MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[GoPerry]

IWU over Wheaton @Shirk, 82-71.  (Yes, a little more than 78 tonight).

Wheaton tried fiercely and aggressively to double Noah Cleveland tonight.  They got a few TOs out of it, but also a steady stream of open threes when he passed out of it . . . IWU making 17 treys, with Casen Lawrence having a feast with 8 for 12.

IWU goes to 17-4, 9-3, with four games to go.

For Wheaton:

Richardson had a better game tonight, 20
Grier 15
Wynja 13
VanderWoude 10

Wheaton at 44%/35% from three/ 70% from the FT stripe.

For IWU:

Lawrence 24, 8-12 from three
Colak 16 and 7
Cleveland, still a double/double, 12 and 17!
An emerging Connor Williams 13
Funk 11 and 7 with 4 blocks  (IWU with 7 blocks overall)

IWU at 53%/53% from three/ just 30% from the FT line

Carthage and IWU still tied for the regular season lead, with four games to go.

IWU'70

Even when he's not scoring his normal numbers, Cleveland is that sort of a presence for a defense.  Pair his ability to pass out of the double (9 assists, 1 short of triple double) and a disciplined team willing to make the extra pass - usually to Lawrence, and you're just picking your poison.

More than at King, the superior ability of the Titan players to just plain defend aggressively without fouling was really noticeable tonight.  VanderWoude really couldn't get much inside even with much smaller defenders on him.  Richardson's 20 were all hard-earned with hand in his face.  Yes, Wheaton is young and have some years ahead of them. But learning to play the type of defense necessary to be successful, especially in this league, doesn't come naturally just because you're a year older.  Gotta hit the weight room and up the dedication level at both ends of the floor.  I hope the likes of Grier, VanderWoude, Wynja do because the potential is crazy high.  Then maybe.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 99
Millikin 63

Mike Vuckovic: 28 pts (10-16 FG, 7-9 trey), 3 stls
Kolden Vanlandingham: 13 pts, 6 rebs, 4:0 a:to, 3 stls
Julian Campbell: 12 pts
Harrison Long: 11 pts (3-5 trey)
Marquis Vance: 11 pts, 3 stls
Jerome Smith: 3 stls

Nate Straughter: 28 pts (11-16 FG, 6-10 trey)
Lane Thomann: 6 rebs

The Vikings ran away and hid in this one. They scored 10 points in 70 seconds about five minutes into the first half, and never looked back en route to their most lopsided win ever in Decatur. The Vikings shot 59% from the field, including an absurd 57% (17-30) from downtown. The 17 treys ties the NPU record, first set at home against Rust in 1990 and then tied two seasons ago against Central at a tournament in suburban Nashville. It also broke the North Park record for most treys against a CCIW opponent, the previous record being 15 bombs dropped on Elmhurst in Faganel 10 years ago. And the 39 field goals NPU scored is the most that any Vikings team has ever made against a CCIW opponent on the road.

Almost as impressive as the Park's shooting was the Park's defense. Aside from Nate Straughter, who certainly had himself a night, nobody in a Millikin uniform scored more than six points. Any time you can hold Lane Thomann to a measly five points (a career low for him; he was averaging 20.1 ppg coming into tonight) on 2-8 shooting in 30 minutes on the floor while also shutting Ian Winkler out of the scorebook entirely, you're doing something right.

Since I had to call a women's game tonight and couldn't watch this one live, I can't wait to watch it as archived on the CCIW Network.

[Gregory Sager]

Even when he's not scoring his normal numbers, Cleveland is that sort of a presence for a defense.  Pair his ability to pass out of the double (9 assists, 1 short of triple double)

He also turned the ball over seven times, which means that he came close to a quadruple double!

(The NCAA doesn't keep that stat, by the way. I checked.)

In tonight's other game, Elmhurst cruised to an 81-62 win over Augie in the QC. Dom Trelenberg shot poorly but still had 19 and 7 for the 'jays, with Talen Pearson adding 16 off the bench and Vinnie Adjahoungbeta putting in a 15 and 11 night of work. Jake Willems was a bright spot (21 pts on 7-13 shooting, including 4-6 from downtown) in defeat for the hosts, while Andre Klaver contributed 14 and 7 with a nice 6:2 floor game and Marieon Anderson scored 13.