Wednesday men: Take down 2

Feb 05, 2025
Drew Gaston's baseline jumper with 47 seconds left came at the proper time to help North Central get the upset of No. 2 Illinois Wesleyan.
File photo by Chris Kohley for North Central athletics
 

North Central snapped No. 2 Illinois Wesleyan's eight-game winning streak, No. 4 UW-Platteville defeated No. 6 UW-La Crosse, Hope dealt No. 7 Trine its second loss in a week and Pitt-Bradford avoided a conference upset in triple overtime in Division III men's basketball action on Wednesday night, Feb. 5, 2025.

North Central had taken the Titans down to the wire in their previous meeting, a game which Illinois Wesleyan won at home in three overtimes on Jan. 11. Away from the friendly environs of the Shirk Center, it was a little different for the Titans this time around, as the Cardinals (12-9, 5-7 CCIW) hit 15 of their 17 foul shots, including six in a row in the closing minute, to get past IWU (18-3, 10-2). The night in the CCIW ends with Illinois Wesleyan in first place by a half-game, leading Carthage (9-2) and North Park (9-3). IWU enjoyed a strong start to the second half, opening with a 14-2 run to help them erase an 11-point deficit. The Cardinals' response came quickly, as Sean Molloy sank a step-back jumper in the lane, and Tyler Swierczek and Terrance Moncrief drove for layups before another inside score by Molloy made it a 51-44 count in the hosts' favor with 12:29 to play. North Central stayed in front until 3:11 remained, when Hakim Williams rebounded his own missed free throw for IWU and converted a layup to knot the score at 60-60.

Gaston pulled up from the left baseline for a jumper to nudge the Cardinals in front once again on the next possession. IWU's Mason Funk went to the free throw line and made one of two shots before Tyler DiSilvio scored on a putback with 1:30 left. The Titans' Marko Anderson headed to the foul line, also making one of his two, giving the home team the ball and a 64-62 edge with 1:17 left. With the shot clock winding down, Gaston pulled up once again from the left baseline and scored with 47 seconds left. North Central made six straight free throws in the final 32 seconds.

No. 4 UW-Platteville moved into sole possession of the top spot in the WIAC standings with an 83-73 win over No. 6 UW-La Crosse (16-4, 7-2 WIAC) in front of a crowd of 2,246 fans in Platteville's Williams Fieldhouse. The game entered halftime tied at 33 apiece after the Eagles managed to erase an early nine-point UW-Platteville lead. The Pioneers (18-2, 8-1) shot just 39.5 percent (15-of-38) in the opening half and went cold from deep after knocking down two early triples to finish at just 14.3 percent (2-of-14) across the opening 20 minutes.

The offensive attack shifted in the second half, and the Pioneers jumped out to a double digit lead at 53-43 with 11:44 remaining behind an 11-point run. UW-La Crosse cut it to six, but UW-Platteville continued to attack the rim, and the lead grew to a game-high 13 at 70-57 with 4:38 to play. The Eagles rallied once again and got as close as six on multiple occasions, but a fast break layup by Ben Probst and a pair of free throw makes by Brady Olson sealed the 83-73 victory.

Freshman guard Travis Stickney scored a career-high and game-high 20 points to lead No. 5 Hampden-Sydney to a 66-47 Old Dominion Athletic Conference home win against Virginia Wesleyan. Stickney was 7-for-8 from the floor, including 2-for-3 on three-point field goals, while Shane Fernald finished with 15 points and eight rebounds, and Colin Radcliffe added 13 points off the bench. VWU (16-5, 9-3 ODAC) rallied with 10 unanswered points to get to within 44-40 at 8:38, but the Tigers (18-3, 11-1) had an answer of their own, closing the contest on a 22-7 run over the final 8:27.

Hope sent Trine to its second loss in three games as the Flying Dutchmen got past the No. 7 Thunder 79-71. Hope outrebounded the defending national champs 38-23 and held them to 3-for-13 shooting from beyond the arc to improve to 10-10, 5-4 in the MIAA. Parker Hovey had a game-high 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Trine's Emmanuel Menanglo fouled out with just three points in 21 minutes.

No. 19 Redlands found itself down 12 in the second half against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps but a defense-fueled run led them to a 70-65 win as they moved into second place in the SCIAC standings. Five minutes into the second half the Bulldogs (17-3, 9-2) had scored only four points and were down by their largest margin of 12, 52-40. Over the next eight minutes Redlands would methodically come back to take the lead, 55-54, after Chozen Amadi hit a three. The Bulldogs forced eight turnovers and committed only three during the run. The forced turnovers off their full court press continued after Redlands took the lead as Currey scored twice on the fastbreak to extend the lead to five, 59-54, as the Stags (14-5, 8-2) took a timeout. CMS scored six points in 40 seconds to close the gap to one, 63-62, with 4:17 still to play, but the Bulldogs responded with a 7-0 run that put the game away.

Pitt-Bradford used every bit of three overtime periods to escape an upset bid at Hilbert, as the Panthers used clutch baskets in the final ten seconds of regulation, and the first two overtime periods to extend the game. They were ultimately victorious in the third, winning 132-125. The Panthers (18-1, 11-0 AMCC) turned over Hilbert twice in a 13-second span of the second overtime, converting the steaks into a tip-in by Jeremy Rodriguez and three free throws. He also hit a pull-up three with 11 seconds left to tie the score at 114. Rodriguez finished with a career-high 39 points as Hilbert (13-8, 6-6) ran out of gas in the fifth period, shooting just 4-or-12 from the floor and 0-for-6 from beyond the arc. Four players fouled out for Pitt-Bradford.

North Park missed a chance to pull into a tie for first in the CCIW because Soren Richardson had an incredible game to lead Wheaton (Ill.) past the Vikings 102-89. Richardson poured in 53 points, giving him the highest point total in the history of the program for any player not named Aston Francis. Richardson shot 18-for-23 from the floor and 6-for-8 from beyond the arc in compiling the second-highest point total by a Division III player this season, behind the 55 from Joshua Van Gorp set this past Saturday night. The win was also Wheaton coach Mike Schauer's 400th career win, as Wheaton improved to 4-16 overall and got its first CCIW win of the season. North Park fell to 14-7, 9-3.

Jahn and Collin Hines combined for 42 points as No. 14 Christopher Newport won its fourth in a row after a loss to Randolph-Macon as the Captains defeated Salisbury 81-69 on the road. Jahn Hines, a fifth-year senior All-American, led all scorers with 23 points, and junior Collin Hines posted 19 points, with each contributing five rebounds. Jason Ofcarcik, who started in place of flu-ridden Toa Hollenbeck, had 12 points and nine boards. Jahn Hines, who made 8 of 15 shots, went over 1,900 career points on his second basket of the night. Hines has now scored 1,918 points, and sits just 59 points behind Steve Artis for second place on the school's all-time scoring list.

Ryan Broeckel recorded his sixth double-double of the season to lead five players in double figures as No. 8 Wisconsin Lutheran held off Dominican, 93-90. The Warriors (19-1, 12-1 NACC), who shot over 56 percent in the second half, extended their home court winning streak to 25 games. The Stars (7-13, 4-9) capped a 6-0 spurt to take their first lead, 75-74, since the opening minutes before a three-point play from Jacob Stoltz put WLC back in front 77-75 with three minutes to go. DU tied the contest one last time at 77-77, but an AJ Vos layup put Wisconsin Lutheran back in front by two. The Warriors never relinquished their lead down the stretch, scoring their final seven points from the charity stripe. Dominican had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but a three-quarter court shot fell short.

With 14 seconds left and trailing 69-67, King's drew up an inbound play that put the ball in the hands of Chris Patton who ball-faked, squared up, and shot the game-winning three with four seconds to go as the Monarchs took down DeSales 70-69. The win snaps an 18-game skid against DeSales, as King's beat the Bulldogs (10-0, 4-5 MAC Freedom) for the first time since Jan. 14, 2015. DeSales had used a 6-0 run over 2:10 of play to take a 66-64 lead with 1:29 to play. Jawane Buckner followed his missed three-point attempt to get the rebound and fed Garrett Burys for a two-handed dunk that drew the foul. Burys hit his free throw attempt to put King's (9-9, 4-5) ahead 67-66 with 54 ticks to go. Out of a Bulldog timeout, Devin Atkinson drove to the right and scored with 41 seconds remaining. The Monarchs missed on the other end and were forced to foul, but Caleb Gibbs missed the first before hitting the second to make it a two-point game, 69-67, with 18 seconds on the clock. Both teams called a timeout as JP Andrejko called the game-winning play that saw Patton ball fake to shake his defender and drain the three from the opposite wing. DeSales used their final timeout, but a Bulldog miscue turned the ball over.