MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[badgerwarhawk]

WARHAWKS use late rally to nip Ripon 70-69.  Both teams shot well in the first half,  (WW: 54% Ripon: 57%.).  Ripon built an early 9 point lead but the WARHAWKS responded to tie 20-20 at the midpoint and for the rest of the half, which saw a combined 20 ties and lead changes, the lead was never more than a possession one way or the other and ended with the two tied 38-38.  The second half played out much like the first.  Ripon jumped out early but never lead by more than four before the WARHAWKS regained the lead but could never get more than five points ahead before Ripon went back on top 62-61 with five and half minutes and built the lead to six 69-63 over the next couple of minutes.   But Ripon's offense went cold and they missed their next three shots allowing the WARHAWKS to pull within a point 68-69 and with just :33 to play Carter Capstran stole the ball and after a time out scored the go ahead basket with :06 remaining from the lane to create the final score.  Four WARHAWKS, led by Drew Fisher's 15 points, scored in double figures (M.Barnstable: 14, Chislom: 12, D.Barnstable: 11).  Fisher and M.Barnstable each pulled down 8 rebounds while Elijah Lambert added 7.   

Ripon's Jaylen Mahone led all scorers with 23.  A really nice player. 

At LaCrosse Wednesday.     

[Greek Tragedy]

Big weekend coming up for the WIAC. 6 of 8 teams are on the hardwood.

Stout (2-3) hosts Augsburg (2-1, 1-1)

MSOE (2-1) travels to Eau Claire (3-2)

Ripon (3-1) heads to Whitewater (3-2)

Calvin (5-0) welcomes Stevens Point (4-1)

Ill. Tech (2-3) crosses to the border to Platteville (3-2)

IWU (2-2) treks north to Oshkosh (4-2)

Stout outscores Augsburg by 10 in each half for the easy 78-58 win.

Eau Claire eases past MSOE 70-61

Whitewater edges Ripon 70-69

Point goes cold late and loses at Calvin 61-50

Platteville takes care of Ill. Tech 71-63

The home Titans pull away in the 2nd half to top the away Titans 66-47

[Greek Tragedy]

Conference games open up tomorrow and tons of chatter leading up to the 1st round of games! Love to see all the posts.

Point at Stout will be tough as usual. Point has been inconsistent this season, despite being 4-2. They had a 10-point 2nd half lead vs St. Olaf and went cold to lose by double digits. They came back to win vs IWU, but then struggled against Edgewood, escaping with a win, and WLC, pulling out a miracle. They fought hard vs Calvin and the game was tied at 50 with less than 4 minutes to go. Point wouldn't score again.

Josiah Gillie finally had a good shooting game, going 6-10 for 14 points for Calvin. He scored 14 in the previous 3 games combined. I think he needs to have a good game at Stout. I really like Landon VanCaster, but the guy can't stay on the floor because he's always in foul trouble. He'd probably average 25 minutes per game if he wouldn't foul so much. I also like Myles Coleman. He has shown flashes with his athleticism, but coughs up the ball too much. He does have 10 steals.

I don't know much about Stout at all, but their two go-two guys seem to be Aiden Shore and Brody Fox. Shore is 6'10" and Fox is a 6'6" guard...and height seems to be a major issue for Point.

[Greek Tragedy]

Another Jykell and Hyde performance so far for the Pointers. Started off well as they were up 27-18 with around 8 minutes to go and then decided to go ice cold and not score for 7 minutes. In the mean time, Stout goes on a huge run and went up 32-27.

Point settling for outside jumpers and no off ball movement or cutters. Frustrating to watch, for sure. They can be so good at times and then so bad, all in the same half. It's 34-30 at the half. 3 points in the last 8+ minutes for the visitors.

[Greek Tragedy]

Well, it got progressively worse for Point as they get taken behind the woodshed 93-69. No stopping Brody Fox. I think he had 39. Just a very disappointing display all around. No VanCalster. By the way, Quintin Winterfeldt is no longer listed on the site's roster.

Platteville blows a late lead and loses in OT to Oshkosh.

Eau Claire routs River Falls.

La Crosse takes care of Whitewater.

[badgerwarhawk]

WARHAWKS fall to LaCrosse 88-74.  The WARHAWKS had the early lead for the first five minutes before LaCrosse rallied and the lead went back and forth until about nine and half minutes when the WARHAWKS either missed shots or turned the ball over on four consecutive possessions.  LaCrosse capitalized on that building a lead which grew to ten but ended the half at eight, 38-30.  The WARHAWKS made a run to start the second half and got to within a pair twice over the half's first three-four minutes but the Eagles responded and after another stretch of WARHAWK misses and turnovers their lead had grown to double figures where it would remain, reaching a high of twenty, 84-64, with three and half minutes remaining. Chislom had 24, Barker 13 and M.Barnstable 10 for the WARHAWKS. 

Austin Westra had 21 for the Eagles.  LaCrosse is loaded with shooters.  Six different players made at least one three point basket of the 12 they hit on the night.  Their offensive rebounding (15) killed us and led to a 63-47 advantage in shots taken and a 19-6 advantage in second chance points.  They'd miss inside, sometimes twice, get the rebound and pass it out to somebody who would drill a three time and time again.   

Next up: @ River Falls Saturday

[tomt4525]

The Winterfeldt news isn't surprising as obviously something was going on with him not being at the games at all.

It just adds to what seems like an ongoing problem with UWSP's attempt to crawl back into the WIAC conversation.  I remember not too long ago that Point very rarely had any issues with player retention.  A guy may leave or quit the team every other year it seemed like, now it's about 4 guys a year.  At Point, it certainly seems like players need to learn the system before playing huge minutes, you can't have that kind of turnover.  Quintin Winterfeldt, Mayson Hazaert, Darrius Bolden, Cliff McCray, Gunnar Decleene, Philip Flory, Anthony Espensen, Kaden Clark, Jeven Sachtjen, Angelo Rizzo, Trey Zastrow, Jacob Newhouse, Vaughn Breit and Logan Mulhern - All guys that left the program with eligibility remaining.  And, many of these guys, very highly recruited.  Winning certainly helps keep guys around.

[palum]

Platteville took a 9 point into halftime and led by as many as 15 in with about 10 minutes to go in the game. Oshkosh finished strong while it seemed like Platteville was playing not to lose. They would bring the ball up throw it around and either turn it over or get off a poor shot. Oshkosh won the game at the FT line going 14 of 18 for the game compared to Platteville's 5 of 9 and they didn't make a FT in the 2nd half and some of them were front ends of bonus situations.

[Greek Tragedy]

I'm having a hard time understanding this Point team right now. I've said in the past that they've shown the ability to be a good team and then show that they are miles away from being competitive. As I pointed out, it was Jekyll and Hyde in the 1st half and more of the same in the 2nd. Admittedly, I wasn't able to catch the whole 2nd half, but did see them cut the lead to 6 with the ball, twice. Going through the PBP, apparently they got it down to 5 with around 7 minutes to go...and then they lose by 20. Did you see the box score? Stout shot 78% in the 2nd half! Teams that play "System" teams don't shoot that well. It was pretty deep in the 1st half and the commentators we're saying Stout only had one foul on them. That shows Point is setting for jump shots, a lot of 3s, and not being aggressive and driving to the hoop. A lot of standing around, no movement, cutting etc. I sound like a broken record. I want to be optimistic about this team. I hope they can rebound in Platteville this weekend. Just play better.

[Greek Tragedy]

More conference games on tap tomorrow.

Stout (1-0) at Oshkosh (1-0)

Whitewater (0-1) at River Falls (0-1)

Eau Claire (1-0) at La Crosse (1-0)

Stevens Point (0-1) at Platteville (0-1)

[PauldingLightUP]

More conference games on tap tomorrow.

Stout (1-0) at Oshkosh (1-0)

Whitewater (0-1) at River Falls (0-1)

Eau Claire (1-0) at La Crosse (1-0)

Stevens Point (0-1) at Platteville (0-1)

I like it. Two 1-0 vs 1-0 and two 0-1 vs 0-1.

Cruel for Point to have to go on road twice this week and for Platteville to have two home games. Tough for Point this week and tough for Platteville to have more road games in the new year.

Quandt unavailable this week or something?

I haven't had the time to watch many games this season and thus don't have the knowledge to comment on the teams, sorry Greek. My sincere apologies to you. Still been checking box scores.

I hope catch two games live on stream Saturday. I like multiple time slots to see multiple games live.

[Greek Tragedy]

I would be curious to know if something is going on at Point. The women, for example, host Platteville at 3 today, while the men travel to Platteville for a 7 pm game. That's a late night drive home. However, Lakeland just hosted Greenville on Thursday. It was an "early" 6 pm tip-off since the Panthers had a 6 1/2 hour ride home. Ouch.

Saturday games used to tip-off sooner and they've gone back to 7 pm games. I'm not sure why they are so late. Other leagues in the area, NACC and MWC, have early start times like 2 or 3. I'd even like a 5 pm game. 7 is rough for traveling fans or even the older home folks.

[Greek Tragedy]

Point shot 72% in the 1st half, but only up 5. Platteville has 7 offensive rebounds and have taken 8 more shots. They've shot 54%. Point really has to stop relying on the 3. A few backdoor cuts for easy baskets. Need to see more of that. Can't afford another dry spell.

[badgerwarhawk]

WARHAWKS (5-3) get a conference road win defeating River Falls 75-60 (3-4).  After a couple minutes of back and forth River Falls built a lead that would reach a high of eleven, 27-16, before the WARHAWKS rallied and over the last five minutes reduced it to three, 37-34, at the half.  Like the first half the second one started out with a couple lead changes and ties for the first few minutes until a layup by Jameer Barker gave the WARHAWKS a lead, 41-39, they would not surrender the rest of the way.  The lead would reach eleven and River Falls would cut it a single point on two occasions, the last 59-58, with four minutes remaining before the WARHAWKS finished with a 16-2 run to pull away. Miles Barnstable led the scoring with 22 and his brother, Delvin, added 18.  JT Hoytink saw extended court time and finished with 10 points.   

Next: Lake Forest Tuesday.

[Greek Tragedy]

Sorry it took me so long to post. I had to catch up on all the posts from all the WIAC games over the weekend.

We went to the Beloit/Monmouth game on our way to Platteville. After the Beloit game, we drove another near-2 hours west to Platteville, as the Pioneers hosted the Pointers in a WIAC clash. I'm not sure why WIAC teams charge so much, $10 for general admission, $12 for fancy reserved seats. Beloit was free for everyone. The stands were a little too dark for my liking and we took the last row like usual, for the back support up against the wall.

This game had 2 different halves. The 1st half seemed wide open with lots of easy baskets. Point jumped out early, only for the hosts to bounce back. The visitors took a 5-point lead into the half as Point shot over 70%, while the Pioneers were around 55%. I think it was 48-43. The 2nd half was a grinder. Tough to get points. As usual, Point came out cold in the 2nd half and Platteville took full advantage to grab a 10-point lead. Instead of packing it in, Point stormed back late and took a 3-point lead. Platteville nailed a game tying 3 with about 20 seconds to go. Point had the last shot, but missed a deep 3 at the buzzer. Free basketball for everyone! It was a defensive clinic in the extra 5 minutes as only 4 free throws made the difference for Point's upset road victory.

Even if I wasn't a Point fan, this was probably the best game I've been to. Back and forth, OT grinder. The fans didn't match the game. The reserve section on the opposite side was non-existent. A few dedicated Pointer fans that made the trip made some noise including yours truly and the wife in tow. Not to pat myself on the back, but I believe some of the Platteville fans on our side of the stands started getting noisy because we were. It was a long trip home, but a happy one.

Other notes. Semling went small for a lot of the game with 4 guards and forward Timm playing most of the minutes. Point got killed on the offensive boards early, but did well late in the game and OT. I really didn't realize that no one made a basket in OT with only Makinen accounting for all the points from the line. Platteville had 6 missed fgs and 4 of them were behind the arc.  Surprising since Point was playing three 6'0" guards and a 6'2" guard for most of the game. It's no wonder Platteville dominated the boards for most of the game. However, late in the 2nd half, Point seemed to out hustle Platteville for the rebounds and even out rebounded them in OT.

Point really showed toughness on the road, which makes me wonder what happened at Stout. Semling really seemed to trust the four guards and Timm. Everyone shot the ball well, overall, except Zach Mootz (2-13). Brennan finally shot well, while Gillie came off the bench and scored 6 points in only 9 minutes. Myles Coleman is quick and I like what he can do, but he's a TO machine. Maybe he's playing too fast. VanCalster was in sweats, so maybe he got hurt?

I liked what I saw Saturday. They still went cold in  stretches, but bounced back when they went 10 down. Even the Stout game had flashes of good ball. They have to get more out of their bigs though. Point was 7-12 from 3 in the 1st half, but only 3-10 after the break. I don't want to live and die by the 3.