BEST WIN | Hope International (CA)
Hope International knocked off No. 9 The Master’s 82-64 on Saturday in a game that probably catapults them into the Top 25. The Royals were a good team, but really were looking for that signature win and they found it to open up GSAC play. Cameron Dashiell, Jozelle Carter Jr and Jonah Felix all had big games off the bench for HIU as they contributed 39 of the teams 82pts while combining to go 6-11 from 3! The trio also had 13 of the teams 34 rebounds, 8 of the teams 14 assists and 9 of the teams 12 steals. Dashiell led the team with 17pts while Grant Sii had 15pts. It was a great defensive effort as well as the Royals held NPOY candidate, Kaleb Lowery, to just 3pts while not surrendering a FG to him.
UPSET | Corban (OR)
Had plenty of them to choose from this past week as 11 Top 25 teams went down to defeat. Corban has even played pretty decent ball this season with really only one bad loss thus far. However, this choice was based off of two major components. 1st, College of Idaho almost never loses at home and 2nd The Yotes also came into this game with Oregon Tech being the only Cascade opponent to be within 10pts of them. They also have to 50pt wins in league play. The Yotes were ROLLING coming into this game and it was certainly one, at home, that you didn’t see coming. Corban though is tough and certainly look the part of a tournament team!
OFFFENSE | Grace (IN)
Grace continues to really share the ball well and it’s leading to some great offense being played. This past week they scored 111 points vs Goshen, shooting 61.3% from the field and had 30assists with just 7 turnovers in the game. The Lancers are now 5th in the NAIA in PPG at 92.5. They also rank 4th in FG% (53.8) and are 1st in APG with 21.9.
DEFENSE | Texas Wesleyan
The Rams, in two SAC games this past week, held both Oklahoma City and MACU to season low point totals. In the OCU game, Texas Wesleyan won by 45pts as they held the Stars to just 53pts on 20-53 shooting (37%) and 4-19 from the 3 (21%). They also held one of the SAC’s top scorers, Avery Jackson, to just 6pts, all off of FT’s as he went 0-5 from the field. They also forced 25 turnovers in the game. In the MACU game, the Rams won 69-58 and held MACU to 31-67 from the field (31%) and 8-31 from 3 (25%).
COACH OF THE WEEK | Bill Dreikosen, Rocky Mountain
Coach Dreikosen helped his Rocky Mountain squad move to 12-2 on the season with a win over No. 6 Montana Tech to open Frontier Conference play. The Battlin’ Bears also beat Dickinson State in a 1pt thriller! A battle of future FC foes who also always seem to have crazy games against one another! In the Montana Tech game, RMC held Tech to just 55pts and snapped an 18game losing streak to Montana Tech.
STOCK UP | Hope International (CA)
Hope International, currently at 13-2, was already in the RV section of the Top 25. Their only losses on the season were to D2 Concordia-Irvine and a road loss to Bushnell. Both losses by a total of 9pts. Since the Bushnell loss, they have rifled off 8-straight wins including a big 82-64 win over No. 9 The Master’s this past Saturday to open up GSAC play. Coach Bill Czech continues to be one of the most underrated coaches in the NAIA! He consistently has the Royals playing great basketball and always in the mix for the GSAC titles. Nick Hopkins continues to lead the Royals in scoring at 15.9ppg with Grant Sii (10.6), Sebatian Castro (10.5), Josh Hardiman (10.3) and Cameron Dashiell (10.3) all averaging double figures.
STOCK UP | Concordia (NE)
The Bulldogs, who started off the season as a Top 10 team, are starting to find their stride as they have now won 4 straight games and are coming off a 99-72 win vs 11th ranked and previously undefeated Dordt! Their only loss in the past 8 games is a road loss to No. 4 Arizona Christian, 65-73. That loss avenged an 87-102 loss to Dordt on Nov. 23rd. CUNE is a bit of a victim to their schedule as they only played 3 games prior to GPAC play. Being only 3 games into their season, then having 3 of their first 4 GPAC games against Morningside twice and Dordt, we felt they were a little behind schedule in terms of working out the early season kinks while going up against other teams who had 7 to 8 games to work out their early season woes. Look for CUNE to make a run here as they have found themselves a bit.
STOCK FALLING | Indiana Wesleyan
They only played one game this past week, but it was a Crossroads League road loss to Saint Francis (IN). Despite being 11-4 overall the loss moved IWU to just 1-4 in league play with losses to three of the top four teams in the league. The good news is that three of those were on the road, so they will at least get to host those three teams inside Luckey Arena in the 2nd round of league play. As a matter of fact, after hittign the road to face Taylor and MNVU this week, IWU will play 7 of their final 11 games at home. Something that should give them a big boost headed into the CL Tourney! That is to say, even at 1-4, the Wildcats are far from out of it!
GAME OF THE WEEK | No. 12 Baker beats No. 25 Graceland, 65-64
Normally our Games of the Week feature a lot more back and forth games with plenty of lead changes and ties. This game had just 2 ties and 3 lead changes as Baker got up by as much as 9 in the 1st half while taking a 1pt lead into the break. Then Graceland stormed out of the half on fire, leading by as much as 13pts in the 2nd half. Baker finally was able to hit some 3’s down the stretch to get back into it and give themselves a chance to win and it was Keynan Russell who would get the layup to fall with 3 seconds left in the game to get the win for Baker. This was the second game in a row, between the two teams, that came down to the buzzer, as Baker, in the Heart Semifinals last season, came storming back and a Ty Henry’s true buzzer beating shot led Baker to the Heart Title game!
ONIONS | Ryley McClaran, Freed Hardeman
I make the rules right?! Well, this may not be a TRUE Onions shot, but I am also not sure you are going to see a better buzzer beater the rest of season, so even though this one happened at half time, we are giving it the go ahead for our Onions Play of the Week!! As Freed-Hardeman’s Ryley McLaran, gets the one-handed running scoop shot to go in to beat the halftime buzzer. Ryley was absolutely on fire in the game, so maybe we shouldn’t have been shocked it actually went in!?
PLAYER OF THE WEEK | Jamal Gibson, SUNO
From Sophomore of the Week, to DPOW to now our Player of the Week! Jamal is having a tremendous season, once again, and only added to it last week in the first two games of the HBCUAC Crossover games. He now has 45 straight games with a double-double!
vs Wilberforce | 26pts (12-17 FG), 20rebs. 1asst and 1blk
vs RUST | 41pts (19-24 FG), 17rebs, 3assts, 3blks and 2stls
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK | Omarion Smith, Dalton State
Omarion threw himself ANOTHER block party this past week as he went for 6blks against Tennessee Wesleyan. It’s the 2nd time this season that he had 6blks in a game. Omarion also added in 6rebs and a steal in the Road Runners win over TWU. The 6’5 Junior is averaging 2.2blks per game which currently leads the SSAC!
RODMAN PLAYER OF THE WEEK | Connor Casper, Saint Francis (IL)
Connor, in three games this past week, had a total of 4pts, but had 12rebs, 4assts, 2blks and 4fouls to be our Rodman Player of the week! Saint Francis went 3-0 on the week with wins over Goshen, McPherson and Holy Cross. In the Holy Cross game, the RS Sophomore had 0pts, 5rebs, 2assts a blk and a steal off the bench!
SOPHOMORE OF THE WEEK | Shon Tupuola, St. Mary-Woods (IN)
Shon has been having a huge season and is a big part of why SMWC has won 12 straight games! In their lone game this week, in a River States Conference game vs IU Southeast, Shon went for 15 points (63% from field), grabbed 18 rebounds and blocked 4 shots. On the season, Shon is averaging 15.1ppg, 12rebs and 1.8blks. He currently leads the River States Conference in RPG (12), DRPG (8.3), ORPG (3.7), FG% (73%) and BPG (1.8).
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK | TJ Smith, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
TJ plays for new NAIA and SSAC member, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and he had a 19pt, 8reb, 1asst, 1stl outing in the teams loss to Thomas (GA). TJ is having a good season as he is averaging 13.8ppg, 6.4rpg and is shooting 42% from 3!
DUNK OF THE WEEK | Antonio King, UNOH
Antonio King, the 6’7 Jr out of Detroit, Michigan caught this poster off the baseline drive against Rochester Christian!
