BEST WIN | Dordt (IA)
Dordt, last Wednesday, went into Orange City and knocked off, previously unbeaten, Northwestern (IA)! Not only was it a BIG win at the time, but with NWC also losing on Saturday, Dordt now sits alone in 1st place in the GPAC! In the win, the Defenders got 20pts, 7rebs from Lucas Lorenzen as he put another bullet point on his GPAC POY candidacy!
UPSET | Brescia over No. 25 Rio Grande (OH)
Brescia picked up a huge Top 25 win over No. 25 Rio Grande on Saturday. The Bearcats have won 3 of their last 5 games! Hope that Brescia removes the Interim tag from Matt Karn! From all accounts, he WANTS to be there, and the players all LOVE him and want him to be their coach! He took over after practices had already began! As a former D1 hooper at Nebraska, he has the contacts to get players!
OFFFENSE | Eastern Oregon
EOU really let it loose this week as they scored 103pts on Warner Pacific and then followed that up with a 105pt outing against Multnomah!
vs WP | 103pts, with 5 players in double figures. Shot 58% from the field. Hit 14 threes at 52%. Had 24 assists!
vs Multnomah | 105pts, with a 31pt outing from Garrett Hawkes! Shot 54% from field. Hit 10 threes at 42%. Had 23 assists!
DEFENSE | Concordia (NE)
Concordia really locked in defensively this weekend as they went 2-0 on the week with another signature win over No. 3 Northwestern (IA).
vs Mount Marty | Gave up 62pts, forced 18 turnovers with 11 steals and 5 blocks
vs No. 3 Northwestern (IA) | Gave up 70pts (20pts below NWC average) to the 5th best offensive team in the NAIA. (37.1% from field/34.8% from 3), 6 steals and 4blks. Only gave up 13 offensive rebounds.
COACH OF THE WEEK | Ben Limback, Concordia (NE)
Coach Limback and the Bulldogs are BACK!! After starting off the season a bit slow, CUNE has found their rhythm as they have now won 8-straight games. That stretch includes handing No. 12 Dordt (IA) their first loss of the season and then knocking off No. 3 Northwestern this past week! A week in which they went 2-0 and locked up defensively holding Mount Marty to 62pts and then holding a Top 5 offensive team (NWC) to just 70pts. The Bulldogs head off to Ann Arbor, Michigan for the Concordia Invitational Tournament this weekend, before returning back to GPAC play.
STOCK UP | RV St. Francis (IL)
The Fightin’ Saints have won 8-straight games and sit at 9-1 in CCAC play, 15-2 overall. They are set to start a 4-game stretch where they play every game at home. In that mix, is a chance to redeem their last loss, which came at the hands of IU Northwest. This past week, St. Francis (IL) knocked off Saint Xavier and St. Ambrose. The Saint Xavier game was the first time they had been sped up all season and they handled it well. Especially with CCAC Player of Year candidate, Aitor Anabitarte battling foul trouble and finishing game with just 5 shot attempts. In that game, Delshawn Simms and Shir Moraidi both went for career highs! When you look at teams who can win in the National Tourney, you want to see teams who have been able to find ways to win in games where they were unable to play at the pace they normally play at. That SXU win was a good one for them!
STOCK UP | RV Cumberlands (KY)
We had them as a stock faller a month ago when they lost 4-straight, so now that they have won 5-straight games, including a 78-75 win over No. 2 Freed-Hardeman, it’s time to give Cumberlands some flowers, once again. A big part of their latest run has been the play of Anthony Johnson, who made our final cut for Player of the Week this week. Anthony had 20pts, 10rebs against Bethel (TN) and 25pts, 8rebs in the FHU win. They are the lone unbeaten in Mid-South play although the Patriots host No. 1 Georgetown this week. A win against the Tigers and a win at Cumberland (TN) this week, would have them sitting in a prime spot as they head to the 2nd half of MSC play!
STOCK FALLING | No. 15 Keiser (FL)
This is a tough one, as the Seahawks lost a road game to No. 24 Ave Maria and then lost at home to No. 22 Florida Memorial. So by “Stock Falling” it isn’t like Keiser shouldn’t still be a Top 25 or fringe Top 25 team. However, Keiser, who was one of the best defensive teams in the country, had a tough time getting stops this past week. The gave up 94pts to Ave and 80pts to FMU. Look for Coach Chief Bryant to get the Seahawks locked back in defensively as they hit the road for two Sun Conference games this week. They still sit just 1-game back of Ave Maria for 1st place!
GAME OF THE WEEK | No. 2 Freed-Hardeman defeats No. 1 Georgetown (KY)
Lions and Tigers and TOUGHNESS, oh my!!! If I am being honest, these games tend to not live up to the hype. So, for this game to not only live up to the hype of a 1 vs 2 matchup, but to also come down to a final shot, was just so much fun! We can start with the fact that it sucks that someone had to lose this game. These are two serious National Title Contenders! Freed, who is the defending National Champs, jumped on Georgetown in both halves. BUT, this Georgetown team has a lot of fight in them and answered every punch thrown at them with a few of their own. The final 20 minutes and OT were just two great teams exchanging big plays on both sides of the floor. This was BIG BOY basketball! It was as close to a Kansas City type game as you will see in the regular season. For those who have seen games inside Muni, you understand what that means! In the end, it was a Makai Vassell, who got the layup to go for the OT win for FHU! Vassell also joined the 1k scorers club in the game. It’s the 4th 1k scorer on this FHU squad. Peyton Law should make it a 5th 1k scorer sometime yet this season!
ONIONS | Garrett Green, Trinity Christian (IL)
Not sure which was tougher this week, the game winners or the dunks! We are giving the nod on this one to Garrett Green though, as his off-balance game winner, was one where the Trolls were down and would have lost if the shot doesn’t go in. However, and we haven’t done this before….but decided to give an HM nod to Tory Cargo of Dillard, who hit a running half-court game winner, in a tie game, to knock off Tougaloo on the road!
Honorable Mention: Tory Cargo’s game winner as Dillard knocks off Tougaloo! (Side Note: Watch out for Dillard if they can lock up a HBCUAC auto-bid)
PLAYER OF THE WEEK | Chaze Harris, Life
Chaze is having another great season! This past week was no exception as Chaze, in two wins, put up 23pts, 14assts vs Brewton-Parker and then followed it up with 38pts, 11rebs, 8asst, 4stls vs Thomas (GA)! Chaze is averaging 17pts, 6rebs, 6assts on the season! He is also doing that while also guarding the other team’s best guard! He has been a big part of why Life currently sits at 15-4 on the season!
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK | Tristian Smith, CUNE
Tristan is in the midst of a GPAC Player of the Year caliber season. He has been so great on both sides of the ball for the Bulldogs and after their big week, he gets our nod as DPOW!
vs Mount Marty | 27pts, 10rebs, 4blks, 2stls
vs NWC | 17pts, 15rebs, 3blks, 2stls and was a big part of helping the Bulldogs hold NWC to just 37% shooting!
RODMAN PLAYER OF THE WEEK | Rob Lee III, Avila (KS)
Rob Lee was a beast this past week as he set a new school record with 19 rebounds vs Evangel! He then followed it up with a 9reb outing against McPherson. The impressive part is that he did all of that at just 6’4 inches tall! This season, Robert is averaging 6.2ppg to go with 5.1rpg!
SOPHOMORE OF THE WEEK | Crew Gibson, Indiana Tech
The 6’8 Sophomore Forward is having a BIG Sophomore season as he leads Indiana Tech in points (13.9ppg) and rebounds (7.8rpg)! The big fella is also 2nd on the team with 50 assists on the season and leads the team with 27 blocks on the season! After a 27pt outing against Madonna, Crew followed it up this past week with two more big games to keep Indiana Tech in 1st place in the WHAC!
vs Rochester Christian | 11pts, 11rebs, 7assts
vs Defiance | 16pts | 10rebs, 3assts, 3blks
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK | Diego Eslava, New College of Florida
Diego is having a really nice season for New College of Florida! The Freshman sharpshooter continued that this past week as he helped NCF to 2-0 week with wins over Webber International and Warner to help his case for Sun Conference Freshman of the Year resume! On the season, Diego is averaging 12.6ppg and is shooting 41% from 3 while making 51 threes already. He has seven games where he has 4+ made 3’s in a game!
vs WIU | 19pts (5-9 from 3), 2rebs, 2 stls
vs Warner | 17pts (4-8 from 3), 5rebs, 1 asst
DUNK OF THE WEEK |
There were A LOT of great dunks this week, however, the no look alley-oop from Cumberlands, DJ Jones… with a one-handed flush by Anthony Harris was just plain filthy and gets the nod over all the others this week!
