MBB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[WLCALUM83]

1/28 Men's NAthCon Finals:

WLC 83, Aurora 76 (Warriors shot 60% from the floor in the 2nd half and hit their FT's at the end to seal this one, per WLC release).

Marian 80, Edgewood 75 (Marian shot 57% from the floor in the 1st half, and, despite Wisniewski's 29 pts, Edgewood never quite got over the hump, per WI Eagle press release).

Rockford 72, Concordia-WI 67 (Regents knocked down 4 of 5 three's down the stretch to hold off the Falcons in this one, per CUW release.)

Benedictine 80, MSOE 75 OT (IL Eagles outshot MSOE in the extra session, a Bailey lay-up early in OT gave the Eagles a lead they wouldn't relinquish, per Benedictine PBP account, Bailey also joined the 1,000 pt. club.)

Concordia-Chicago 74, Dominican 71 (Stars' Jeter missed a potential game-tying 3 at the buzzer--4 Cougar players, all in double figures--accounted for all of CUC's points, per Dominican press release).

[AndOne]

NAthCon posters---

Except for Benedictine and Aurora which are in our backyard, I don't really follow the conference that closely. One thing I have observed is what seems to be a very nice turnaround by Rockford. How have they done it? Thanks.

[RFMichigan]

WLCALUM83: I appreciate your summaries of the NathCon gamnes. Keep them coming!

I had a chance to see CUC play CUW this past Saturday, and it was a very exciting, enjoyable game of basketball to watch! Both teams played hard, and they are both extremely young (Only two or maybe three upperclassmen start for both teams combined).

CUC has probably the best, well-rounded starting five I have see them have in at least the last five or six years. Their coach seems like a no-nonsense guy who knows the game and has them playing as a team quite well. Hopefully he can build on a fairly decent start this year.

It will be interesting to see how both CUC and CUW fare against their bretheren from Seward and Ann Arbor this weekend. The interesting thing about the CIT tournament is that I believe Seward and Ann Arbor are NAIA schools and I believe give some athletic scholarships. I also think it is interesting to compare teams from different parts of the nation in a tounament like this.

I am amazed at the seeming parity in the NathCon. The adage about "on any given night any team can beat any other team" is certainly true. When it comes to the playoffs, there are going to be some teams left out that have beaten some highly seeded teams.

[whiteowls]

Like i said before benedictine is for real.  When they get hot and play with each other they are the best team in this league.

[Gregory Sager]

WLCALUM83: I appreciate your summaries of the NathCon gamnes. Keep them coming!

I'll second that. Thanks, WLCALUM83!

It will be interesting to see how both CUC and CUW fare against their bretheren from Seward and Ann Arbor this weekend. The interesting thing about the CIT tournament is that I believe Seward and Ann Arbor are NAIA schools and I believe give some athletic scholarships.

Perhaps, but Concordia (NE) is in the exploratory phase of moving from NAIA to D3, which means that even if that school currently has athletic scholarships it won't have them next year if it formally enters the probationary process on the way to D3 membership.

[WLCALUM83]

Men's 1/29/09 NAthCon Final:

Maranatha 87, Lakeland 81 (That's not a mis-print, folks)  (Crusaders shot 78% in the 2nd half- Salscheider hit a 3 to put them up by 4 with 45 seconds left and 2 FTs later the Crusadders had this one on ice--per Lakeland release).

[libero]

Men's 1/29/09 NAthCon Final:

Maranatha 87, Lakeland 81 (That's not a mis-print, folks)  (Crusaders shot 78% in the 2nd half- Salscheider hit a 3 to put them up by 4 with 45 seconds left and 2 FTs later the Crusadders had this one on ice--per Lakeland release).

You are kidding! Wow. 78% has got to be some kind of record . . .

[Just Bill]

Austin Meier of MSOE had a triple-double in an overtime loss at Edgewood.  18 points, 11 rebounds, 10 steals.

[WLCALUM83]

Other 1/31/09 NathCon Finals:

Marian 67, Aurora 65 (With the Sabres up 3 and less than 30 seconds left, Franklin stole a pass and then hit 2 FTs to seal this one, per Marian press release).

Dominican 80, Maranatha 44 (Cold shooting didn't help the Crusaders' cause any in this rout,-Dominican box score).

Benedictine 73, Rockford 66 (61% 2nd half shooting enabled the IL Eagles to pull away, per Benedictine press release).

WLC 85, Lakeland 73 (Plath had 24 pts-18 of them on 3s-Warriors had an 18-2 edge in pts off turnovers-per WLC release).

[WLCALUM83]

Men's 1/29/09 NAthCon Final:

Maranatha 87, Lakeland 81 (That's not a mis-print, folks)  (Crusaders shot 78% in the 2nd half- Salscheider hit a 3 to put them up by 4 with 45 seconds left and 2 FTs later the Crusadders had this one on ice--per Lakeland release).

You are kidding! Wow. 78% has got to be some kind of record . . .

Couldn't find anything on Maranatha's site on such things, but if it isn't, its' awful close!

[WLCALUM83]

2/03 NAthCon Finals:

WLC 97, Dominican 90 (Warriors hit their FT's late to seal this one--Plath hit 8 threes and Ziesemer had 20 pts off the bench, per WLC release).

Benedictine 84, Concordia-Chicago 47 (IL Eagles used a 16-0 1st half scoring run to turn this one into a rout, per CUC release).

Edgewood 87, Lakeland 61 (A 22-5 2nd half WI Eagle scoring run sealed this win, per Edgewood release.)

Rockford 84, Maranatha 62  (Rockford came out of the gate shooting hot while Maranatha came out of the gate flat, and fell in a hole just too deep to climb out of-cut a deficit to 10, but got no closer, per Crusader press release).

Concordia-WI 55, Marian 47  (Marian had an off-night shooting all-around-per Saber press release).

Aurora 78, MSOE 64  (Spartans used a 26-12 2nd half scoring run to get this road win, per Aurora PBP account). Aurora outshot the Raiders 48% to 33% in the 2nd half.

[WLCALUM83]

Unless either Lakeland or Marian get hot, there'll be a sub-500 in conference team in NAthCon's post-season tournament (barring an unexpected collapse elsewhere.)

[whiteowls]

Marian is playing terrible , they don't deserve anything.  Im still taking benedictine in the end to go to the tournament

[Just Bill]

You could be right. I sure gave the kiss of death to MSOE.  Three straight losses since I plugged them.

[WLCALUM83]

2/07/09 Men's NAthCon Finals:

Benedictine 71, Concordia-WI 56 (IL Eagles pulled away in the 2nd half, per Ben press release-balanced scoring and rebounding).

Edgewood 85, Concordia-Chicago 74 (A 14-5 WI Eagle scoring run late in the 2nd sealed this win-Faurote was one of 5 Edgewood players to score in double figures, per Edgewood release).

MSOE 77, Maranatha 50 (A 22-10 MSOE scoring run in the 1st half turned this one into a rout, per Crusader press release).

Dominican 62, Lakeland 59 (Muskies' Regal missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 1 second left--per PBP acct off Stars' web site).

WLC 84, Marian 71  (WLC hit 14 three pointers and took control of this one midway thru first half, per Marian release).