MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[TUAngola]

I was able to catch Trine's scrimmage against NAIA's University of Saint Francis (Ft Wayne) this past Thursday evening.  USF won by 7.  Being just a week into practice this version of the Thunder squad is going to be a work in progress, even with all the returning pieces.  There were good segments in the scrimmage, first 10 minutes were great, second 10 not so much.  Then in second half the middle 10 minutes were good, but USF owned the last 5 minutes and pulled away after Trine tied it up.  Fred Garland was outstanding, easily the most 'game day ready' of those who played.  Most improved was Soph Jayce Cusack, he'll definitely be in the rotation.  16 guys dressed but only 10 played in the game.  Of the 3 grad transfers Cam Smith played the most, Trevor Montiel's minutes were few, and Max Greenamoyer did not play.  USF was good, they can really shoot it.  Hard to believe the season starts in less than 2 weeks, we are starved for basketball.  Surprised at the turnout for the scrimmage, lots of fans for not being a publicly announced event.

[sac]

Hope is at Chicago Tuesday evening for its annual scrimmage with the Maroons.
6pm CDT, Ratner Center

Probably same format as previous years, 3 20 min halves, running clock, 1 FT and special situation session after.

A good time will be had by all.

[KnightSlappy]

Hope is at Chicago Tuesday evening for its annual scrimmage with the Maroons.
6pm CDT, Ratner Center

Probably same format as previous years, 3 20 min halves, running clock, 1 FT and special situation session after.

A good time will be had by all.

I expect Chicago to be quite good this year, so this will be a good experience for Hope.

[sac]

Hope 84 Chicago 75 F

They apparently played a game-game and Hope led by 20 with 5 to play so the overall verdict seems to be they shot well and played well.

Chicago is picked 7th in the UAA. But, its the UAA.


For the curious the starting 5 was:
Wourman
Mims
Hovey
Schoonveld
Qullan

Decker played well off the bench.

[oldknight]

Calvin beats D2 Saginaw Valley State in an exhibition game, 69-58. Varnado led with 17, followed by Egekeze and Winkle with 13, and Ressler added 11. Knights went 25-50 from the floor and 9-19 from the arc.

[sac]

Friday night Hope Blue beat Hope Orange 80-79. 
Zach Hawes hit a 4-point play with 2.5 seconds left to win it.  He led all with 19.

[FyteOnne]

I had an exciting experience today when I ran into the MIAA Tournament single game points record holder Steve Sheckell (Albion '92) at...the Amsterdam airport of all places.

Being in Dutch country, I made a point to wear an Albion basketball shirt, which he noticed.  He played before my time as a fan, but I've read the Albion basketball records enough to recognize his name when I asked. 

[sac]

Blast from the past there. 

[Flying Dutch Fan]

MIAA Preseason Poll:

https://miaa.org/news/2024/11/6/trine-mens-basketball-expected-to-capture-miaa-championship-in-2024-25-preseason-poll.aspx

1.   Trine           49 points   7
2.   Calvin           43 points   1
3.   Hope           37 points   
4.   Albion           27 points   
5.   Adrian           25 points   
6.   Olivet           22 points   
7.   Kalamazoo   13 points   
8.   Alma            8 points   
                             

...and Hope will win the MIAA tournament again

[TUAngola]

Trine wins season opener over Mary Hardin-Baylor 98-70.  Trine raced out to a 30-6 lead on their way to a 43-19 advantage at the break.  Not much defense in the second half as Trine allowed 51 points, and were hammered on the offensive glass.  But after a dominant first half the defensive intensity was lacking somewhat.  No shortage of offense though.  This team is much deeper than last year.  Jayce Cusak in the starting 5, which was a surprise to me, but after the way he played it was well deserved.  Other starters were the usual suspects: Garland, Smylie, Moore, and Megnanglo.  First off the bench: Tucker, Smith, McKenzie, with freshman Brenner seeing some minutes as well.  Greenamoyer came in the last 6 minutes and lit it up with 4 straight 3's until a couple misses late.  We get Wabash tomorrow to finish the tournament.  Heidelberg defeated the Little Giants in the opener 82-78.

Trine: Cusack 18, Moore 16, Garland 14, Tucker 13, Greenamoyer 12.  Megnanglo with 8 points, 12 boards and 7 blocks.

[pointlem]

Hope and Calvin fans can empathize with each other tonight after both lost nail-biter games. The game clock showed Logan Pearson's off-balance corner shot leaving his finger tips with 0.2 seconds left. Nevertheless, an impressive show of strength by Calvin, facing #2 Platteville without their all-American center.

Hope raced out to a 19 to 5 lead in what looked to be a blowout win against a young Anderson team, coached by a former Hope student assistant. But Anderson fought back and bothered Hope with its trapping zone defense, before Hope missed its own attempt at a similar off-balance game-ending shot.

Hope was without Ethan Crabtree (street clothes), starter Parker Hovey (illness), and, for most of the second half Marcus Wourman (leg injury, though he did come back for a couple minutes, so hopefully will be ok). Gabe Quillan and Josh Decker led the way with 20 points each.

[TUAngola]

Was able to catch the 2nd half of Calvin's game last night on the live stream.  Heartbreaking loss for the Knights against UW-Platteville. This is UWP's last two games: up 10 against Trine with less than 1:30 to play and LOSE; down 11 against Calvin with less than 1:30 to play and WIN.  Incredible.  I love hoops, the game is never over until it's over.  Even the IWU play by play announcers were talking up the next evenings IWU-Calvin matchup in the last two minutes.  I was thinking, hmm, did they not see or hear about the Trine comeback last season??  Pearson was a one man wrecking crew in the second half, scoring all of his 35 points after the break.

Calvin will be alright, they are extremely talented and deep even without Overway. 

[KnightSlappy]

 

[ziggy]

A gut-wrenching, heartbreaking loss for Calvin last night. There are certainly similarities to Trine's win over Platteville in the Elite 8 last year but this one also brough back memories of Miles Barnstable and Whitewater's comeback win at Hope. Misery loves company, I guess.

For as much as that result hurt, hopefully there is a big-picture view of similar magnitude on the other end of the spectrum.

[TUAngola]

Whew! Trine comes back in the second half to beat Wabash 78-68.

Trine with a pretty decent start to the game like last night, but Wabash weathered the storm and their 3 point shooting got them the lead at half 40-36.  Then Wabash scores the first 8 points of the second half to take their biggest lead 48-36.  Gut check time for the Thunder.  We started to trap more trying to throw the Little Giants off their offensive sets, and forced them into more contested shots than in the first half.  On offense we attacked the rim a little more, even with Wabash's 7'2 center manning the middle, and got to the line 19 times after only attempting 6 free throws in the first half.  We finally got the lead back with 8 minutes to go and never relinquished it after that.  Garland leads the Thunder with 26 points and was our go to guy in the second half.  Mengnanglo also hit a big 3 pointer at the 4 minute mark that got the crowd fired up.

Mary Hardin-Baylor with a comeback win over Heidelberg in the opener 79-75.   

We're off until next Friday with a road trip to Baldwin Wallace.  Got a couple guys that are playing a little banged up so we need the rest after a back to back weekend.   

Trine: Garland 26, Tucker 19, Moore 11, Cusack 10.  Smylie led Trine with 10 boards and 4 assists.
Wabash: Bucilla 18, Brooks 14.  7'2 Hupmann with 7 points, 12 boards and 3 blocks.