MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Barber Greene]

WW prevails in a game where the teams just simply could not put the opponent away.  EC shooting a 1-1 with 6sec left and a 2 point lead.  The FT is missed and after a TO, Manchester takes a pass at half court and eventually gets fouled almost making the shot.  He calmly makes the FTs. 

In the 1st OT, WW only cans 1 of 2 FTs to make it a 3 point game.  WW plays great defense, but Ryan throws a prayer, with someone right in his face, that banks in to send the game to a 2nd OT. 

Craig Anderson hit four three pointers for the Hawks in clutch situations. Great game by Craig.

[bulk19]

Wow - gentlemen, I have witnessed a lot, and I mean a lot, of D3 hoops since the 1970s, and I must say tonight's UWEC-Whitewater games was one of the most entertaining I have ever seen. Blugolds played their hearts out, and gave the Hawks all they could handle. Hawks showed why they are at the top of the standings; they took all the punches and came away with the W.

Game came down to a few mistakes on the Blugolds' part - they didn't box out on a crucial few plays that could have won the game for them... Sorry, but my mind is a blur as to when they all happened, since it was a double-OT game, but they let the Hawks score a go-ahead hoop once on a FT they missed... Hawks boarded well all night.....

'Golds couldn't stop Toellner until he was on the bench, having fouled out.  Craig Anderson hit 4-6 on his threes, all crucial, all daggers.... Tyler Birkel had 6 of his 8 points in the first half; he had a whale of a first half on senior night, as the lone senior on the team...

Either team could have put the other away, had they both not shot about 50 percent on FTs for the night. If I remember correctly, Manchester missed his two previous pair of FTs in regulation earlier, before he calmly hit the two with .1 on the clock to tie it up...

I forget when it happened, at the end of one of the periods, Zack Ryan gets whistled on an offensive charge, which kept the 'Hawks alive... My editorial, homerism comment of the night - foul shouldn't have been called in that situation... let them play; they were banging around all night, and it was too bad that it had to come down to that... OK, done ranting....    

But his three-pointer with 3 seconds left in the first OT was one of the most incredible shots I have ever seen. He was falling away, sort of a desperation, flailing hookshot between two Hawks.  Amazing...        

I believe, if I heard the postgame radio comments correctly, we'll do it all again on Tuesday in Whitewater...

Oh, and it dawned on me between games of the DH that when I figured out dual conference winners (hoops/football), I took the winners from the WIAC board. But for hoops it just lists one year for each season, meaning, I think, the 1981 season would be the one ending in the spring??? and the football season would be from the fall??? So I may have goofed up by listing conference champs in the same calendar year, but not same academic year... if that makes any sense...    Might have to redo that, if anyone is interested...

[Brian Carroll]

    It was a great college basketball game tonight at Mitchell Hall. Adam Chandler hit a "3" from the corner with 1 second left to cap a determined comeback effort, as Stout stunned La Crosse 71-68. The Eagles played an almost perfect first half, and led 45-28 at halftime. The lead reached the low 20s in the second half util Stout came back over the last 10 minutes. In my view, the Stout press was the key to the comeback. La Crosse struggled a bit with the pressure, and lost confidence as the dogged, determined Devils crawled back. Almost 1200 fans, including a large Stout contingent, saw an excellent game.

[uww4ever]

Thanks Brian for the recap, sounds like a great game in LC.  Should be an exciting, well played tournament and EC/WW starts us off with teams needing to win the tourney to get into the playoffs.  Maybe WW should get an automatic bid because they won a league that is balanced top to bottom (well, not really w/ Superior) but as we have seen in Eau Claire, any team can beat any team on any given night.

[Pat Coleman]

This season, Bauer has been hampered by plantar fasciitis, but he's been a great senior leader. 

Plus-1 to you for spelling plantar fasciitis correctly.

[Just Bill]

After Whitewater has to fight and scratch for every point to eek out a win over Eau Claire, I'm sure their first thought was "Hey, let's play these guys again in three days!" 

[bulk19]

Wow - Nearly 1,200 in Mitchell Hall for the UWL-Stout game. That's awesome...

Bet they haven't had that many in there since, well, since maybe some track stuff or rain during the state high school track meet, or halftime of a football game. Congrats on the fans there... 500 for the women, too... Good to see that...

Hope they fill it up for Monday's games; the Eagles have played hard this season, and have had some success on the hardwood, for the first time since maybe when they were called the Indians, and deserve to have a good crowd turn out for their efforts this season...

Do the men play Oshkosh? That has the makings of a great game... UWL has a chance to notch its 20th win on the year, and if they get that, and say, they lose the next tourney game, they would finish 20-7. Enough to make it to the Big Dance??? Or, do they have to win out???

Back to the UWEC-UWW game - They say it's hard to be a team three times in a season... But perhaps this game was a wake-up call for the Hawks, and the Blugolds.... well, the tank might be empty??? We'll see...

[John Gleich]

I would be remiss if I did not mention the "star" of UWSP's Senior Night tonight.  Will Atkinson, Point's manager for the last four seasons had his Senior Night as well tonight and got a chance to both dress and play this evening.  Though he did not score, he played 3 minutes and took four shots.  Will has been the glue in the Pointer program, being the guy who did all the little things and got none of the credit.  Will gets the gym ready for games (cleaning the backboards), cleans the locker room and lays out players' uniforms, films the games and it hard at work for all team functions.  He has received the team's Servant-hood award each of the last 3 seasons, and he's a shoe-in this year as well.  Will is a class act and a really selfless guy... the Pointer program will miss his hard work.  Thanks Will!

[John Gleich]

Here's the rundown for the seeds:

1. Whitewater
2. Stout
3. Point
4. Oshkosh
5. La Crosse
6. Platteville
7. River Falls
8. Eau Claire

So, #8 EC goes to #1 Whitewater
#7 RF goes to #2 Stout
#6 Platteville goes to #3 Point (GULP!)
and #5 La Crosse goes to #4 Oshkosh

This should be a great tournament.  Every lower seed has either beaten or come very close to beating the top seed... should be VERY interesting...

[laxeagles1]

brian, had to work tonight so i couldn't be at the game.  heard i missed a good one...........was there a nice student sectiont here?  more than in the past games this season?

[John Gleich]

Oh, and by the way (and I'll stop posting after this one, I swear!)

Point beat Superior tonight 85-56.

This game was 26-25 Point with 4:01 left in the first half, and Point outscored Superior 60-31 the rest of the way.

All Pointers but one scored, as 1932 fans got to see the Pointer's in action.  It's been a pleasure for me to watch this Point team be lead by the few veterans and for the young kids to really buy into the whole team concept.  I hope that the run can continue all the way through next week!!

Who would have thought that this team, with so many inexperienced players would be right in the conference race going into the last week of the season?  Pointer fan's believed, and the ball continues to roll!

[chmarx]

LAXEagles, I was at the game with Brian.  Yes, I'd say that there was a good student section.  The crowd was really into the game.

In addition to Mr. Carroll's astute analysis, I'd note that La Crosse shot abysmally during the last ten minutes.  We were particularly atrocious from the free throw line during that period.

On the other hand, you have to give Stout credit.  They played very hard, didn't give up when it looked hopeless, and flat wanted it more than La Crosse.

[titansrus]

Actually Point Special, Oshkosh is the 4th seed and hosts La Crosse. Shot by Stout helps Titans immensely and gives them home game in first round. I'm sure Mr. Downtown can explain how they won tiebreaker over Eagles, or anyone else for that matter, except for me, cuz I'm up way too late to think straight right now.

[John Gleich]

You're totally right titansrus, my bad.  After the first tiebreaker (head to head) it goes to the second (record against teams ahead) and Oshkosh split with Whitewater, while La Crosse dropped both.

I should have checked before I posted... I thought I read somewhere that Oshkosh's position couldn't improve, clearly that was incorrect, or I misinterpreted.  I'll change my post.

[Brian Carroll]

  LaxEagles#1: Yes, as my friend Chmarx pointed out, the students had a very good turnout Saturday. It is gratifying to see a little interest in the program. I would be interested in any insight you may have into raising the program's profile among the student body. Plainly, winning games is the bggest thing, but perhaps there are others. I think a pep band would be a nice touch. Back in the 70's, the band played at all the games, 2000 fans would attend, and it was really a hoot. If that can be replicated in these times, you'll have to come back and see what fun it can be. On another topic, it'll be tough for our heroes to forget the loss to Stout in time to run the table in the tourney. We can only hope. One thing: if they play as they did in the first half, nobody beats them. They need to play a whole game, obviously.