lead, but Curtis Goodwin tied it with a three. McCoy and McComb made shots for EC for a 4 point lead, but Nick Hentis nearly had a chance for a 4 point play when he was touched on the arm on a 3-point attempt. The shot missed but he made all 3 free throws. Darnall then went to the line, but EC was called for a lane violation when Kowalski went too far toward the EC bench after Darnall got the ball from the ref. He then missed the free throw, but Goodwin missed what would have been a game-winning shot.

No big surprises on who won in the SLIAC, but Principia gave Webster a big scare. I think Webster had some trouble with them the 1st time as well. Fontbonne took care of business, but it sounds like they will have to take on Webster at less than full strength yet again. Greenville had a great offensive showing at Mac. Pantherpride has every right to be excited about the GC's chances.  The Panthers have had an excellent patch of 3 games.

Great match ups this week...

[fcnews]

Looking towards Wednesday night game between WU and FU. McCoy will be evaluated on Monday, If it was this posters decision I would not play Patrick either way. With the way the conference has transpired there really is no reason to take a chance in pressing him back into action. FU is a solid #2, worst case #3.

FU will not be crippled without him. Let's look at the production out of Aby Abozen in his two starts. Averaging 10 ppg, 3-8 from 3's, 4 rpg. and 85 minutes and only 1 turnover. He will do just fine. The Griffin's would like to be at full strength, but that's basketball.

Fogerty has been putting up POY type stats since missing the first WU game. Storandt has back to back games of 17 and 18. Fournie will stop whoever his assignment might be. Dressler has shown he can play valuble minutes and is a defensive specialist, that can alter shots.

If McCoy plays or doesn't, WU will still need to shoot the ball well from the perimeter. The game will be alot closer then the first contest without Fogerty. And, FU has always played well at WU.

Whatever the outcome is, it will assure a SLIAC Post Season Tourney again in the STL this year.

One thing you can bank on, McCoy will be at full strength if there is a third match up. And, Abozen will be alot more seasoned for the run to the tourney title. This team has won 12 in a row and they think they can win the conference title. That's all that counts.

[fcnews]

"Possibly the most sought after Division III prospect in the state of Illinois is now off the board, as Stevenson High School's Dylan Richter has committed to Washington University in St. Louis."

(PS The above is an enormous exaggeration, as are most things written on these recruiting sites!   I can name 15 more sought after D3 prospects off the top of my head - it's just that the kids and the sites have no idea they are "D3 prospects" quite yet...everyone is "D1" until about April 1!)


For persective, #78 Matt Toth has a ride to D2 Lewis as does #86 Marty Strus, and #88 Kevin Stineman will be heading to D2 SIU-E on a scholarship.

Sounds like Fontbonne landed a good player.

I thought with all the discussion earlier, about recruiting the local players. My post about FU's first signing would of got a comment out of at least one of the SLIAC posters. This is the kind of player we were discussing, wasn't it?

Thanks for your post Titan Q.

[hopefan]

Point 1   Abozen should be a serious candidate for SLIAC player of the week  -  from not playing at all, per Coach McKinney's limited bench use policy (now FC, before you get mad, that is in line with the play your best players policy advocated by most writers in this room), to playing 85 minutes in two wins and obviously fitting right in, it's virtually unheard of.

Point 2  FC  hard to get to worked up regarding D3 recruiting in the middle of the SLIAC season  -  that enthusiasm is usually reserved for the post season.  However, I will say what came to mind was this could be what Fontbonne needed for an immediate replacement for Fournie. If he can make the quick adjustment from HS to D3, and I assume he has that typical tough nosed Lisch mentality, it could be the icing on the cake.

Now then, this is the kind of kid who could play very well in the SLIAC  -  he plays on a big school team and is a good player  -  his stats however, are clearly not the stats of a D1 player.  They don't seem to match up with the description that TQ found for us...
he averages 9 pts per game, shoots 50% from 2, 33% from 3, 43% overall....  80% from the line, but only 2 attempts per game,  51 turnovers vs 36 assists, but 37 steals.
The intrinsics are the best stat, he's in a basketball family and knows how to play, and what it takes to win  -he will be great for the Fontbonne program

[fcnews]

Aby was the third string point guard. Rapp, the second string, was getting 14-16 minutes a game, till his injury in his first starting game at Mac. Coach knew what he had in Abozen. He was recruited hard by FU year before last out of Ladue. It has taken him a little longer to get himself back into game shape.

[hopefan]

Huge week in the SLIAC - many games that are big in the standings

Wednesday night 
Fontbonne at Webster - Can the Griffs get back to even with Webster by winning on the road

Westminster at Maryville  -  if Westmin loses, they immediately become a member of the middle pack rather than the top group.  They no longer would be a given for a playoff spot. Conversely, a win for Maryville would catch them up to Greenville..   In reality, this is as important in the standings as the WU-FU game.

Eureka at Blackburn   -  Eureka in a should win/must win situation


Saturday 

Maryville at Greenville  -  monster game for playoff status

Eureka at Fontbonne  -  huge opportunity for Eureka to get into playoff picture.


Say what you want about the SLIAC Massey standings - they have great competition for the conference playoffs....

[fcnews]

Hopefan - No one claimed D1 player. Definately has D2 skills. He is not playing in the same type of system as his brother did at Althoff. It's hard to put up glossy stats when your team seems to like the game in the 40's. He is already accustomed to the weight room. I'd say honest 6'2 and 170 and as fundementally sound as any guard that has entered FU in awhile.

We won't talk about throwing him into the fire just yet. But, he does play defense as well as Fournie and same type of build. A sweet left handed stroke. He will fill a void at the point, vacated by McCoy next year. It will make the bench a bit deeper next year and give the guards a "little" more rest.

FU should be able to release another name this time next week. The rumors of Coach McKinney's retirement plans are obviously hushed.