MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[mwunder]

In an ugly scrappy game at the Griz, IWU over MU 53-52.  No one really playing well.

For IWU:
Funk 10 and 7
Colak 9
C. Williams 9
Cleveland 7 and 8

IWU at 36%/33% from three/ only 55% from the FT line

For MU:
Straughter 13
Thomann 12

MU at 40/27/ and 50

A road win is a road win.  Barely. 

IWU moves to 19-4, keeps pace with Carthage for the league lead.  Sometimes better to be lucky than good. 

'70

IWU survived this one after taking the lead 53-50 on a second or third look on an open 3 by Williams.  Straughter had two looks at a game winner but missed the first short, followed his shot and back rimmed the second at the buzzer.  Very surprised that Thomann didn't get the ball in his hands at the end of the game.

Cleveland took a nasty fall after a dunk that stopped play for a few minutes. He just held on to the rim too long and came down on his left side / arm / wrist area.  He returned to make an impact defensively but was clearly bothered on his left side.

[lmitzel]

Carroll 74
NCC 54

Time to order the autopsy in Naperville. After the usual strong early start with a 9-2 run to open the game, the Cardinals went up 10 with about six minutes to go in the first half, and naturally it all fell apart from there. Carroll pulled back within three by halftime, and that momentum carried all the way over into the second half, as a 26-4 Pio run served as the dagger for this one.

Ethan Marlowe: 10 pts, 7 reb
Justin Sveiteris: 10 pts, 5 reb
Tre Davis: 6 pts, 7 reb

Lamar Smith: 16 pts, 9 reb
Peyton McKenna: 15 pts, 6 stl
Michael McNabb: 13 pts, 7 reb

With the loss, NCC is eliminated from postseason play. Not counting the COVID season, this is the first time the Cardinals have missed the CCIW Tournment since 2014.

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst barely eked out an 80-79 win over Wheaton at Faganel, as Reid Olson missed what would've been the game-winner at the buzzer for WC. Dom Trelenberg led the way with 23 and 9 for the hosts, although from the Elmhurst point of view he injected needless drama into the win by missing the front end of a one-and-one not once but twice in the final half-minute of the game. Luke Smith scored 14 and EJ Marshall pumped in 12 for the 'jays. Soren Richardson had quite an interesting night -- 36 points on 11-18 shooting (including 6-10 from downtown), but he also turned the ball over five times and, interestingly got T'ed up for something. That happens to a Wheaton player about once in a blue moon. Carson Grier (21 and 9) was the only other Wheaton player to score more than eight points, although Brady Wynja grabbed seven boards and Olson had a nice 4:0 floor game.

Wheaton is now in a three-way tie for fourth with North Park and Carroll at 6-7, with Augie a game back at 5-8 and Millikin still (barely) alive at 5-9. Wheaton visits the crackerbox on Saturday afternoon, and that sounds like a can't-miss event. Fingers crossed that North Park students turn out in good numbers for that one.

[Stertorous Thunder]

Soren Richardson had quite an interesting night -- 36 points on 11-18 shooting (including 6-10 from downtown), but he also turned the ball over five times and, interestingly got T'ed up for something. That happens to a Wheaton player about once in a blue moon.

The play-by-play announcer (who did a nice job, I thought) was similarly puzzled by the technical, but I'm fairly certain that Richardson was called for accidentally hitting his defender in the face with the ball while pump-faking before taking a shot. I don't know basketball rules well enough but interestingly, Richardson's trey still counted and wasn't negated even though it was enabled by him gaining separation by smacking the defender in the face. I assume that if the foul had been called in real time, the ball would have been turned over to Elmhurst. But since the foul was called based on video review, I guess that's different?

[Gregory Sager]

Soren Richardson had quite an interesting night -- 36 points on 11-18 shooting (including 6-10 from downtown), but he also turned the ball over five times and, interestingly got T'ed up for something. That happens to a Wheaton player about once in a blue moon.

The play-by-play announcer (who did a nice job, I thought) was similarly puzzled by the technical, but I'm fairly certain that Richardson was called for accidentally hitting his defender in the face with the ball while pump-faking before taking a shot. I don't know basketball rules well enough but interestingly, Richardson's trey still counted and wasn't negated even though it was enabled by him gaining separation by smacking the defender in the face. I assume that if the foul had been called in real time, the ball would have been turned over to Elmhurst. But since the foul was called based on video review, I guess that's different?

That sounds pretty bizarre, and not at all the correct call. A technical in live action should immediately result in a dead ball.

[Greek Tragedy]

https://d3datacast.com/npi/

Elmhurst and Carthage hold the last two Pool C bids now.

[iwu70]

Greek, I doubt both of them will make the tournament.  Maybe neither. 

Looking ahead as the season winds down:   I have Noah Cleveland making first team All-CCIW and Funk and Colak making second team.  Cleveland likely the MOP for the year.  IMHO. 

For next year, IWU really only loses Colak and David Williams out of the key players in the rotation.  So much coming back and others stepping up -- especially Connor Williams -- so IWU could be better next year.  (I think Alex Miller will have his chance for a clean dunk in time.    ). Sadly, Boldt did not contribute very much this year.  Fridman returns from injury and all other key pieces are still there.  We don't know yet about newbies.  Kuehl replaces Colak and things move forward . . . in the normal Ron Rose way.  Maybe Brady Ruggles plays a larger role next season.  Danny Kent as well.   Cleveland, Lawrence, Niego, and Funk all returning. 

I look forward to the CCIW tournament and the D3 dance.  Let's hope the CCIW can make some noise in the national tournament. 

IWU'70