Crazy to think that December is already here! The season is flying by already and while we will have a bit of a slow down period around the Holidays at the end of the month, the rest of the season will surely fly by as well! Today, the NAIA Top 25 Coaches Poll is released and there will be plenty of movement after seeing quite a few Top 25 teams with 1-2 losses over the previous two week ranking period. The rankings will come out before the monster games that are on tap for tonight, but the next couple weeks are really big for a few teams as they turn towards the toughest stretch of their season!
– Games of the Day Recap
- Men’s Game: #12 Marian 82 – Bethel (IN) 63
- Bethel came into the game on a hot streak, while Marian was looking for their first Crossroads League win. The Knights used a 10-0 run in the middle of the first half to go up double digits and were able to take a 12pt lead into halftime. There was an offensive onslaught early in the 2nd half by both teams, but Marian was able to push it’s lead behind a game high 24 points from Hayden Langkabel. Langkabel would finish with a 6-10 showing from the 3pt line on his way to his career high in points. Christian Stewart chipped in 16pts and climbed into 17th place on the all-time Marian scoring list!
- Women’s Game: Midway 100 – Alice Lloyd 94
- It was a great day for Midway, as not only did they get the RSC Win, but Head Coach Chris Minor, got win #400 for his career! The Eagles got 27pts, 13rebs, 3assts, 4stls from Dezeree White. The Our Lady of the Lake transfer has been phenomenal this season. Haley Hall had 21pts, 5rebs, 6assts for Alice Lloyd in the loss. This Midway bunch have now won 4 of it’s last 5 games with that only loss coming to #10 Marian. The Eagles will hit the road again on Saturday as they face off with IU Kokomo.
– Top Performers:
- Myles Burns, Loyola, 27pts, 19rebs against Dillard.
- Side Note: He didn’t quite get 20 rebounds, but would be an interesting stat to find to see when the last time a team had back to back 20pt/20reb performances from two different players! As Loyola teammate, Zach Wrightsil had 24pts, 21rebs on Saturday in the Battle at the Beach Gulf Bracket Championship game.
- Zach Goodline, Huntington 26pts against Spring Arbor.
- Trequan Spivey, IU Kokomo, 31pts against Oakland City.
- Donnie Miler, Midway, 27pts against Alice Lloyd.
- Damon Tobler, Alice Lloyd, 11pt, 16reb double-double against Midway.
- Darell Bryant, Central Christian, 23pts, 9reb game off the bench against Langston.
- Gary Mims, Simpson, 20pt, 13reb double-double against Southern Oregon.
- Uriel Lejtman, La Sierra, 26pts, 6rebs against San Diego Christian.
- Tay Smith, Brescia, 25pt, 9reb, 4asst, 3stl game against St. Mary-Woods.
- Women’s Top Performers:
- Taylor Thomas, Loyola, 14pts, 6rebs, 8assts in win over Dillard.
- Ella Skeens, Rio Grande, 27pts, 13rebs, 6assts, 4stls against Ohio Christian.
- DeZeree White, 27pts, 13rebs, 3assts, 4rebs against Alice Lloyd.
- Marina Garcia, Ohio Valley, 22pts, 6rebs, 8assts, 4stls against WVU Tech.
- Brittney Justice, WVU Tech, 30pts, 9rebs against Ohio Valley.
– Milestones:
- Rio Grande Head Women’s Coach, David Smalley hit a major milestone last night with career win #600!
- As mentioned above, Midway Head Women’s Basketball Coach, Chris Minor, got career win #400!
- Christian Stewart continues to climb the record books. This time moving into 17th place on the all-time scoring list at Marian!
- Loyola (LA) is off to a program record 11-0 start to the season. As good of a team as they have, it’s no shock, however, this is also a team, who because of Hurricane Ida destroying their gym, they have not had a true home game this season. Instead, they are having to play home games at other Universities across New Orleans. Most of which have been played at Tulane to this point. Really remarkable story!
– BIG Plays
- Speaking of playing games at Tulane, Miles Burns and company may need to purchase some new rims here soon!!
- How about the sequence Monday night from Oklahoma Wesleyan. One of the best defensive teams in the NAIA and when defense leads to offense, you get plays (stretches) like this:
– Top 25
- In prep for today’s NAIA Top 25 Coaches Poll, here is a couple of other Top 25’s to look at:
