MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

I only caught the end of the Wheaton @ Elmhurst game, which the Bluejays won in hyperdramatic fashion by a score of 76-75, but I sure wish that I could've seen more of it. Gauging by the play-by-play and the stats as well as the final score, it seemed like it was very evenly played. When I tuned in the 'jays were up 71-67 with two minutes and change remaining, and when Jay Millitello grabbed a defensive rebound with 2:04 left it looked very much as though things were turning Elmhurst's way. But the 'jays couldn't get off a shot and were called for a thirty-second violation, and then Millitello fouled Nyameye Adom at the other end. Adom, who is one of the better FT shooters in the league, only made one of two, but EU couldn't do anything on the ensuing possession. Cade Alioth, who had a monster (30 and 11) game, grabbed the D-reeb with 58 ticks left, and eight seconds later hit a trey to tie the ballgame at 71.

Jake Rhode came down the floor and hit a pullup with 28 seconds left to give Elmhurst back the lead at 73-71, but Adom responded with a quick layup with 15 seconds left on which he was fouled by Lavon Thomas. Adom completed the three-point play to give Wheaton the lead at 74-73. But when Rhode got Adom up in the air at the other end of the floor while driving the lane with three seconds left I was sure that Rhode would score the winning bucket. But Adom somehow knocked the ball loose on the way down (and, boy, were John Baines and Rhode unhappy that there was no foul called), and Luke Anthony picked it up and was immediately fouled. Anthony, who is probably still getting used to aiming a sphere at a stationary target rather than a prolate spheroid at a moving one, missed the first FT before making the second, which made it 75-73. That missed free throw loomed hugely, as did Adom's a minute earlier, because on the inbounds pass Jonathan Zapinski found an open Rhode moving south to north in the backcourt before turning up the floor and heaving up a prayer just before the backboard lit up and the buzzer went off ... and that prayer shot sailed comfortably into the cup.

Rhode ought to get extra credit for the style points. He had Alioth running at him as the clock expired, and that forced Rhode to twist his body while fading off to his right, so that he landed either on or in the side of the scorer's table. Even Aston Francis, who most certainly would not have liked the outcome, would have to applaud that shot.

Instant classic.

[Wildcat]

 I would love to see the final count of fouls in the Wheaton vs Elmhurst game. Elmhurst shot 4 free throws in a 40 minute game. Wheaton missed some key ones late. Great description Mr. Sager.

[Gregory Sager]

North Central steps on the gas in the second half and blows out Carthage, 91-59, in the hangar. Matt Helwig had 31-9-7 to lead the Cardinals, with brother Ethan scoring 25 and Shea Cupples adding 11 and 7. The Firebirds were led by Filip Bulatovic with 19 and 8, while Kyle Czerak added 15.

[kiko]

Illinois Wesleyan over Carroll 63-44 in Bloomington to complete the evening's action.

[iwu70]

Yes, IWU over Carroll at The Shirk, 63-44.  Carroll got within 3 at one point early in the second half, but the Titans put the screws on and got back out to a 13–15-point lead.

For CU:
Nichol 16

For IWU:
Leritz 14 and 15
Lambesis, back in the starting line-up 14
Mitchell 10
Yoder 10 

Both teams a little loose with the ball.  CU committing 30 TOs.  Key stat for me, IWU over CU in rebounding, 44-24.  Leritz is a vacuum cleaner down low.

Now finals week, then comes Wheaton, Wash U and the trip East for Mt. Saint Vincent in the Bronx and #1 Yeshiva uptown, in the Northeast corner of Manhattan . . . my old neighborhood, when my son was a student at Horace Mann School in Riverdale.  Wish I could drive out to the Big Apple for those two games.

Lambesis looked back to full strength tonight.  Yoder is just such a great floor general and steady PG.

Happy holidays upcoming to all the CCIW and D3 chatsters.

IWU'70

[lmitzel]

North Central steps on the gas in the second half and blows out Carthage, 91-59, in the hangar. Matt Helwig had 31-9-7 to lead the Cardinals, with brother Ethan scoring 25 and Shea Cupples adding 11 and 7. The Firebirds were led by Filip Bulatovic with 19 and 8, while Kyle Czerak added 15.

This was kind of a weird game, even just in the first few minutes. Carthage went Filip Bulatovic easy layup-Kyle Czerak three-Kyle Czerak three in the first three minutes or so to jump out to an 8-0 lead, forcing a pissed off Todd Raridon to take a timeout... and the Cardinals immediately went on a 13-3 run forcing Steve Djurikovic to take one as well.

It got weird later on too, as we had each team get a flop warning (NCC late in the first half, Carthage a little ways into the second), then later when Bulatovic got fouled on a shot, Nemi Ostojic got T'd up (I'm not sure if he said something or got into it with one of the Cardinals, I couldn't tell for sure), then later Bulatovic got T'd up for a little shove on I think it was Ethan Helwig (that I'm 90 percent sure Ethan embellished to get the call).

In the midst of all of this... late in the first half we heard a familiar bellow coming from behind us, turned around, and there's Bosko standing by the storage room next to where the back bleachers were folded up. And for a bit it was like he was back on the bench, chirping at officials a little bit.

[Next Man Up]

North Central steps on the gas in the second half and blows out Carthage, 91-59, in the hangar. Matt Helwig had 31-9-7 to lead the Cardinals, with brother Ethan scoring 25 and Shea Cupples adding 11 and 7. The Firebirds were led by Filip Bulatovic with 19 and 8, while Kyle Czerak added 15.

This was kind of a weird game, even just in the first few minutes. Carthage went Filip Bulatovic easy layup-Kyle Czerak three-Kyle Czerak three in the first three minutes or so to jump out to an 8-0 lead, forcing a pissed off Todd Raridon to take a timeout... and the Cardinals immediately went on a 13-3 run forcing Steve Djurikovic to take one as well.

It got weird later on too, as we had each team get a flop warning (NCC late in the first half, Carthage a little ways into the second), then later when Bulatovic got fouled on a shot, Nemi Ostojic got T'd up (I'm not sure if he said something or got into it with one of the Cardinals, I couldn't tell for sure), then later Bulatovic got T'd up for a little shove on I think it was Ethan Helwig (that I'm 90 percent sure Ethan embellished to get the call).

In the midst of all of this... late in the first half we heard a familiar bellow coming from behind us, turned around, and there's Bosko standing by the storage room next to where the back bleachers were folded up. And for a bit it was like he was back on the bench, chirping at officials a little bit.

The Cardinals were en fuego in The Hangar tonight, shooting 57.1% overall, and a white hot 63.2% from downtown.
Carthage ace Fillip Bulatovic scored 14 points from the field, but needed 18 shots to do so. He then supplanted that with a 5 for 13 from the line. For the season he is making 45.8% of his FTs. Hard to comprehend that level of FT shooting from a player with such a high overall talent level.

[Next Man Up]

North Central steps on the gas in the second half and blows out Carthage, 91-59, in the hangar. Matt Helwig had 31-9-7 to lead the Cardinals, with brother Ethan scoring 25 and Shea Cupples adding 11 and 7. The Firebirds were led by Filip Bulatovic with 19 and 8, while Kyle Czerak added 15.

This was kind of a weird game, even just in the first few minutes. Carthage went Filip Bulatovic easy layup-Kyle Czerak three-Kyle Czerak three in the first three minutes or so to jump out to an 8-0 lead, forcing a pissed off Todd Raridon to take a timeout... and the Cardinals immediately went on a 13-3 run forcing Steve Djurikovic to take one as well.

It got weird later on too, as we had each team get a flop warning (NCC late in the first half, Carthage a little ways into the second), then later when Bulatovic got fouled on a shot, Nemi Ostojic got T'd up (I'm not sure if he said something or got into it with one of the Cardinals, I couldn't tell for sure), then later Bulatovic got T'd up for a little shove on I think it was Ethan Helwig (that I'm 90 percent sure Ethan embellished to get the call).

In the midst of all of this... late in the first half we heard a familiar bellow coming from behind us, turned around, and there's Bosko standing by the storage room next to where the back bleachers were folded up. And for a bit it was like he was back on the bench, chirping at officials a little bit.

Bosko, in the storage room, with a candlestick. 

[Titan Q]

#2-Illinois Wesleyan 63
Carroll 44

https://www.iwusports.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2021-22/carroll/boxscore/13655

-Matt Leritz: 14 pts, 15 reb
-Pete Lambesis: 14 pts, 5 reb, 2 assists
-Cody Mitchell: 10 pts, 4 reb
-Luke Yoder: 10 pts, 2 reb, 2 assists
-Ryan Sroka: 7 pts, 7 reb


Certainly not a work of art on the offensive end for IWU, but man are the Titans an elite defensive team.  Through 7 games, opponents are shooting .387.  IWU's perimeter defense - led by Pete Lambesis, Luke Yoder, and Cory Noe - is outstanding.  In the low post the Titans always have so much size to make it difficult on the opponent.  And the Titans help so well and play such great team defense.

The Titans are a deep, talented, balanced team that really doesn't have any weaknesses.  IWU is ranked #2, but I haven't seen a better team out there.  I'd say the Titans are in a small group of teams all pretty close at the top. 

Fun stretch coming up for the Titans:
12/11: at #5-Wheaton
12/15: at NCC
12/19: at #20-WashU
12/29: at Mt St Vincent
12/30: at #1-Yeshiva
1/5: vs #7-Elmhurst

[GU1999]

North Central steps on the gas in the second half and blows out Carthage, 91-59, in the hangar. Matt Helwig had 31-9-7 to lead the Cardinals, with brother Ethan scoring 25 and Shea Cupples adding 11 and 7. The Firebirds were led by Filip Bulatovic with 19 and 8, while Kyle Czerak added 15.

'...then later when Bulatovic got fouled on a shot, Nemi Ostojic got T'd up (I'm not sure if he said something or got into it with one of the Cardinals, I couldn't tell for sure), then later Bulatovic got T'd up for a little shove on I think it was Ethan Helwig (that I'm 90 percent sure Ethan embellished to get the call).'

Hawks Fly Together

(modified by GS for formatting)

[USee]

Here is the half court heave buzzer beater by Rhode to beat Wheaton. Gotta tip your cap to the guy for this shot:

https://twitter.com/ElmhurstBluejay/status/1467308264698388489?s=20

[voxelmhurst]

I could only catch the second half on the computer, but Id love to know what the confrontation between Baines and Schauer was all about. It occurred after an unremarkable loose ball foul on Wesley Hooker. Schauer is seen vociferously pointing Baines' direction and when the camera pans over, Baines is all the way over on the Wheaton side of the scorers table, giving it back at the Wheaton head coach. Not dissimilar from Baines' confrontation with Bosko a few years back.

Elmhurst was outstanding on both ends in the middle part of the second half and built up an 11 point lead, before Wheaton fought back. The way Alioth was hitting 3's, I was certain he was going to bag the winner on one from downtown. Incredible end to a great game.

[Gregory Sager]

I could only catch the second half on the computer, but Id love to know what the confrontation between Baines and Schauer was all about. It occurred after an unremarkable loose ball foul on Wesley Hooker. Schauer is seen vociferously pointing Baines' direction and when the camera pans over, Baines is all the way over on the Wheaton side of the scorers table, giving it back at the Wheaton head coach. Not dissimilar from Baines' confrontation with Bosko a few years back.

There's definitely a battle royale going on right now for the title of "most colorful CCIW coach" in the wake of the retirements of Bosko Djurickovic and Grey Giovanine, and John and Mike are right in the thick of it. Some people are likely willing to plunk down their hard-earned cash on Todd Raridon, and Paul Combs makes for an interesting dark horse, but for my money it's the two guys who are separated by four stops on the Union Pacific West Metra line.

They're clearly going to have to up their games, because Bosko and Grey were absolute legends in the color department. Sparring with each other at the scorer's table is a nice start.

[GoPerry]

I could only catch the second half on the computer, but Id love to know what the confrontation between Baines and Schauer was all about. It occurred after an unremarkable loose ball foul on Wesley Hooker. Schauer is seen vociferously pointing Baines' direction and when the camera pans over, Baines is all the way over on the Wheaton side of the scorers table, giving it back at the Wheaton head coach. Not dissimilar from Baines' confrontation with Bosko a few years back.

Elmhurst was outstanding on both ends in the middle part of the second half and built up an 11 point lead, before Wheaton fought back. The way Alioth was hitting 3's, I was certain he was going to bag the winner on one from downtown. Incredible end to a great game.

I believe the dustup was not necessarily between Schauer and Baines.  It had to do with some sort of comment that Hooker made to Schauer after the foul was called.  You can see glimpses of Schauer speaking back at Hooker (rarely advisable I would imagine) and Hooker exhibiting some glee in the successful provocation of the Thunder coach.  I'm guessing the animated speaking to Baines had to do with complaining about the Elmhurst coach's own player, but that's just a guess.  Baines' "What do you want me to do about it?" look seems to point that way.

In any case, a tough way to lose for Wheaton but an unbelievable shot by Rhode who made several key baskets and plays down the stretch.  Wheaton had their chance to better secure the victory.  But missed FTs by Adom and Anthony made the difference.  The play of Alioth vs Lavon Thomas was worth the price of admission by itself.  It seems Wheaton brings out the best game for LT every season.

[oldknight]

Here is the half court heave buzzer beater by Rhode to beat Wheaton. Gotta tip your cap to the guy for this shot:

https://twitter.com/ElmhurstBluejay/status/1467308264698388489?s=20

I saw Rhode make virtually the same shot at the half-time buzzer during Elmhurst's loss to Calvin last week. Now if he does that a third time this season . . . .

00:00   Elmhurst RHODE,JAKE made 3-pt. jump shot   34 - 51