MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

It's 1:25 AM Saturday morning and North Central's Brian Evans (I think) just made a 3 pt bomb from near half court at the buzzer ending the 1st half of the Cardinals game against host D2 Hawaii-Hilo. Unfortunately it only narrowed the deficit from 18 pts to 15 pts as they go into the break down 46-31. Hawaii-Hilo made 8 triples of their own in the 1st half and maintained a double digit lead for much of the period.

After trailing by as much as 20 on a couple of occasions, the NCC Cardinals had a chance to topple D2 Hawaii-Hilo before finally coming out on the short end of a 97-87 Saturday night shootout on the Big Island.
Largely accounting for the NC defeat were atrocious (55%) FT shooting combined with a porous perimeter defense that allowed the hosts to bank 14 three balls. The Cardinals missed the front end of critical one + one FTs three times in the second half during which they knocked the home team's lead down to 8. Its perhaps an oversimplification, but if the Cards could have hit 70 percent of their FTs and held the opposition to a still hefty 11 3 pointers, they would have attained a very nice win. With a very young team, the Cardinals are showing signs of jelling and coming together as they develop a chemistry that will allow them to develop into a cohesive team more capable of generating wins rather than "good" losses. And while its certainly open to speculation and debate, I strongly feel that if the Cards were to replay their season opening 4 losing games at this juncture, that they would win at least 3 of those contests.  
We all know its difficult to win with a young team which the Cardinals definitely are. But, there are encouraging signs that their emerging talent and chemistry will produce positive results in future contests.
Speaking of emerging talent, NCC was lead in scoring for the 2nd game in a row by freshman CJ Goldthree with 23. Living up to his name, CJ drained 6 of 9 treys to account for the majority of his points. He was well supported by Kevin Gillespie (5/10 threes) and Derek Raridon who each scored 15, and freshman center Jack Burchett who registered 10 points before fouling out. Brian Evans just missed a double double with 9 points to go with 10 rebounds in his usual stellar board work. Frosh Landon Gamble came off the bench to contribute nicely with 7 points and 5 boards, and fellow rookie Vince Kmiec hit 2 long ones for his 6 points.  

*Before their next victory, the Cards are guaranteed another loss today. This time by 59!............... as they board their plane in Hilo where right now its 76, to return to beautiful downtown NaPPer-ville, currently basking under sunny skies at a balmy 17 degrees.       

[Wydown Blvd.]

A lot of All-Americans in those boxscores.  Chris Jeffries...Luke Kasten...Adam Dauksas...Keelan Amelianovich...Zach Freeman...Troy Ruths...Sean Wallis...Aaron Thompson.

Two really good NCAA Division III programs.

...Tyler Nading... 

[Wydown Blvd.]

Noone really posts on the UAA board... both of the fouls called in Sean Johnson's favor were bs, but makes for an even more fantastic ending... gives IWU life here in OT.

[coebball70]

Well, Massey called it, Wash U 83, IWU 75 in OT.

[Wydown Blvd.]

Massey has it being a close one today at the Fieldhouse, with WashU taking the winning nod.

IWU (7-1) 66.6 WashU (4-4) 68.8 (58%)

Yep...

[Mr. Ypsi]

WashU wins 83-75 in OT (their largest lead of the entire game).

Doug Sexauer fought to the end, fouling out while down 5 with 18 seconds to go - he finished with 19 points and 7 boards.  Sean Johnson led all scorers with 29.  Good news, bad news on John Koschnitzky - he was able to play 25 minutes off the bench, but finished with as many fouls as points (4 each).

Richter and Gay led the way for the Bears with 21 points apiece.

[WUPHF]

Merry Christmas!  Washington University wins in overtime.  Loyola loses in regulation.  I did not expect either outcome.

[sac]

Adrian 47 Millikin 29

Millikin scored 8 second half points and had 1 second half FG scored with just over 2 minutes to play.  Over 20 minutes of game time without a FG.

[Mugsy]

Adrian 47 Millikin 29

Millikin scored 8 second half points and had 1 second half FG scored with just over 2 minutes to play.  Over 20 minutes of game time without a FG.

U....G......L.....Y!!!!!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Anyone got any idea if 29 points is a record low for a CCIW team in the shot-clock era?

[Titan Q]

Wash U 83
IWU 75 (OT)

http://www.iwusports.com/custompages/MBB/MBB2011/HTML/game9.htm

It was a great game this afternoon in St. Louis.  While there are a few possessions here and there (on both ends of the floor) I'd like to have back again (from an Illinois Wesleyan perspective), in the end, I honestly can't find a lot of fault with the way the Titans played.  IWU actually played well today for the most part.  Wash U just played a tad better.

Obviously the play of the game was freshman Alan Aboona's 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.  With :06 to play, Doug Sexauer went to the line with IWU up 61-60.  He made the first to put the Titans up 2, and Wash U called timeout.  I'm sure at the point a lot of people in the gym had the same debate the people I sat with did - "If he makes it, do you foul?"  For the record, I actually said, "Make them come down and make a 3."  Sexauer made the FT, Wash U inbounded, and with about :02 on the clock the ball ended up in Aboona's hands.  A 30% 3-point shooter, Aboona spun, and launched an off-balance, fade-away 3 from the left wing.  It swished.  During that timeout if you had told me that would be the shot Wash U would get, I would have felt even better in saying, "Make them come down and make a 3."  It was one of those "tip your cap" kind of moments.  I'm sure it will also cause Ron Rose to second guess himself for the next week or so.

Overtime went all Wash U's way.  The Bears scored first, and the Titans were just never really in the OT period.

Dylan Richter (21 pts, 5 reb, 6 assists) really had a huge game.  He missed Wash U's first 3 games, and came off the bench in his first 2010-11 action at Augustana.  If Richter is ready to now become the player he has always been capable of, Wash U has every opportunity to win the UAA.  The rest of the cast is kind of "who we thought they were" -- Spencer Gay is very good, Alex Toth is solid, Caleb Knepper can shoot, and the young guards are OK.  But Richter is the difference maker.  Wash U will go as he goes this season.

IWU's biggest issue right now is that they really only have 2 scorers on the floor at any one time -- Sean Johnson and Doug Sexauer.  The other 3 guys can score, but they're not guys you consider "scorers."  And scoring in the 1st half is a lot different than scoring with 2:00 to play in a tie game...that's when you find out who your go-to guys really are.  The Titans desperately miss their third option, Jordan Zimmer - a .453 3-point shooter (107-236) through his first two seasons.  Without him, you have Johnson and Sexauer (who are really good), and then you just never really know.  Again, where that really gets exposed is down the stretch of a close game.

I rarely feel this way after an IWU loss, but while I am terribly disappointed the Titans did not find a way to win the game, I actually feel OK about the way IWU played today.  This loss certainly hurts IWU big-time, and I know it was considered  an "upset."  But I drove west confident the Titans will be right in the middle of the CCIW title race, as they were expected to be (not the favorite -- I'm actually starting to feel strongly that Augie is).  Today Wash U just played really well and earned the win. 

Jordan Zimmer is expected to see his first action during the 2 California games, and continue to ease his way back as CCIW play starts in early-January.  Getting Zimmer back will help down the road.

[dansand]

Massey is flat out wrong. A healthy IWU team beats Wash U. by at least 6 points today.

Mr. Massey begs to differ. 

[Wydown Blvd.]

Excellent recap Titan Q. I wouldn't add anything other than WashU's back-up center, Robert Burnett (sophomore) did a great job with keeping the Bears in the first half with his quick six pts off the bench. Scores by WashU felt hard to come by at that point, and the Titans seemed score at will in the first half.

Press release noted that the Bears are 62-6 at home since the '05-'06 season.

Note I usually don't rant, but this afternoon's WUSTL/IWU game got me really fired up

About the 3pt lead situation, I foul. I always foul... that is up by three after the free throws. I have seen way way way too many three-pointers at the buzzer. I'd much rather believe in the rebounding ability of my bigs. If my bigs are ridiculously oversized, thats about the only time I consider letting a three fly. I believe WashU women lost a game somewhat recently because of a half-court shot in that situation. (Im getting old though, so I forget what "recent" is  ) The Fieldhouse is magical... I would foul.

[usee]

After trailing by as much as 20 on a couple of occasions, the NCC Cardinals had a chance to topple D2 Hawaii-Hilo before finally coming out on the short end of a 97-87 Saturday night shootout on the Big Island.
Largely accounting for the NC defeat were atrocious (55%) FT shooting combined with a porous perimeter defense that allowed the hosts to bank 14 three balls. The Cardinals missed the front end of critical one + one FTs three times in the second half during which they knocked the home team's lead down to 8. Its perhaps an oversimplification, but if the Cards could have hit 70 percent of their FTs and held the opposition to a still hefty 11 3 pointers, they would have attained a very nice win. With a very young team, the Cardinals are showing signs of jelling and coming together as they develop a chemistry that will allow them to develop into a cohesive team more capable of generating wins rather than "good" losses. And while its certainly open to speculation and debate, I strongly feel that if the Cards were to replay their season opening 4 losing games at this juncture, that they would win at least 3 of those contests.   
We all know its difficult to win with a young team which the Cardinals definitely are. But, there are encouraging signs that their emerging talent and chemistry will produce positive results in future contests.
Speaking of emerging talent, NCC was lead in scoring for the 2nd game in a row by freshman CJ Goldthree with 23. Living up to his name, CJ drained 6 of 9 treys to account for the majority of his points. He was well supported by Kevin Gillespie (5/10 threes) and Derek Raridon who each scored 15, and freshman center Jack Burchett who registered 10 points before fouling out. Brian Evans just missed a double double with 9 points to go with 10 rebounds in his usual stellar board work. Frosh Landon Gamble came off the bench to contribute nicely with 7 points and 5 boards, and fellow rookie Vince Kmiec hit 2 long ones for his 6 points.   

*Before their next victory, the Cards are guaranteed another loss today. This time by 59!............... as they board their plane in Hilo where right now its 76, to return to beautiful downtown NaPPer-ville, currently basking under sunny skies at a balmy 17 degrees.         

Seriously? 4 mulligans? That's not even reasonable in a friendly golf match at the muni course.

[jaybird44]

Excellent point Wydown, regarding Robert Burnett's performance off the bench for Washington.  If not for his 6 first-half points (8 total--a career high), the Bears don't get a sniff of overtime IMHO.