MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Augustana 69
Illinois Wesleyan 67

Augie bounced back from a 16-point deficit in the first half to pull out the victory.

[Mr. Ypsi]

What a pair of streaks at the end in Rock Island.  From 6+ to 2+ remaining, Augie scored 14 straight points to go from -6 to +8.  The Titans then scored 8 straight, with Sexauer tying the game with 9 seconds remaining.  Alas (in my view ), Kyle Nelson had a buzzer-beating put-back to pull out the win.

Greg, NOW I admit the regular-season title race is all over.

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage really outplayed NPU tonight. The Red Men clamped down on the boards at the defensive end and prevented the Vikings from doing what they usually do on the offensive boards. Since NPU was ice-cold from everywhere outside of about eight feet tonight -- 0-8 from downtown, and nearly all of the midrange shots refused to drop as well -- it was either get a layup or lose the possession for the Vikes. Since they only shot 39% from the field, that's too few layups to win the game.

NPU did cut the lead down to a dozen with seven minutes and change left, but Steve D. shifted nto another gear and put the game away. Max Cary came back from injury and really played outstanding for the Red Men.

A very disappointing effort for North Park, which just can't seem to put two good games back-to-back.

[Gregory Sager]

Champions find a way to win games like that, Chuck. I can remember a night in '87 when Augie, which wasn't very good that year, jumped out to a 23-5 lead on North Park in the crackerbox. Some stocky 6'5 guy named Tony Taylor who was basically a flash-in-the-pan for Augie was simply unstoppable that night. NPC calmly and slowly chipped away at the lead and battled back to win, 88-81. It was the sort of gut-check performance that let everyone know that North Park really had something special that year, as the Vikes went on to win their fifth national title.

Most nights, you dominate. Some nights you scratch one out, even in your own gym. But champions find a way to do it.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Champions find a way to win games like that, Chuck. I can remember a night in '87 when Augie, which wasn't very good that year, jumped out to a 23-5 lead on North Park in the crackerbox. Some stocky 6'5 guy named Tony Taylor who was basically a flash-in-the-pan for Augie was simply unstoppable that night. NPC calmly and slowly chipped away at the lead and battled back to win, 88-81. It was the sort of gut-check performance that let everyone know that North Park really had something special that year, as the Vikes went on to win their fifth national title.

Most nights, you dominate. Some nights you scratch one out, even in your own gym. But champions find a way to do it.

Quite true.  But you had already declared the regular season race over a few days ago.  20 minutes ago, I would have said "the race is on"!

Now, alas, it is over.

[Gregory Sager]

Champions find a way to win games like that, Chuck. I can remember a night in '87 when Augie, which wasn't very good that year, jumped out to a 23-5 lead on North Park in the crackerbox. Some stocky 6'5 guy named Tony Taylor who was basically a flash-in-the-pan for Augie was simply unstoppable that night. NPC calmly and slowly chipped away at the lead and battled back to win, 88-81. It was the sort of gut-check performance that let everyone know that North Park really had something special that year, as the Vikes went on to win their fifth national title.

Most nights, you dominate. Some nights you scratch one out, even in your own gym. But champions find a way to do it.

Quite true.  But you had already declared the regular season race over a few days ago.

It was, as far as I was concerned. Even when Augie was down by sixteen, I knew that the Doggies were going to win tonight's game.

(Everyone's no doubt gonna roll their eyes and say, "Yeah, Sager, suuure you did," when they read that , but it's true. I honestly knew that Augie was going to come back, particularly since the big IWU lead was so early in the game.)

[Titan Q]

Home win = +0
Road win = +1
Home loss = -1
Road loss = +0


+/- Standings through 1/26
Augustana +2
North Central +2
Illinois Wesleyan +1
Wheaton +1
Carthage +0
Elmhurst -2
Millikin -2
North Park -2

(Usually takes +4 to win the title)

[Gregory Sager]

The one good thing that I take out of tonight's lackluster performance by NPU was that Walid Mouzaoui looked both comfortable and effective out on the floor tonight. He came in when Emanuel Crosby was forced to go to the bench with his second foul midway through the first half, and he looked smooth in the post on offense rather than herky-jerky. He's now starting to use his feet more than his upper body when he's getting position with his back to the basket. And he made no dumb fouls on defense. It's good to see him make some progress and justify the minutes that he's getting.

[Titan Q]

Sounded like a heck of a game in Rock Island.  Once again, rebounding seemed to be the deciding factor...including on Augie's game-winning shot.

[spencer1988]

Nice to see that kind of heart in the Titan's down 8 late and coming back to tie it up.  Playing Augie so close at Rock Island is less impressive than the determination at the end to come back from a 14 to 1 run.   Nice job Titans.

Good job to North Central.  They continue to log some conference victories.

[augiefan]

Actually Augie was pretty lucky to win tonight's game.It should not have been this close on their home court.  The pressure of an undefeated season is possibly starting to get to them. 11-19 from the FT line almost did them in coupled with IWU shooting 50% from the field for the game (approx. 67% in the first half). In the end Augie's best player saved the day, as is so often the case.

As for the conference race being over, I would say not so fast with 7 games to go. Augie has 5 of its last 7 games on the road, and NCC is only 2 games behind and gets Augie at home in the second half as do IWU and Wheaton. I predict Augie ends the conference season with 2 maybe 3 losses. Probably still good enough for 1st, but not a certainty. It's going to be a challenge for IWU, Wheaton and Carthage with 3 losses each to catch Augie, but at a minimum they appear to be the teams competing for the final two conference tourney spots.

Just thankful they pulled this one out, as the Titans always play Augie tough at Carver. I imagine there was a lot of green in the crowd tonight, as the Titan faithful frequently challenge the blue and gold in attendance for these weekday games in RI.

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton 69
Millikin 55

[rvb909400]

For stat lovers out there, here are some from the Augie - IWU game.

First 12 minutes - IWU was up 30-15.
                    IWU   Augie
2pt               70%     43% -- IWU was 7-10, Augie was 6-14
3pt              100%    20%  -- IWU was 4-4, Augie was 1-5
Total Reb        7         8
OR                 0         5

Last 28 minutes - Augie outscores IWU 54-37.
                    IWU   Augie
2pt               52%    56%
3pt               24%    36%
Total Reb       18       30
OR                 5        12

[rvb909400]

Also, by my count,

2nd chance points
Augie - 21
IWU   -  2 

[Viking Mike]

Augiefan,

IWU had a good following tonight (the usual coach bus of fans) but 90% of the 2000 plus fans were Viking fans. 

Augie came out slow and seemed to feel the pressure after falling behind IWU 8-2 and 22-11.  Shots seemed rushed and they just were not falling.  The Titans were aggressive on defense and played the passing lanes getting multiple steals from errant passes.  A key point in the game was when IWU went up 16 near the end of the first half.  Augie went on a 8-0 run to get a little momentum back amd stay in the game.

The second half was a different story.  The Vikings played some tough defense and held the Titans scoreless for large chunks of time.  Our offensive rebounding gave us mult opportunities to score when
we had diff getting the ball in the basket.

IWU is, as usual, a very tough team.  They always seem to rise to the occasion when playing us in Rock Island.  (They love to get an early lead on us at Carver!)  I am sure this was not the effort they gave in a 10 plus loss at North Park last Saturday.  They will be a tough out in the CCIW tourney, esp when Rosenberg returns!

What a amazing night at Carver!  The students and Quad City locals really came out and supported the Vikings.   Students standing the whole game.  Standing room only around the second level.  It was deafening at times with excitement.  This is what Div 3 basketball is all about.  It easily rivaled the Wash U / Augie game a couple yrs ago when both teams came in at #1 and 2 respectively in the nation.

Go Vikings....... keep working hard to improve.  The road will get tougher very soon!