MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

IWU 69
North Central 61


Huge win for the Titans.

[Mr. Ypsi]

TITANS WIN!!!  69-61.

NCC's Big 3 as good as advertised (Raridon, Gamble, and Tiknis combined for 44 - I was VERY impressed), but the Titans really spread it around with FIVE guys in double digits!

[Titan Q]

Leaders...

IWU
* Andrew Ziemnik: 19 pts, 6 reb, 2 assists
* Dylan Overstreet: 13 pts, 5 reb, 4 assists (1 t.o.)
* Victor Davis: 12 pts, 7 reb
* Brady Zimmer: 10 pts, 6 reb
* Kevin Reed: 10 pts, 9 reb

NCC
* Derek Raridon: 21 pts
* Landon Gamble: 13 pts
* Aaron Tiknis: 10 pts, 13 reb

[A Lover of the Game]

Very good ball game between IWU and NCC. It kind of reminded me of the on-the-edge-of-your-seat game IWU had against Hope last season. Nice win tonight!!

Go Titans!!!!

[Titan Q]

Key team stats...

Rebounds: IWU 40 NCC 28

FG%: IWU 44.4%, NCC 41.1

3-point%: IWU 7-16 (.438), NCC 5-23 (.217)

[Titan Q]

Really a great game at the Shirk Center tonight.  This was a game where there was rarely any comfortable separation on other side - it always seemed to be a one possession game.

It was really a tale of two very different halves.  The first half was an up-tempo affair with both teams making a crazy amount of tough long-range shots.  It was 41-38 IWU at the half, led by 28 points from the starting forwards (Ziemnik 17, Davis 11).  The second turned into a much slower, much more physical affair.  The second half score was 28-23 IWU.

Derek Raridon was just tremendous for NCC.  He just made big shot after big shot with Titans draped all over him - he finished with 21.  Raridon is just a great player.  Gamble was his typical nightmare matchup in the low post.  IWU sent help most of the game and did a pretty good job on him - Gamble had 13 on 4-7 from the field.  Tiknis has a monster game with 10 pts and 13 rebounds.  The trio of Raridon, Gamble, and Tiknis was as good as advertised tonight.

IWU exploited the heck out of NCC PG Brandon Williams.  The closest Titan defender would literally be 10 feet away, allowing IWU to help down low much easier.  I had no idea Williams was such a bad shooter. 

North Central took a 59-58 lead with 4:07 to play, but the Titans were very good down the stretch.  Senior co-captain Kevin Reed hit a big shot to put IWU back up 2, and then Ziemnik posted up Raridon to put the Titans up 4.  IWU really played great defense, allowing just 2 NCC points in the final 4:07.

I can't say enough good things about IWU PG Dylan Overstreet.  He has gotten so much better since opening weekend.  He gets the ball up the floor efficiently now and just has great court vision...and he can score.  He's really becoming a good PG. 

Great job by the Titans of defending homecourt and completing the first half of the CCIW 7-0.  Long, tough, grind of a way to go from here.  I think most people who watched this game tonight would agree that IWU and NCC are two very evenly matched basketball teams - going to be a great game in Naperville, and then probably another in the conference tournament.

[Titan Q]

+/- standings through Wednesday, January 23
Illinois Wesleyan +3
North Central +2
Augustana +1
Carthage +0
Wheaton +0
Millikin -1
North Park -2
Elmhurst -3

Saturday, January 26
Augustana @ North Park, 4:00pm
Illinois Wesleyan @ Elmhurst, 4:00pm
Millikin @ Carthage, 7:00pm
North Central @ Wheaton, 7:00pm

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'm really crossing my fingers that the Titans can host the conference tourney - I'm not at all sure we can win in Naperville.  I was VERY impressed with NCC's Big 3; I was VERY unimpressed with everyone else (especially Williams, whom the Titans didn't even bother guarding - haven't seen the box yet, but the only shot I remember him taking was an airball).

I'll be a Thunder fan on Saturday!

[iwumichigander]

Very nice Titan win tonight.  To be honest, the outcome might have been different were Gamble, Tiknis and Raridon 100 percent.  Nice game plan by Rose sagging off Williams which allowed them to double down or help on perimeter.  Derek Raridon was terrific for NCC with timely shots to keep game close.

Titan bench did a good job. Overstreet keeps improving as does the team. 

[Titan Q]

To be honest, the outcome might have been different were Gamble, Tiknis and Raridon 100 percent. 

On the season Raridon, Gamble, and Tiknis average 39 points and 17 rebounds...in 88 minutes per game.

Tonight they had 44 points and 14 rebounds...in 102 minutes.

What else were they going to do?

[titanhammer]

Very good game tonight, played by two great D3 teams.  Everyone was on fire to start the game, especially Ziemnik.  Loved the intracacies of two savied teams battling it out.  Pray the younger Raridon's eye is OK...and the ankle of Mr. Tiknis...he seemed to turn it in the first half, but bounced back.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Yeah, NONE of the NCC Big 3 looked obviously impaired in any way on the video.  I'll yield to their doctors if they were not 100%, but they all certainly appeared to be healthy (aside from Raridon's eye for a few minutes, and Tiknis's ankle, which seemed not to be a problem for long).

First time this season I've viewed NCC (so I won't make any blanket judgements about others), but I was underwhelmed by everyone except for Raridon, Gamble, and Tiknis.

[iwumichigander]

To be honest, the outcome might have been different were Gamble, Tiknis and Raridon 100 percent. 

On the season Raridon, Gamble, and Tiknis average 39 points and 17 rebounds...in 88 minutes per game.

Tonight they had 44 points and 14 rebounds...in 102 minutes.

What else were they going to do?

Score 9 more points? 

[Titan Q]

Agree with Q, a very big game at The Shirk tonight.  Hope the IWU faithful turnout bigtime, even in the cold, and produce the first 2,000+ crowd of the season tonight. (already Wednesday here in HK).  Agree that TO and rebounding battle will be crucial in a game where every possession will be needed.  Let's hope the Titans play like they have been playing of late, from the perimeter, the paint and all the role players too.  If so, I think this game will turn out well for the home team.  I'd say IWU 69, NCC 61. Also seems absences due to illness or injury more likely to be a factor for NCC than for the Titans.

Go TITANS!!!  Let's finished the first go'round in CCIW play 7-0!

IWU70

Wow.

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage 69
North Park 60

Reggie McGee: 15 pts
Zach Cassita: 13 pts
Chris Benjamin: 10 pts, 9 rebs

Mitch Thompson: 19 pts, 16 rebs
Marlon Senior: 17 pts, 13 rebs
Reese Herth: 14 pts
Donte Logan: 10 pts

Mark Holmes did not play in this game, for reasons that I have yet to ascertain. And that leads us to the big question of the night: How in the world did NPU hang around in this one without Mark Holmes?

Granted, Carthage had to play without Tyler Pierce's services. But Carthage still had plenty of size, comparatively speaking: Mitch Thompson (6'6, 205), Marlon Senior (6'5, 195), Cameron Van Wyk (6'6, 185), and even freshmen Sean Valentine (6'4, 200) is useful inside. And keep in mind that Carthage managed to beat Wheaton on Saturday without Pierce. The Red Men are obviously a wounded animal without their big senior in the middle, but it's still a team with plenty of weapons and at least a modicum of size. Without Holmes, the biggest NPU regular is Chris Benjamin, who is listed at 6'2, 200, but is eyeball-to-eyeball with me, and I'm a flat-out-even six-footer. (Paul Brown, the recent addition to the Vikings who came over from the football team, is 6'3, 210 and got a two-minute cameo in this one.) Little surprise that Carthage dominated the boards, 47-31, and Thompson and Senior probably had career nights in terms of grabbing caroms.

I haven't seen the game off of the archived stream yet, but it sounds like Tom Slyder extensively used a full-court press and was able to discombobulate Carthage to the tune of 17 turnovers, compared to a startlingly low total of 7 for the Vikings. That's gotta be the major reason why NPU was even reasonably close throughout this game, although the Vikings faded down the stretch. Because, without Mark Holmes in the lineup ... yikes!

Looks like Zach Cassita and Chris Benjamin played well. Looks like Reggie McGee played very well, which is great to see. It's all about confidence for Reggie, and it appears that the sophomore guard from Rockford Christian Life has finally gained enough of it to really contribute on the floor.

Tom Slyder was clearly operating a smoke-and-mirrors operation tonight, even more so than usual, and give Bosko credit for passing along kudos to his opposite number in his postgame comments: "This was one of the stranger games that I've been a part of," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic, "and I've been a part of a lot of strange games. North Park really maximizes the guys they have, and they approach the game with a good idea. I thought we played hard enough, but we could have played better. They had eight steals, and we turned the ball over 17 times—that's not Carthage basketball, and you have to give North Park credit for that. Since we couldn't score against their press, that gave them the opportunity to guard us again on the half court.  That's an exciting way to play defense."

This should be a very interesting game to watch once it's archived.