BEST WIN | No. 7 Northwestern defeated No. 14 Morningside
Any conference road win is a good win, but a conference road win, that also features a Top 15 win, is even better! NWC grew a 10pt halftime lead into a 20pt win. They got big performances from both Freshman, Jalen Langsy (26pts, 3assts) and Jesse Van Kalsbeek (15pts, 20rebs, 4assts). They also got a big scoring performance out of their All-American, Alex Van Kalsbeek (23pts, 4rebs) and Kaleb Booth was red hot from deep as well as he hit 4-5 3’s for 16pts to go with 5 rebounds and 3 assists. It was an all-around good win for the Red Raiders, who continue to look mighty impressive.
UPSET | Montreat (NC) defeated No. 23 Rio Grande (OH), 82-65
Montreat went to Ohio and took it too Rio Grande. Rio is a little banged up, but Montreat jumped on them early hitting 8-1st half 3’s. Jarden Maze led Montreat with 23pts. Jack Keller chipped in 18 as he went 4-10 from deep. AJ Baskerville just missed a double-double with 12pts, 9rebs.
OFFFENSE | College of Idaho
The Yotes only played one game this past week, but they made the best of it as they blew out a good Eastern Oregon team, 103-57. College of Idaho shot 37-66 (56.1%) from the field and 12-24 (50%) from 3. They had 25 assists on those 37 made field goals. They also did all of that without having any player score more than 16pts. Was truly an offensive clinic for C of I.
DEFENSE | Keiser (FL)
Keiser took down Thomas (GA) this past week, 82-56. In that win, they held Thomas (80.7ppg) to 24pts below their season average. They did so by holding the Knight Hawks to just 18-60 (30FG%) shooting and 5-25 (20% from 3). On the season, if you look up and down the defensive stat leaders, you will find Keiser all over the Team Leaders categories as they currently lead the NAIA in Defensive Rebounds per game (33.1), Total Rebounds/game (48.4) and Defensive FG% (34.3%). The Eagles are 5th in Defensive PPG (60.9) and Rebounding Margain (12.4) and rank 9th in the NAIA in Blocks Per Game (5.0).
COACH OF THE WEEK | Kris Korver, Northwestern (IA)
Coach Korver has won a lot of games over his career, but at 12-0, he currently has his Red Raiders off to their best start in his 25 seasons as Head Coach. NWC picked up two more wins this past week including a road GPAC win over No. 14 Morningside. A game they won by 20pts. Northwestern is just 1 of 4 remaining undefeated teams left in the NAIA.
STOCK UP | Indiana Tech
The Warriors have now won six straight games, including a good win this past week over Lourdes. The win moves Indiana Tech to 6-0 in WHAC play and they currently have wins over all three teams directly behind them. Including a road win at Cornerstone. The Warriors haven’t lost since November 16th to Saint Francis (IN). They are really clicking on all cylinders right now!
STOCK UP | Wayland Baptist (TX)
Wayland had a bit of an up and down start to the season as they started out 0-3. However, Wayland has now won 8 of it’s last 10 games. The two losses are by a total of 3pts. They went 2-0 this past week with road wins at USAO and at Texas Wesleyan. They also have a win over No. 9 Langston from that stretch of games.
STOCK FALLING | Montana Western
It was a tough Cactus Classic for Montana Western. They went to Arizona at 7-2 on the season and left at 7-5. They lost games to OUAZ, No. 9 The Master’s and Benedictine – Mesa. The good news is that they still have a FULL Frontier Conference schedule ahead of them. They will get to regroup for the Holidays, get a couple tune-up games against two teams from Canada and then will start league play on January 4th.
GAME OF THE WEEK | Stillman takes down Tougaloo, 88-84, in 2OT
Tougaloo jumped out to a 10-0 lead in this game only to see Stillman crawl back into it and take the lead at the half. Tougaloo, once again, jumped out to the lead in the 2nd half, only to see Stillman, once again, chip away at the lead. The final seven minutes of this game was fantastic as both teams went back and forth. Tougaloo though had a 6pt lead with 1:30 left to go in the game and looked to be on their way to victory, but back-to-back turnovers eventually led to Stillman’s Tyler Martin hitting the game tying 3 with three seconds left to force OT. In OT, Tougaloo went up 5 on the first two possessions only to see Stillman, ONCE AGAIN, crawl their way back into the game and eventually tie it back up with 32 seconds left to force a 2nd OT after a missed Tougaloo shot. In the 2nd OT, Stillman decided they had enough of the playing from behind and took an early lead and never looked back as they held on for the 2OT win and remained in 1st place in the HBCUAC.
ONIONS | Trey Swayzer, Mayville State (ND)
In a BIG North Star Athletic Association road win, Trey Swazer got the game winning layup, as time expired, to lead Mayville State to the win over Bellevue. It wasn’t just the shot itself though. The entire lead up into it was madness as Mayville battled from down six points with 11 seconds left to play. Then, down 1, with 4.2 seconds left, the full court press led to a steal of the inbounds pass and the eventual game winner by Swayzer! Crazy as all of that is, Mayville State also won this game without making a single 3pt shot. They were 0-4 from 3!
PLAYER OF THE WEEK | Jaylon Lee, Rocky Mountain
Very quietly, Jaylon Lee is putting together one heck of a season! Very LOUDLY though is he jumping in as our NAIA Men’s Basketball Player of the Week as he had a Triple-Double (flirted with a quadruple-double) and a couple big double-doubles this past week.
vs D2 MSU Billings | 26pt, 17reb, 2asst, 2blk, 2stl
vs OUAZ | 10pts, 16rebs, 10blks, 7assts
vs Park-Gilbert | 13pts, 15rebs, 3assts, 2stls
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK | Tristan Smith, CUNE
Tristan was on our short list for Player of the Week as he put up some big offensive numbers as well, but in a league where both the team and individual offensive stats are going bonkers, Tristan has been one of the most consistent defensive performers in the GPAC as well. In the GPAC, Tristan currently ranks 2nd in steals (2.5) and blocks (1.5) and 3rd in rebounding (8.2).
vs Hastings | 7rebs (6 defensive), 1stl, 2blks
vs Waldorf | 8rebs (7 defensive), 4stls, 1blk (Also had 35pts and 4assts)
RODMAN PLAYER OF THE WEEK | Magok Manyang, Mid-America Christian
They were our runner up for Defensive team of the week as they locked down both SW Christian and Oklahoma City this past week. Manyang was a big part of those defensive efforts. However, for his 4pt, 9reb game against Southwestern Christian and just his overall defensive and rebounding efforts on the week, he gets our Rodman Player of the Week award.
SOPHOMORE OF THE WEEK | Jamal Gibson, SUNO
The All-American and HBCUAC Freshman of the Year is having another good season. His SUNO squad is also coming off a 2-0 week as they knocked off Talladega and Oakwood. Jamal is the current NAIA leader in RPG with 14.1.
vs Talladega | 17pts, 11rebs, 3assts
vs Oakwood | 24pts, 20rebs
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK | Jesse Van Kalsbeek, Northwestern (IA)
Three weeks in a row that a Northwestern Freshman has made the cut and we usually like to spread the wealth a bit, but Jesse is just coming off another MONSTER week and is deserving of this accolade once again. Jesse was a big part of a 2-0 week for NWC, including a road GPAC win over No. 14 Morningside. He was on the list for our overall Player of the Week and if it wasn’t for a near Quadruple-Double, he may have gotten the nod.
vs No. 14 Morningside | 15pts (7-16 44%), 20rebs, 4assists
vs Doane | 23pts (10-15 67%), 16rebs, 4assts
DUNK OF THE WEEK | Kashie Natt, LSU Alexandria
Kashie is a special player. The 1st Team All-American is so fun to watch play and you could put an absolute insane highlight real together on just his career dunks. Well, he added another one this past week as he got the
