Saturday: Owls, Tigers and Pioneers

Feb 13, 2021
Keene State: Still unbeaten.
Keene State athletics file photo
 

Keene State won a battle of unbeatens, DePauw made Wooster's season debut slightly less than memorable and Erin Monahan won her 500th career game in Saturday's NCAA Division III basketball action.

Keonn Scott shot 6-for-10 from 3-point range and Talyer McNeal went 5-for-7, but even that was not enough as Wooster's official season debut resulted in the Scots coughing up a 18-point lead and falling to No. 13 DePauw, 100-97. On the other side, Elijah Hales went 7-for-10 from beyond the arc and led the Tigers (6-0) with 26 points. Trailing 66-48 just a few minutes into the second half, DePauw attacked the basket and turned up their defense, and in a matter of four minutes, the Fighting Scots' lead was cut to six. Hales later gave DePauw the lead for the first team since the game's opening bucket, draining a 3 with 6:05 left to go up 83-82. Hales went on to give his team the lead at 3:42 with a jumper and at 3:14 with one of his 3-pointers. He then did so for one final time when he hit his seventh 3-pointer with 2:29 to play.

Josh Hall contributed 21 points for the Tigers. McNeal scored 29 off the bench for Wooster (0-1) to lead all scorers, while Scott added 26.

Freshman Nate Siow scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead four players in double figures, as Keene State held off a late charge to prevail in a battle of Little East Conference men’s basketball unbeatens, 68-67 over Mass-Dartmouth. The Corsairs tied the game at 42-42 on Adam Seablom’s 3-pointer from the left corner with 16:54 to play, but a 3-pointer from Jordan Santos gave Keene State the lead for good 39 seconds later, as the visitors used 15 unanswered points in a 3:24 stretch to take their largest advantage of the day (59-44) on Siow’s trey with 11:56 remaining. Mass-Dartmouth chipped away and got as close as four with when Isaac Perry hit a 3 with 12 seconds left, and Marcus Azor hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make the final margin one point.

No. 2 Mount Union got its revenge on Heidelberg. One night after the Student Princes handed Mount Union its first loss, the Purple Raiders returned the favor. Mount Union jumped out to a 17-3 lead in Saturday night's road game. Heidelberg (6-1) came back to take the lead on a Nahki Taylor 3-pointer with 8:14 left in the game, but Collen Gurley answered with a 3-ball of his own less than a minute later and the Purple Raiders (6-1) led the rest of the way en route to a 67-61 win. Gurley finished with a team-high 18 points for UMU, while Dylan Woods, who scored 38 for the Student Princes on Friday night, was held to 20 points on 7-for-16 shooting.

Carthage started the second half on a 17-9 spurt and extended its lead to 50-37, but Wheaton (Ill.) rallied to put the artists formerly known as Red Men away, winning 76-70. Tyson Cruickshank finished with 16 poits, while Luke Anthony and Cade Alioth added 13 apiece to keep the No. 7 Thunder unbeaten at 7-0. Fillip Bulatovi scored a game-high 31 for Carthage (3-3), but nne of them in the final 3:09.

Denzel Banks hit an off-balance, fall-away jumper at the buzzer off a feed from freshman guard Hakeem Wilson as New Jersey City outlasted Stockton, 67-65. With 5.9 seconds remaining and the game knotted at 65-65, NJCU (3-1, 3-1 NJAC) forced a shot-clock violation on the Ospreys (1-3, 1-3), called timeout, and set up the winning play. Wilson received the inbounds pass from Banks, dribbled up the left-center of the court and on a misdirection, Banks snuck up the right sideline after trailing the play, caught a pass from Wilson, and hit the winning shot a few strides inside the 3-point line before being mobbed in a dogpile.

Ryan Turell scored 31 points and had 10 rebounds and Eitan Halpert added 21 on 5-for-9 shooting from beyond the arc as Yeshiva finally got back on the floor defeating Manhattanville 98-76. The game marked Sean Smith's return to the lineup for the Valiants, after he missed all of last season due to injury. The MAC Freedom's co-Player of the Year in 2019, he averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds as a sophomore that year before putting up 22 and nine on Saturday.

Washington & Jefferson handed Westminster (Pa.) its first loss of the season as AJ Blue hit a 3-pointer with 9.3 seconds left to play in the game to give the Presidents a 64-63 win at the Titans. Back-to-back baskets by Kyran Mitchell gave W&J a three-point lead with just 1:28 remaining. However, Westminster appeared poised to sneak away with the victory after five consecutive points made the score 63-61 with 31 seconds left. An offensive rebound by Zach Queen and an assist by Mitchell allowed Blue to knock down the game-winner.

Aurora rallied from 16 points down, going 15-for-30 from 3-point range in an 81-75 win against Benedictine. It's the first conference loss of the season for the Eagles. Rashad Johnson scored 23 and Mahlik Hall added 21 in the win as Aurora improved to 3-2.

Saturday's women's action

Erin Monahan earned her 500th career victory as the William Paterson women's basketball team led wire-to-wire en route to a 67-42 victory over visiting Rutgers-Newark. Monahan, who has been the head coach at her alma mater for 28 seasons, has a career record of 500-240 after her Pioneers improved to 2-2. Justina Cabezas led WPU with 18 points, 17 rebounds and six assists.

In the only SCAC game played this weekend, Trinity used a 19-0 first-half run to take the lead on No. 11 Austin and went on to win, 79-61. The Tigers (5-2) had five players reach double-figures, led by Jordan Rudd with 19 points. That win plus the weather leaves the SCAC standings in a jumble. Trinity and Austin are tied at 5-2 and a half-game behind co-leaders Schreiner and Colorado College whose two games were cancelled due to weather. Because of the unbalanced schedule, the only remaining games are between Trinity and Schreiner.

Ohio Northern used a strong fourth quarter to close out No. 8 John Carroll, 68-53, and deal the Blue Streaks their first loss. Kasey Knippen came off the Polar Bears' bench to score all seven of her points in the final period, which ONU won, 25-16. Olivia Nagy notched 18 points and seven rebounds for John Carroll (7-1). Sydney Ward and Lexi Jacobs each scored 12 points for Ohio Northern (4-4). Marietta, Baldwin Wallace and Otterbein all picked up a game in the standings with convincing wins over Wilmington, Capital and Muskingum respectively.

No. 2 East Texas Baptist pushed its historic start to 19-0 by rolling past Mary Hardin-Baylor, 62-48. The Tigers led the entire way and held Mary Hardin-Baylor to 32 percent shooting (19 for 60). Hanna Hudson led a balanced ETBU attack, scoring 14 points in 24 minutes.

North Central (Ill.) scored the upset of the day when the previously winless Cardinals knocked off No. 13 Millikin, 68-55. Haydn Braun scored 20 points for the Cardinals, mostly from the foul line where she went 9-for-10. Rebekah Foley added 19 and North Central went 7 for 14 from three. Super freshman Elyce Knudsen had 15 points for the Big Blue (5-3).

No. 1 Hope used 14 players in a 70-53 win at Albion. Meg Morehouse, daughter of head coach Brian, came off the bench to score 10 points in 17 minutes for the Flying Dutch (8-0, 2-0 MIAA). No. 6 Trine used 15 players and hammered Olivet 81-36. Sisters Alyssa and Kaylee Argyle combined for 18 points for the Thunder (9-1, 3-0 MIAA).

Washington & Jefferson scored 40 points in the paint as forwards Alie Seto and Maria Lawhorne combined for 36 points and 18 rebounds, and the Presidents topped Westminster (Pa.), 72-53. W&J (3-0) is tied for first in the Presidents' Athletic Conference with St. Vincent which took care of Waynesburg, 82-64. The Presidents outscored Westminster 14-4 in the first 5:10 of the third quarter and took a 48-33 lead to put the game away.