MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

North Central is wondering what was the license plate number of the truck that ran over the Cardinals in the middle of the second half in central Indiana this afternoon en route to an 89-75 win for the Anderson Ravens. Within the span of less than three minutes Anderson jumped into hyperspace with a 15-0 run that turned a 51-47 deficit into a 62-51 lead and was catalyzed by a handful of steals and blocks from the Ravens' vaunted 1-3-1 zone. NCC did cut the AU lead down to six points shortly thereafter, but too much Kenney Troutman (32 points) and Tate Ivanyo (23 points) quickly pushed the Anderson lead back up to double digits, where it remained thereafter.

Ethan Helwig paced the Napervillains with a 19 and 10 double-double, while Tyler Swierczek added 14, Alejandro Diaz chipped in 12, and Drew Gaston contributed 11. The Cardinals sport a 9-3 record as they hang a new calendar on the wall, while Anderson moves to 8-3.

[Gregory Sager]

Beloit made the free throws it needed to make in the final minute to close out visiting Carroll, 66-62, at Flood Arena as the Pios finished up non-con play against a former conference foe. Carroll was led by Aaron Wafford's 14 and Eric Victorson's 13, with Jacob Naber providing nine caroms in the losing cause. Carroll is now 4-8, while the Buccaneers rise to 5-6.

[Gregory Sager]

Man, the CCIW is really taking some lumps thus far today, as a free throw by UMHB's Zach Engels with 3.8 seconds remaining gives the Cru the winning margin in a 78-77 win over Illinois Wesleyan in the Crudome.

Two more road chances for the league to pick up a win coming up at the top of the hour.

[Gregory Sager]

Final from central Wisconsin:

UW-Stevens Point 90
North Park 73

Kyren Gardner: 16 pts
Davante Robinson: 12 pts

The Vikings started out by playing some of the worst ball I've seen from a North Park team since the post-Henry/Robinson segment of the Slyder era, digging a hole for themselves at both ends of the floor as UWSP built up early leads of 20-2 and 29-11. The Vikings never really managed to climb back out of that hole despite dictating the tempo the whole way and making the UWSP radio announcers very nervous, as the Park got to within seven at one point in the second but couldn't complete the transaction. Kudos to the Pointers, who, once their inside game stopped working, stayed poised and focused enough to reverse the ball and swing it against NPU's defensive overplay to get the ball to the open man weak-side, who seemed to inevitably knock down the open trey before the Vikings could close out.

Aside from free throws, which were hellish -- NPU was a .739 team from the line coming in, but shot only 6-16 tonight, a fact only somewhat negated by UWSP's somewhat less-horrific ineffectiveness from the line as well -- the game was really dictated by the boards. The Pointers had a huge 38-22 advantage on the glass, leaving NPU to deal with an entire game's worth of one-and-dones. North Park did win the turnover battle comfortably, but it wasn't nearly enough to make up for the huge rebounding deficit.

Powell was again in street clothes, and the Vikings could've used him. But I'm not sure his presence would've been enough to flip the script; you just can't be as undisciplined and erratic as the Vikings were for the first 12 minutes of the game and expect to beat a team as solid as the Pointers, especially on the road.

North Park falls to 8-4, while UWSP improves to 10-1. The Park's winning streak is snapped at seven. Now the Vikes have to knuckle down in practice and prepare for a seriously difficult stretch of CCIW games -- Carthage, Illinois Wesleyan, and Augustana -- over the next twelve days.

[Gregory Sager]

After leading by as much as 27 with twelve and a half minutes left, Elmhurst had to survive a big late run by MSOE to escape Milwaukee with an 89-81 victory. Tagen Pearson was golden with the ball in his hands tonight, scoring 23 on 5-10 from downtown and a perfect 6-6 from the line. He was helped out by Sebastian Blachut's 19 points, 16 from Aidyn Boone, a remarkable 15 and 15 double-double from Dom Trellennberg, and 14 (including 4-6 from range) from John Witcher off of the bench.

Elmhurst improves to 5-7, while the Raiders drop to 6-5.

[Gregory Sager]

A tough 1-4 day on the road brings the league to 50-30 (.625) with one game left: tomorrow afternoon's affair up in Brew City, where Augustana will be a distinct underdog against homestanding Wisconsin Lutheran. Then it's nothing but straight CCIW ball for two months, starting next Saturday.

[iwu70]

Yes, a tough loss for the Titans in Texas.   As I say, get to 78 and win the game, come up short and likely lose.

MHB 78, IWU 77

For MHB:

Beard 21
Engels 19
Goings 13

For IWU:

Roper 16 and 8
Wilmsen 14
Anderson 12 and 10
Williams 11 and 11
Funk 11

With this balance, I guess it should have been a win . . but only 25% from three, 7-28, and way too many TOs (19). 

Titans now 10-2 on the year.  On to Wheaton on January 4th and the beginning of the rest of the CCIW schedule.

IWU'70

[Captain_Joe08]

A tough 1-4 day on the road brings the league to 50-30 (.625) with one game left: tomorrow afternoon's affair up in Brew City, where Augustana will be a distinct underdog against homestanding Wisconsin Lutheran. Then it's nothing but straight CCIW ball for two months, starting next Saturday.

Will be interesting to see where WLC is after the long layoff from their Texas trip. Still came away with a quality win over Trinity (TX) after shaking off an upset loss the week prior against Illinois Tech. Hoping they aren't looking ahead towards a interesting matchup against the surprise of the NACC so far in Marian on Saturday.

[Greek Tragedy]

Final from central Wisconsin:

UW-Stevens Point 90
North Park 73

Kyren Gardner: 16 pts
Davante Robinson: 12 pts

The Vikings started out by playing some of the worst ball I've seen from a North Park team since the post-Henry/Robinson segment of the Slyder era, digging a hole for themselves at both ends of the floor as UWSP built up early leads of 20-2 and 29-11. The Vikings never really managed to climb back out of that hole despite dictating the tempo the whole way and making the UWSP radio announcers very nervous, as the Park got to within seven at one point in the second but couldn't complete the transaction. Kudos to the Pointers, who, once their inside game stopped working, stayed poised and focused enough to reverse the ball and swing it against NPU's defensive overplay to get the ball to the open man weak-side, who seemed to inevitably knock down the open trey before the Vikings could close out.

Aside from free throws, which were hellish -- NPU was a .739 team from the line coming in, but shot only 6-16 tonight, a fact only somewhat negated by UWSP's somewhat less-horrific ineffectiveness from the line as well -- the game was really dictated by the boards. The Pointers had a huge 38-22 advantage on the glass, leaving NPU to deal with an entire game's worth of one-and-dones. North Park did win the turnover battle comfortably, but it wasn't nearly enough to make up for the huge rebounding deficit.

Powell was again in street clothes, and the Vikings could've used him. But I'm not sure his presence would've been enough to flip the script; you just can't be as undisciplined and erratic as the Vikings were for the first 12 minutes of the game and expect to beat a team as solid as the Pointers, especially on the road.

North Park falls to 8-4, while UWSP improves to 10-1. The Park's winning streak is snapped at seven. Now the Vikes have to knuckle down in practice and prepare for a seriously difficult stretch of CCIW games -- Carthage, Illinois Wesleyan, and Augustana -- over the next twelve days.

Nice write-up Greg. I appreciate it. I actually missed the 1st half of the game, so I had no idea Point came out like gangbusters. As usual though, Point can go cold for long stretches, letting their opponents back into the game. The 17-pt final margin may be a little misleading as it was definitely an uncomfortable 2nd half. Point beat a good team and obviously NPU is a completely different team than earlier in the year when they got smacked by La Crosse and lost by double-digits to Oshkosh. Fans checking the final score will assume it was an easy win for the hosts, but it definitely wasn't. NPU is good, there's a reason they are the only 3-0 CCIW team in conference play. I just have to cheer for your boys the rest of the way to help Point's NPI.

[PauldingLightUP]

Carthage home doubleheaders against Illinois Wesleyan and North Park to air on Marquee.

[Gregory Sager]

Thanks, Carthage. Thanks for stabbing the CCIW in the back. Thanks for launching us all down the road to pay-per-view game livestreams. Thanks for potentially ruining the viewing experience for prospects who want to check out a CCIW school's sports, casual fans who want to see what a school's teams are all about, grandparents on fixed incomes who want to see their grandchildren play but either don't live close enough or find the venue inaccessible, and all of the faculty, staff, and alumni who can see how short-sighted pay-per-view livestreams are. Gain a few dollars from some faceless media corporation today, lose a lot of dollars (and goodwill) tomorrow.

Thanks for nothing.

[Gregory Sager]

Wisconsin Lutheran used a 16-2 run early in the second half to zoom past Augustana and pave the way to a 68-54 victory for the Warriors (10-1) in Milwaukee. Augustana had its rebounding advantage negated by 19 turnovers, 11 of them courtesy of WLC steals. Staishun Kelley and Tyler Knuth were the only Augie players in double figures, as each scored 10, while Ray Maurchie and Chase Larsen grabbed 11 and 8 rebounds, respectively. Augie thus goes into the new year with an overall record of 8-4, and the league's representatives will enter the D3 tourney in two months carrying the CCIW's 50-31 (.617) mark with them.

[GusD]

Thanks, Carthage. Thanks for stabbing the CCIW in the back. Thanks for launching us all down the road to pay-per-view game livestreams. Thanks for potentially ruining the viewing experience for prospects who want to check out a CCIW school's sports, casual fans who want to see what a school's teams are all about, grandparents on fixed incomes who want to see their grandchildren play but either don't live close enough or find the venue inaccessible, and all of the faculty, staff, and alumni who can see how short-sighted pay-per-view livestreams are. Gain a few dollars from some faceless media corporation today, lose a lot of dollars (and goodwill) tomorrow.

Thanks for nothing.

Money for nothin,' and.........

[Captain_Joe08]

Wisconsin Lutheran used a 16-2 run early in the second half to zoom past Augustana and pave the way to a 68-54 victory for the Warriors (10-1) in Milwaukee. Augustana had its rebounding advantage negated by 19 turnovers, 11 of them courtesy of WLC steals. Staishun Kelley and Tyler Knuth were the only Augie players in double figures, as each scored 10, while Ray Maurchie and Chase Larsen grabbed 11 and 8 rebounds, respectively. Augie thus goes into the new year with an overall record of 8-4, and the league's representatives will enter the D3 tourney in two months carrying the CCIW's 50-31 (.617) mark with them.

Also I believe Wisconsin Lutheran finished non-conference play undefeated for the first time in program history.

[iwu70]

Totally agree with Greg. 

ms  IWU'70