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| Owen Varnado was one of three Calvin players in double figures on the night in the win at Trine. Calvin athletics file photo |
Calvin took over sole possession of first place in the MIAA standings, while two top ten teams struggled at home to get past sub-.500 teams in Wednesday night's Division III men's basketball schedule. The Knights knocked off No. 2 Trine at Trine, while No. 3 Illinois Wesleyan needed overtime to defeat Carroll and No. 7 Wisconsin Lutheran had to rally from a 20-point halftime deficit to get past Lakeland.
Calvin's win is its 11th in a row after a 1-6 start, one which included four losses to teams currently ranked in the D3hoops.com men's basketball Top 25 poll. The Knights (12-6, 7-0 MIAA) scored seven of the first nine points in the second half to extend their lead out to 41-29 early in the second period. The No. 2 Thunder went on a 12-2 run to cut the gap to two points at 43-41 with 12:08 remaining. A three-pointer by junior Owen Varnado bumped Calvin's lead to 46-41 but Trine (16-2, 6-1) responded with an 11-2 run to take a 52-49 lead. Trine's Nate Tucker capped the run with a jumper to put the Thunder up three with 7:03 left on the clock. With the game tied a few minutes later, Uchenna Egekeze delivered a clutch three-pointer to give the Knights a 59-56 advantage with 2:29 to go.
Calvin never trailed again. Trine crept to within a point at 59-58 but a fadeaway jumper by Luka Ressler with 30 seconds left put the Knights up 61-58. Trine misfired on a jump shot in the closing seconds with Calvin grabbing the rebound and sealing the game on a free throw. Egekeze poured in a game-high 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting.
No. 7 Wisconsin Lutheran outscored Lakeland 62-30 in the second half, blowing the Muskies away in the final five minutes to win 90-78. Lakeland led 48-28 at the half before WLC came out and went on a 20-5 run to open the second period. Even then, Lakeland (6-12, 5-6 NACC) kept the Warriors from taking the lead until Ja'quell Chisom had a steal and a layup, then added the free throw to finish the three-point play and give his team a 74-71 lead. That was part of a game-ending 24-7 run. That three-point play was three of the five points the Warriors (17-1, 10-1) got from their bench on Wednesday night, as Ryan Broeckel scored a game-high 22 points on 10-for-14 shooting, adding eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Grayson Goetz had 14 points and 11 assists.
No. 3 Illinois Wesleyan had the opposite experience but a similar result, as the Titans led by as many as 12 points against Carroll (6-12, 2-7 CCIW) but needed overtime to get past the Pioneers, 81-78. A double-digit lead evaporated as Carroll used a 10-point run to grab a 51-46 lead with 13:16 to play in regulation, as back-to-back turnovers made way for Pio buckets. The game went back and forth until Harrison Wilmsen hit a putback and the resulting free throw with 3:20 left gave IWU (17-2, 9-1) a 67-66 lead before Carroll forced overtime. In the extra period, Marko Anderson came up huge. The Pios struck first in the period on a driving layup by Erik Victorson, but Roper banked in a three-ball to give Illinois Wesleyan a 72-71 advantage at the 4:13 mark. Anderson followed with a bucket off the Funk assist, but Carroll once again used free throws to reclaim the lead. Trailing 76-75 with less than two minutes to go, Anderson knocked down a putback to reclaim the lead, this time for good. The senior went 2-for-3 at the charity stripe with 18 seconds on the clock to stretch the lead to three, 79-76. The cushion proved large enough as Roper free throws iced out an 81-78 victory.
Cooper Nailor scored 25 points and shot 15-for-16 from the foul line, while John Steffen added 23 points as Coe (12-7, 6-4) outlasted Loras 100-95 in double overtime in American Rivers Conference play. Nailor had a game-winning shot rim out at the end of the first overtime, but made up for it in the second overtime, as he scored eight points in the final period.
With the game tied at 95 in the second overtime, Loras (12-6, 6-3) advanced it into the frontcourt and called its last timeout with 34.5 seconds left. But when the ball got loose and a Loras player tried to save it by calling timeout with 16.2 left, it resulted in a technical foul, as Loras was out of timeouts. Nailor hit four consecutive free throws to put the game nearly out of reach, and Cole Hrubes added another foul shot to seal it up. "It's always tough with Loras," Nailor said afterward. "We knew it was going to be a 40-minute battle. We didn't know it was going to be more than a 40-minute battle, but that's kind of what it turned into tonight."
Justin Molen tallied a career-high 19 points to propel No. 18 WPI to a come from behind 71-65 triumph at home against Babson. WPI, winners of nine consecutive contests, is now 17-2 overall and 9-1 in NEWMAC action. Babson, which had handed the Engineers one of their two losses this season nearly eight weeks ago, drops to 12-7, 6-4. Aidan Callahan secured his second career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Brady Olson scored 21 points and Logan Pearson added 17 as No. 4 UW-Platteville went on the road and won at UW-Oshkosh, 86-73. The Pioneers (17-2, 7-1 WIAC) jumped out to a 23-6 lead in the first eight minutes of the game and never looked back, as it was never less than a two-possession game the rest of the way. Platteville shot 14-for-26 from three-point range, or 54 percent. Carter Thomas led Oshkosh (11-8, 2-6) with 27 points. Check out a photo gallery of this game.
Jabril Robinson led the way with 15 points as No. 13 Randolph-Macon outlasted No. 25 Virginia Wesleyan in a defensive battle in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Yellow Jackets limited the Marlins (15-4, 8-2) to just 1-for-16 shooting from beyond the arc, 6.3 percent, on the Marlins' home floor. Randolph-Macon (16-3, 9-1 ODAC) was only marginally better, at 3-for-15, or 20 percent.
AJ Barden's putback with 0.6 seconds left gave Albion a 76-74 victory over Hope. Despite the Brits holding a slim lead for a majority of the second half, the Flying Dutch worked to claim a 74-73 lead with 2:03 on the clock off a corner three from Parker Hovey. At the other end, the Britons split a pair of free throws to tie the game up at 74. With both teams missing their next opportunities, Hope had a chance to take the lead in the closing seconds, but Kurtis Rhodes rebounded a missed Hope layup with seven seconds left. His layup did not fall, but Barden's rebound and putback gave the Britons the lead. A Hope desperation attempt did not get off.
Tie Game 74-74 - final 20 seconds! BRITS WIN ON OFFENSIVE REBOUND WITH LESS THAN A SECOND!@ESPNAssignDesk @SportsCenter @MIAA1888 @D3Direct @d3hoops pic.twitter.com/S0CUzzZKwp
— Albion College Men's Basketball (@AlbionMBB) January 30, 2025
Trailing by ten, UMass Dartmouth (5-13, 2-7 LEC) outscored Eastern Connecticut 14-4 over the final six minutes of regulation and forced overtime when John Marcille sank two free throws with 29.3 seconds left in regulation before the Warriors failed to get a shot off on their final possession of the game. In overtime, Julian Sanchez sank his first three-point field goal of the game to give Eastern a 75-72 lead with 2:11 left but Eastern (12-6, 4-6 LEC) missed three shots and turned the ball over twice on its next five possessions while the taller Corsairs scored twice inside, the second one coming by 6-8 center Ryan Flauto off a bounce pass that give the visitors a 76-75 lead with six seconds left. With time running out, Sanchez inbounded to guard Esco Greene, who dribbled into the front court with Sanchez on his left and, in danger of losing possession, flipped a short pass to Sanchez in front of the Eastern bench. Sanchez swished the game-winning shot over a UMD defender from several steps beyond the three-point line as time expired for the 14th and final lead change of the game. Sanchez finished with 12 points and 10 boards.
Elsewhere in the ARC, Nebraska Wesleyan gutted out a gritty road win over Dubuque on Wednesday night, pulling away in overtime to secure a 64-57 victory. The Prairie Wolves erased a double-digit second-half deficit and delivered when it mattered most, outscoring the Spartans 13-6 in the extra period. Down by two, with 30 seconds remaining in regulation, the Prairie Wolves turned to Jack Groeteke and he delivered at the rim. The Prairie Wolf defense got one more stop to earn some bonus time. In the extra session, Groeteke knocked down two free throws to give NWU (15-4, 8-2 ARC) the lead, and Carter Glenn followed with a pair of contested three-pointers to put the Prairie Wolves up for good. Glenn led NWU with 19 points, while Groeteke added 16. Dubuque fell to 14-5, 8-2 in the confernece.
Montclair scored 58 and 65 in the two halves of their win over William Paterson tonight as the Red Hawks defeated the Pioneers 123-92. William Paterson (5-14, 1-11 NJAC) did get as close as 40-35, before Montclair State went on to lead by 21 at the half. Jacob Morales scored a gmae-high 40 points and shot 9-for-11 from three-point range, while adding 10 rebound. He played only 25 minutes for the Red Hawks (14-5, 9-3). Ryan Cassels added 19 off the bench and Ahmad Robertson scored 13 points in 18 minutes of relief work as 15 Montclair State players reached the scoring column.