MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Kyle Wuest is channeling Ryan Knuppel tonight. A running three-pointer with three seconds left in OT forces a second OT at Schuldes. It's 81-all.

UWSP is about to win by 30 over CUW.

[Gregory Sager]

SNC coast-to-coast layup waved off at the buzzer. Triple overtime!

[Gregory Sager]

But, Q, both of us were wrong -- who knew that Marietti could play D so well that far from the basket, stay in front of Norris and keep him out of the lane.

Good grief, Mark. You're seriously making that out to be something that it wasn't. Marietti played a good five feet off of Norris on the perimeter and practically dared Norris to take jumpers. He did. They didn't go in. Good strategy, but it's simply not accurate of you to make Marietti sound like he's some sort of fleet-footed defensive wizard away from the basket.

Really a great job -- both Marietti and Seibring, too, taking those charges.  I know several don't satisfy Greg, but they surely made a huge difference in the game, turning Dubuque the other direction, and having Norris sitting on the bench a good part of the first half.

No. They didn't make a lick of difference, Mark. Dubuque was going to need to shoot as well as it usually does from the field (about 45% FG and 35% trey), and probably better than that, to beat a clearly better IWU team. Instead, the Spartans shot an anemic 28% and 19%, missing a ton of open jumpers. Another five or six minutes of PT for Norris wouldn't have mattered at all.

[hopefan]

Hope the CCIW world is watching... WHAT A GAME!!!

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst 110
St. Norbert 98

Great game in what sounded like a great atmosphere at Schuldes.

[Mr. Ypsi]

And, unless Northwestern can pull out back-to-back miracles, Elmhurst should be headed to the Sweet Sixteen.  Predicted attendance tomorrow night: 47.

[Titan Q]

That Elmhurst/SNC game was one of the best games I have ever watched.  Wow.

Great win for Elmhurst!!

[Titan Q]

IWU 72
Dubuque 53

* Bryce Dolan: 16 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists (5-8 3-point)
* Trevor Seibring: 14 points, 11 rebounds
* Mike Marietti: 12 points, 4 rebounds (6-8 FG)
* Pat Sodemann: 10 points, 5 rebounds

http://www.iwusports.com/boxscore.aspx?id=3432&path=mbball

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/titans-dispatch-norris-dubuque-for-first-round-ncaa-win/article_9cd5f4c6-d300-5c06-a9fb-e97ddc56693a.html

http://www.stationcaster.com/player_skinned.php?s=711&c=3911&f=4096853

IWU certainly didn't play a perfect game, but I thought the Titans played really well overall.  Trevor Seibring was outstanding in the first half - he had 10 points and 9 rebounds at the break, and drew two significant fouls on Andre Norris, sending him to the bench early.  Seibring is really coming on quickly.

Mike Marietti was good as well.  IWU got 26 points and 15 rebounds from their starting posts.

Bryce Dolan continues to shoot the heck out of it - 5-8 from 3 tonight.  He's really a pure shooter.

IWU did a really nice job defensively tonight.  The Titans turned Dubuque into a jump shooting team, and that was the goal coming in. On the offensive end, the Titans also did exactly what they wanted to, which was to pound the ball inside early.

Ron Rose has guided IWU to 20+ wins in 6 consecutive seasons now.

[Gregory Sager]

The 'jays simply outlasted SNC in this marathon. Gary Grzesk only goes seven deep in his rotation, and it's well-nigh impossible to beat a team as deep and as good as Elmhurst over the course of 55 minutes of basketball if you're only playing seven. Steven Hofacker of the Green Knights was just a step slow rotating over from the weak side to help under the basket at the start of the third overtime, and he ended up fouling Kyle Wuest for an and-one that Wuest converted. Hofacker was close enough for him to have cut off Wuest under normal game conditions, but making that play's just asking too much of a 6'8, 230 guy who'd played 42 minutes at that point. It was his fifth foul. About a minute later Eric Leonard knocked down a trey to put EC up by six, and it seemed pretty clear that the Green Knights just didn't have enough gas left in the tank to come back in the third extra session.

Wuest, who had 32 points, was the star of the game -- his running trey forced the second overtime, and he made some huge drives to the basket down the stretch in regulation as well. Erik Crittenden (16 pts) and Will Nixon (13 and 11) were stout up front, Leonard was an X factor off of the bench with 17, and Bryant Ackerman contributed 14 and 7 before fouling out. But the unsung hero was Nathan Rogers. The lone non-junior in the Elmhurst rotation, he had fine numbers off of the bench (12 and 8), but sometimes it's when you score that matters more than how many you score. With about nine and a half minutes left in regulation, SNC had gone on an eight-point run to stake out a nine-point lead -- the biggest lead either team managed in regulation -- at 56-47, and it felt like a gut-check moment for the 'jays. But over the course of the next two minutes, Rogers scored seven points to SNC's one, and grabbed a couple of rebounds as well. That narrowed the hosts' lead to 57-54, and a pair of Ackerman FTs then put Elmhurst down by only a point. St. Norbert never again managed to get back that three-possession lead.

It's the kind of sequence that can get lost over the course of a triple-overtime game, but it was nevertheless huge. I guess that Elmhurst is more than just a collection of juniors.

Big tip of the hat to a very solid St. Norbert team that gave it everything it had tonight, and then some.

And, unless Northwestern can pull out back-to-back miracles, Elmhurst should be headed to the Sweet Sixteen.

Don't speak too soon, Chuck. Elmhurst has to have some very tired legs.

[Greek Tragedy]

And, unless Northwestern can pull out back-to-back miracles, Elmhurst should be headed to the Sweet Sixteen.  Predicted attendance tomorrow night: 47.

I will take the under. 

[iwu70]

Congrats to Elmhurst on a great win, 3 OTs.  Hope they have some legs, some gas left for Saturday.   Congrats to John Baines and his crew.

Greg, just disagree with you on Marietti, as he moved well, blocked Norris' path to the lane a number of times.  Not bad for a 6'8" 240 lb. 5.  Seibring also played well in the post area, blocking shots, taking charges.  We were all concerned about IWU's bigs going into this season, but esp. Marietti, Seibring and Bausch have been pretty good, solid and productive all season.  Let's hope Coyle rebounds too and has a good tournament.  Nelson back on the floor now and Nelms getting some quality minutes giving Overstreet some short rests.

IWU, on the other hand, will face a packed hall, very hostile crowd at Point.  They looked truly awesome tonight against an admittedly weak foe.

Let's hope 3 CCIW teams in the Sweet Sixteen.  That would be sweet.

IWU70

[Titan Q]

Greg, just disagree with you on Marietti, as he moved well, blocked Norris' path to the lane a number of times.  Not bad for a 6'8" 240 lb. 5. 

Marietti did a really nice job defensively tonight on Norris.

[veterancciwfan]

IWU will need all their weapons tomorrow against a very well-coached and talented WI-SP. Big crowd tonight for 2nd game. I won't list them, but IWU's record on road in D3 tournament against very good teams (including #1 teams) is extraordinary, especially in the Ron Rose era. Rose now 15-5 in D3 tourney games. Not quite Bo Ryanesque, but not a bad imitation. I expect a much better game tomorrow for Overstreet. I can see Ron Rose shortening his rotation. Good to see Coyle and Nelson contribute, especially the latter. IWU needs the type of game played at Augustana on Jan. 21, an 89-84 win in which IWU shot over 55% in each half and played the very rare 40 minute complete game against Augustana which, if you believe in stats, played better in defeat than winning vs. Whitewater in December in 2 OTs. I think Augustana and Whitewater were tied in regulation at 74. Chance for the CCIW to place 3 in Sweet 16, but, on paper, IWU seems to have the most difficult chore.  A WI-SP fan complained to me about the refs for the IWU/Dubuque game as they were same ones who called many WIAC games this year. But those will not be on the floor tomorrow. As I understand it, regular CCIW and WIAC refs are not allowed to call D3 tourney games in which those conf. schools play. I could be wrong about this.

[Gregory Sager]

As I understand it, regular CCIW and WIAC refs are not allowed to call D3 tourney games in which those conf. schools play. I could be wrong about this.

That's correct.

[iwumichigander]

As I understand it, regular CCIW and WIAC refs are not allowed to call D3 tourney games in which those conf. schools play. I could be wrong about this.

That's correct.

yes, and it maybe interesting to see whom gets assigned to officiate the game