MBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[RO_24]

Sorry I never posted when I got home from the PA tournament. 

Bluffton obviously finished 1-1.  They looked good at times, and not so good at other times.  They had way too many TO's.  Other teams would trap the post and no one knew what to do, it was ugly and frusterating, I can imagine they were even more frusterated.   They played Carthage well, and if there wasn't a lid on the hoop they would've won that game by 10. 

They have Wright State Lake tomorrow, not sure if Colt will go (sprained ankle in 1st game).  Hopefully they don't look past these guys and will come out and get a large margin of victory while working on a couple of things.

Forgot - Taylor and Wilson made the All-Tourney team.  Aaron had a solid final game, and Wilson was good on the boards all weekend long.  Hopefully their play will continue to be at the level of this weekend.

[Darryl Nester]

Thanks for the report, Rod, esp. about the all-tournament team.  (My feeling is that the host school should at least list the all-tournament team, as well as the scores for all games, following a tournament, but the only mention of the all-tournament team I can find at Westminster's site is a reference to the lone WC honoree in the story about the third-place game.*)

I was wondering about Colt; he had 18 in the first game, but in the second game went 0-4 from the field and 2-2 from the line despite playing 30 minutes.

I agree that WS-Lake should be a good chance to work out some kinks.  (Last year, every dressed player got in for at least 5 minutes, and all but one scored.)

*(edit) Well, now that I look at the box score from the championship game, I see that the all-tourney team is listed there ... but that box score is at Bluffton's web site (and also, I assume, Carthage's); it does not seem to be anywhere at Westminster's site.

[David Collinge]

Regular poster Wally Wabash has a very good (albeit Wabashcentric) post giving highlights of tonight's Hanover/Wabash game over in the NCAC room --> click here.  There's understandably not a lot of detail about Hanover players, but otherwise it is an excellent summary of the game action.

[RO_24]

Hope the holidays treated you all well.

Haven't been on here for a bit, so I'll give a quick summary of the 2 Bluffton Games...

Tuesday night beat Wright State Lake Campus by 20.  It was a brutally ugly game, not sure what was going on, and nothing all that positive to summarize except everyone got to play in this game.

Saturday afternoon traveled to Heidelberg.  Heidelberg is the real deal.  They came out guns a blazin, as they made 11-20 3 Pt shots in the 1st half, most of those were in the 1st 10 minutes, and 4 or 5 came from Lemmon.  Quick scouting report on Lemmon if anyone in the OAC looks at this board.  When he shoots a 3, He will take a quick dribble or two to the left and pull up, he did that 6 times and made 4 in the first half Saturday. 

After the onslaught of the first 10 minutes, the game was played evenly throughout with Heidelberg winning by 20, 96-76.  Hopefully the guys can pull it together this week, with a game home vs. Hiram, and than conference opener at Franklin Satruday...

Can anyone else report on their respective teams?

[fc_alum_84]

Franklin split two games down in FL. They won handily at Webber International 82-57 and dropped a close one to NCAA DII Eckard 71-66 to move their record to 2-1. Easy win to start the season at Olivet 77-53 the weekend before Thanksgiving. 

Prior to the conference opener on 12/1 against Bluffton, the Grizzlies travel to the University of Indianapolis another D2 school.

This year's Grizzly roster is a bit lean on size but has 4/5 starters back and the entire bench plus a solid newcomer that transferred in from the University of Indianapolis.  Look for the Grizzlies to make a solid run for the top seed in the conference tourney. Lot of tough games though along the way

[Darryl Nester]

The online broadcast from Franklin just ended, with Bluffton hanging on for the win on the road, 96-90.  The Beavers led by as much as (I think) 16 midway through the second half, but Franklin got as close as 3 late.

d3scoreboard.com has Defiance leading Anderson by 8 at halftime ... I assume that game is over by now.*  Also, Hanover picked up a road win, knocking off RHIT 58-47.

There's no report on the d3scoreboard.com about the MC-MSJ game, but I just heard online that the Spartans got the win, 87-85.

*Sometime between me checking the scoreboard, and posting this comment, the DC/AU final score was posted:  Defiance 74, AU 67.

**Second edit to add the Manchester/MSJ score.

[Darryl Nester]

By the way, RO_24, listening to the Bluffton-Franklin broadcast yesterday made me think of the game at Franklin in 2001 -- the only other time Bluffton has won at Franklin.  I expect your memory of that game is pretty vivid, but here is the game story for others to read.  (Warning:  Might be painful for Franklin fans.)

[RO_24]

Darryl, sure do remember that game.  I think it was some kind of record at the time, who knows if it is now or not...They looked pretty decent at times, and a little complacent at others.  I thought they played real hard though, and when things went wrong for them in the 2nd half they pulled together and found a way out of the rut they were in and pulled through.  Nice win to get the conference rolling, big test Wednesday as well.  Stat of the game in my opinion, 11-14 2nd half FG's, and 14 TO's in the 2nd half.  If they take care of the ball it's a 14-18 pt win.

[Darryl Nester]

RO_24:  Turnovers have been a problem this season -- 113 in 6 games.  Listening to the game Saturday, there was a stretch midway through the second half where it seemed like "he threw the ball away!" (about various Bluffton players) was a recurring theme.

By the way, in case the Franklin radio crew is reading this, I chuckled when I heard you use the line "Boom goes the dynamite!" in response to a Grizzly three-pointer in the first half.

Travel safely, Defiance team and fans (and Bluffton women and fans who are heading north) -- the snow is piling up outside, and I have to find something to do with my kids since school was canceled.

[Darryl Nester]

C.J. Johnson hit a game-high 30, including 8 treys, to lead Defiance over Bluffton, 86-70.  Johnson hit three 3s in the first couple of minutes to give DC a 9-0 lead, and it never got much closer than that; Bluffton put together a some surges that cut the lead to single digits a couple of times, but Defiance always had an answer.

Elsewhere, RHIT pulls off the upset at Franklin, 59-58; the Grizzlies are now 0-2 in the conference, with both losses at home.

In fact, the home court was not friendly for anyone in the conference, as Transy and Hanover picked up road wins over Anderson and MSJ.

[RO_24]

tough one last night for the Beavers...They had their oppurtunities.  According to the Play-by-play page they missed 14 Lay-Up in the 1st Half, and that is not an exaggeration.  Hopefully they will have an answer when we go to Defiance and play.

This weekend is a meeting with RHIT, and even though they haven't seemed to be good in the past, they are surprising people thusfar this season...Hopefully the guys will show up to play and be ready to pick up another big Road Victory.

Who does everyone else have?

[HCACBBALL]

I have moved out of the region.  How has Anderson looked in the early part of the season?  I see they are 0-2 in conference but have played 2 tough opponents.  How does it look for Saturday vs MSJ?

[Darryl Nester]

In checking conference rosters this morning, I note a HUGE change that quietly happened at Defiance:  guard Mike Floyd, who last year scored 10.4 ppg, and started every game, as a freshman, and was missing from the Yellow Jacket roster at the beginning of this season, has reappeared.  He is currently listed at the bottom of the roster without a number, but I assume he will move into the rotation quickly, and perhaps even regain his starting role. 

As much as it pains me to say it: DC was already looking strong with a 3-0 start in the conference; this will make them even tougher to beat.

[RO_24]

I was talking to Heil when they played Bluffton, and he said that Floyd is transferring back in at the end of the semester.  So that will make him eligible for the rest of the conference season I believe...Could be bad news for the HCAC.  Hopefully they won't gel very well and they will fight over the ball, and end up choking away their season.  Just playin.

Bluffton travels up to Kalamazoo tomorrow night, hopefully will be a good W going into the Christmas break. 

[scottiedoug]

Transy as usual has a well-coached and efficient team.  The Pioneers ran into a hot Maryville team but it was a great game to watch (and win).  The Maryville newspaper is doing a great job covering D3 sports and we want to encourage the editors to keep it up...your clicking on this link will help, and also give a good sense of what a good game it was.  I sure wish Parton had stayed closer to home.

http://thedailytimes.com/article/20071218/SPORTS/767096088