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| Brennan McKean did most of his damage on the other end, much to the delight of the raucous Marietta crowd. Photo by Andy Altenburger |
By Greg Chandler
Marietta men's basketball coach Jon VanderWal arrived at Ban Johnson Arena on Saturday a little less than two hours before tipoff – and couldn't find a parking place.
Fans arriving early for the Pioneers' OAC first-place showdown with John Carroll had taken up all the parking spaces at the arena.
VanderWal didn't mind the extra walk once game time rolled around. The sellout crowd of 1,571 was into the action from the outset, and the Pioneers delivered a strong defensive effort to upend JCU, 86-81, to move into sole possession of first place in the OAC with two road games to play this week.
VanderWal, whose team (15-1, 21-2) moved up to No. 4 in this week's D3hoops.com Top 25, couldn't say enough about the atmosphere in the arena.
"There were people standing three rows deep on the balcony, people standing on their tiptoes, trying to see the game," he said.
The win over John Carroll (14-2, 21-2) capped a wild four-day stretch that began with Marietta one game behind the Blue Streaks and ended with two wins over Top 25 teams and a one-game conference lead.
Four players scored in double figures for the Pioneers in the win, led by junior post player A.J. Edwards with 21 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Luis Garcia added 19 points. But it was Marietta's defensive effort that VanderWal believes was the difference, as the Pioneers limited John Carroll to 37.8 percent shooting from the field and held the Blue Streaks 13 points below their season average.
Perhaps the key player defensively for Marietta was senior Brennan McKean, who clamped down on John Carroll's outstanding point guard, David Linane. VanderWal says McKean had approached him before the game about wanting to take the defensive assignment on Linane, who had lit up Marietta for 27 points, including five three-pointers, in an 82-78 JCU win Dec. 19 in University Heights.
This time, McKean and other Marietta defenders harassed Linane into a 2-for-14 shooting performance, including 1-of-10 on three-pointers, in limiting him to five points.
"The fact that (McKean) wanted to guard him said a lot to me," VanderWal said.
For JCU, which fell from No. 3 to No. 8 in this week's Top 25, the loss was the second straight for a team that began the week with a perfect 21-0 record and had won its last 27 OAC regular-season games. On Wednesday, the Blue Streaks were upset at home by Baldwin Wallace, 79-78, as freshman Jay Battle sank two free throws with 3.8 seconds remaining. Zach Warner nailed six three-pointers in scoring 19 off the bench for BW.
Meanwhile, Marietta shot a sizzling 59 percent from the field and hit 17 three-pointers in blasting then-No. 23 Mount Union, 106-81. Six players scored in double figures for the Pioneers, with Dillon Young leading the way with 24 points and Edwards adding 18.
VanderWal isn't taking anything for granted this week, with Marietta having to travel to Otterbein Wednesday and Ohio Northern Saturday with an opportunity to repeat its OAC regular-season championship from last year.
"We've been on an emotional rollercoaster the last few days," he said. "We've got to be focused this week with two tough games on the road."
Rose-Hulman women extend record winning streak
Twenty years ago, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology began admitting women as students after being an all-male college for more than a century.
As a result, the college had some catching up to do with its HCAC rivals when it began offering women the opportunity to compete in athletics.
This year, Rose-Hulman is having one of its most successful seasons ever in women's basketball, riding a school-record 15-game winning streak that has the Fightin' Engineers in a tie for the HCAC lead and on the edge of possibly hosting the conference tournament next week.
Last week, Rose-Hulman posted wins over Earlham, 62-52, and Manchester, 55-50, to reach the 20-win plateau for only the second time in school history. The Fightin' Engineers (14-2, 20-3) are tied with Bluffton for the HCAC lead and currently own the tiebreaker for the top seed for next week's conference tournament.
RHIT's record streak has truly been a team effort. Look at the HCAC scoring leaders, and you will not find a single player among the league's top scorers. However, the Fightin' Engineers have eight players averaging between 5.7 and 7.9 points per game.
"I don't necessarily have a starting five, I have a starting 13," RHIT coach Jon Prevo said. "They have bought into what we're doing. There are no egos."
Eleven players, including five freshmen, played at least 10 minutes for Rose-Hulman in the win over Manchester, with Josie Schmidt (10 points) being the only player in double figures.
Defense has been a hallmark for the Fightin' Engineers all season long, as they are limiting opponents to 51.3 points per game, 32.9 percent shooting from the field and 24.9 percent on three-point attempts.
Still, Prevo thinks the best is yet to come for his team. "By the time we get to the conference tournament, we want to be clicking on all cylinders," he said.
Eleven and counting: Thomas More clinches PAC women's title
Stop me if you've heard this before: Thomas More just won another PAC women's basketball title.
The top-ranked Saints nailed down their 11th straight conference title Saturday by whipping a pretty good Washington and Jefferson team, 88-57, as reigning Player of the Year Sydney Moss scored 25 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out eight assists.
Thomas More had no problem from the outset, jumping out to a 29-9 lead after one quarter and extending it to 50-23 at halftime.
Three other Saints scored in double figures, led by Madison Temple with 16 points.
The defending national champions have now won 55 games in a row overall and 80 consecutive PAC regular season games dating back to January 2012.
Shoutouts
Wabash senior forward Daniel Purvlicis had back-to-back double-doubles in two victories for the Little Giants. He scored 23 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in a76-71 upset over then-No. 10 Ohio Wesleyan, then posted 24 points and 14 boards in an 86-61 triumph over Denison. Purvlicis shot 83 percent from the field for the week (20-of-24) from the field, increasing his season shooting percentage to 67.9 percent on the season, third-best in the nation.
The Ohio Wesleyan loss to Wabash opened the door for Wooster to possibly take sole possession of the NCAC men's lead, but Hiram upended the Scots, 70-69 – their first win over Wooster in 19 years. The Terriers then followed up with a 78-68 win over Oberlin, giving them a 17-8 record, their most wins since the 1992-93 season, and claiming a home court advantage for the first round of the NCAC tournament.
Ohio Northern junior forward Aron Thress led the Polar Bears to a pair of OAC victories with two double-doubles. Thress scored 22 points and had a career-high 18 rebounds in a 77-74 win over Heidelberg and scored 25 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in an 85-74 win at Muskingum.
LaRoche's dynamic duo of Sabrina McLin and Tichina Mitchell continued to wreak havoc on AMCC opponents as the RedHawks posted two more victories for the week. McLin scored 27 points and dished out six assists in a 81-54 win over Pitt-Greensburg, while Mitchell poured in 38 points and collected 11 boards as LaRoche avenged its only conference loss with an 86-62 romp over Pitt-Bradford. McLin leads the AMCC in scoring at 21.5 points per game, with Mitchell right before in second at 20.6 per game.
Wooster's Lauren Hancher scored 32 points in a 65-50 win over Hiram. Hancher, who earned NCAC women's Player of the Week honors, moved into third place on the Fighting Scots' career scoring list.
Calvin's Anna Timmer scored a career-high 26 points and pulled down eight rebounds in a 76-64 win over Olivet.
Around the Great Lakes was written by Greg Chandler during the 2015-16 season. He is a veteran journalist and broadcaster who has followed Division III basketball for more than 25 years. He has called Hope basketball for radio, including the 2006 national championship run, and served as the first publicist for the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
