|
| Carter Capstran scored a career-high 23 points in UW-Whitewater's win. d3photography.com file photo by Doug Sasse |
Top-ranked UW-Platteville falls at home at the hands of Whitewater, Calvin took Round 1 of the Rivalry, Denison asserted its primacy in the NCAC and Oshkosh won at Stevens Point. That and more in the Wednesday wrapup.
UW-Whitewater rolled up a 37-20 lead on the road on the No. 1 team in the country and fought off a second-half rally as the axe swung on UW-Platteville on Wednesday night with Whitewater winning 74-68. Platteville went on a 24-10 run to tie the game at 51 with 7:11 left in the game, and later took a 62-58 lead on a three-pointer by Max Love with under four minutes to play. But Luke Bara responded with a three on the Warhawks' next possession to cut the lead to one.
The Warhawks (9-8, 3-3 WIAC) scored six consecutive points, to go back up by three, with five of the six points coming from Jameer Barker added five points during that run.
With just 60 seconds on the clock, the Pioneers (15-2, 5-1) started to foul, but Whitewater went 5-for-6 from the line in the final minute. Carter Capstran led the way with a career-high 23 points, going 7-for-7 from inside the arc and 3-for-5 from three-point range.
Denison recently joined the D3hoops.com men's basketball Top 25, and even more recently, Wooster fell out of the same poll, but when the two teams met on Wooster's home floor on Wednesday night, you could be forgiven if you weren't sure the poll had them placed correctly. But it held up, as the Big Red, ranked No. 16, remained unbeaten in the conference and improved to 16-1 overall with a 77-65 win at Wooster's Timken Gymnasium. The loss is Wooster's third in a row. Trailing 37-35 at halftime, the Big Red outscored the Scots 42-28 in the second half. Trevor Reed led the charge for Denison, finishing with 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting and 7-for-12 from the free-throw line. Ricky Radtke added 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Wooster's Jaiden Cox-Holloway led the Scots with 22 points and eight rebounds, while Nick Everett tallied 21 points and seven boards. However, the Scots turned the ball over 19 times.
Carter Thomas and Joey LaChapell scored 16 points apiece and UW-Oshkosh held No. 17 UW-Stevens Point under 30 percent shooting and under 15 percent from three-point range in a 60-43 win. Carter hit two free throws with 5:27 left in the first half, LaChapell followed with a three-pointer 30 seconds later, and Carter added a layup with 4:11 left before halftime to make the lead 21-14. It was Oshkosh's first WIAC win of the season, as the Titans improved to 10-7, 1-5 WIAC. Stevens Point fell to 13-4, 3-3.
A strong defensive stand in the closing minutes propelled Calvin to a 65-60 rivalry win at Hope. After opening the season with a 1-6 record, Calvin (10-6, 5-0 MIAA) has ripped off nine straight wins. The Knights used a block and board by Parker Swartz with three minutes left that led to a fast-break layup and foul by teammate Owen Varnado. Varnado's free throw completed the three-point play to give Calvin a 61-57 lead with 2:55 remaining. Hope came up with a steal and a fast-break basket from Parker Hovey to close to within two at 61-59 with 1:53 left on the clock. Hope (9-7, 4-1) had a chance to tie or take the lead inside the final minute but misfired on a three-point attempt and a follow-up shot in traffic. The second miss was rebounded by Calvin, leading to a reverse fast-break basket by Uchenna Egekeze with 18 seconds remaining. A free throw by Hope's Gabe Quillan cut the deficit to 63-60 but free throws by Varnado and Egekeze in the final seconds sealed the win for the Knights. Calvin Parker Swartz scored a career-high 19 points off the bench, doing so in 24 minutes of action. Egekeze and Varnado finished with identical double-double lines with both players recording 16 points and 10 rebounds.
In a game befitting a matchup of the league's top teams, Monmouth forced a three-way tie atop the Midwest Conference standings before an enthusiastic crowd, edging the Pioneers at Grinnell 102-99. Monmouth, Grinnell and Cornell are each 6-2 in the MWC. Grinnell tied the game at 90 with 3:30 to go and Monmouth's Jordan Hill answered with a bucket in the lane. Leading by one, Hill hit a 3-pointer for a 96-92 lead and Ganon Greenman added two free throws with 45 seconds left. After the hosts scored, Kyle Taylor made two free throws for a 100-95 lead with 11 seconds to play. Grinnell scored quickly and Taylor made two more free throws with five seconds left to make Grinnell's last-second three-pointer irrelevant to the final result. Zay Brown led the Scots with 23 points, as all five starters scored in double figures.
Roanoke scored 21 of the first 23 points in the game and never looked back as the Maroons rolled to a 98-66 win at Ferrum. The Panthers chipped away at the lead, starting the second half on a 13-10 run, but Roanoke scored the next 12 points to put the game out of reach. Joshua Morse scored a game-high 18 points.
Shane Fernald scored a career-high and game-high 22 points off the bench, adding nine rebounds, to lead No. 8 Hampden-Sydney to a 105-92 Old Dominion Athletic Conference road win at Randolph. Freshman Travis Stickney added 15 points and All-America selection Adam Brazil had 14 points as the visiting Tigers (14-3, 7-1) had seven players in double-figure scoring. The high-scoring contest was tied at 49-49 at halftime, and the host WildCats led 81-80 with 8:41 remaining, but the Garnet & Grey closed the contest on a 25-11 run for a season-high 105 points and their fourth consecutive victory. Randolph (5-11, 1-8) was led by Jordan Phillip-McLoyd with 19 points and Viktor Parson with 16 points.
No. 22 Cal Lutheran survived a last-second shot to defeat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 78-76. AJ Rohosy scored a game-high 27 points, on 11-for-12 shooting, but it ended up being Neil Owens who took the final shot, a wild, off-balance fallaway that fell way short. The ball ended up in Rohosy's hands, but he could not get a shot off before the buzzer. Devon Lewis had given his team the lead on a jumper from the wing with a foot on the line to go up 78-76 with 9.8 seconds to play. Lewis finished with 20, as did Matthew Verkamp, while Tommy Griffits had a team-high 23-points.
Nebraska Wesleyan got behind early but rallied late in a 75-67 victory vs. Buena Vista. The Beavers (9-8, 4-4 ARC) seemingly grabbed control of the game on a three point shot that made the score 63-49, with just over eight minutes to play. However, Nebraska Wesleyan was not going to go quietly as Carter Glenn answered the three point shot with a quick layup to cut the lead to 12. Just over a minute later, Andrew Brewer came up with a steal and finished with a lay up on the offensive end to make the score 63-53. After forcing a couple of stops on defense, Carter Glenn came up big again with a quick five point burst that cut the lead to five. After Buena Vista answered with a bucket, Nebraska Wesleyan (13-4, 6-2) put the hammer down, going on a 17-2 run over the remaining four minutes to earn a hard fought, come from behind victory.