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| It was all smiles for Loras in the locker room after the upset win against No. 1 Nebraska Wesleyan. Loras athletics photo |
No. 22 Loras ended top-ranked Nebraska Wesleyan's win streak at 31 consecutive games. Meanwhile, Wooster handed Wabash just its second loss of the season and Colby delivered the same to Hamilton in early Division III men's basketball action on Saturday.
No. 1 Nebraska Wesleyan hadn't lost since January of 2018 and it looked as if the streak was set to be extended as the Prairie Wolves led Loras on the road by nine at the half. But the Duhawks shot the lights out in their home arena in the second half, hitting 10 of 13 3-pointers after halftime to rally for the 84-76 win. Josh Ruggles was 7-for-11 from beyond the arc en route to a game-high 25 points for Loras (16-4, 8-3 ARC). He scored 19 in the second half.
Nebraska Welseyan, the defending national champion, was the last team without a loss remaining in Division III men's basketball. Loras also defeated current No. 2 Augustana on Nov. 24, handing the Vikings their only loss of the season.
After a pregame ceremony honoring Steve Moore's upcoming induction into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame, the celebration continued. No. 18 Wooster scored the first 14 points of the game but needed to hold off No. 11 Wabash down the stretch as the Scots defeated the Little Giants 91-84. Jack Davidson poured in a game-high 34 points for Wabash (17-2, 11-1 NCAC) and Harrison Hallstrom added 16 points and 18 rebounds, but Wooster led wire-to-wire in the victory. The Little Giants cut the lead to three on multiple occasions and got as close as one after Davidson hit a pair of foul shots with 13:26 to go in the game to make the score 54-53, but Wabash missed its next four shots and turned the ball over twice in the next three minutes to allow Wooster (16-3, 11-1) to score the next six points. Danyon Hempy scored 31 for Wooster and Keonn Scott added 18 points in 18 minutes off the bench in the victory.
Colby put up its second big road win in as many days in the NESCAC, as the Mules got 29 points from Sam Jefferson in winning at No. 6 Hamilton, 86-78. One day after Colby knocked off Amherst, the team poured in 13 3-pointers, six of them by Jefferson, in the win. Colby moved to 15-5, 3-3 in the NESCAC. After scoring 24 points on Friday against Amherst, Wallace Tucker scored all 12 of his points in the second half on Saturday. Kena Gilmour had 24 for Hamilton (16-2, 3-2).
Adam Fravert scored 24 points and Brett Wittchow added 18 as No. 4 UW-Oshkosh won at UW-River Falls 80-69. Jack Stensgard had a layup with 12:19 left to give the Falcons (8-11, 1-7 WIAC) a one-point lead, but the Titans (18-1, 8-0) went on an 11-2 run and did not trail the rest of the way.
MIT had little trouble in avenging its only conference loss to date, as the ninth-ranked Engineers rolled past Emerson 96-73. Hamilton Forsythe scored 22 points, 13 of them from the foul line, while Tim Roberts added 17 points and 13 rebounds and Bradley Jomard added 17 points in the win. MIT improved to 17-2, 7-1 NEWMAC, while Emerson fell to 10-9, 5-3.
No. 14 Lynchburg led early, but Jon Nowell threw down a dunk to give No. 12 Randolph-Macon the lead early in the first half and punctuated the game with a big blocked shot with 10.9 seconds left as the Yellow Jackets came away with a 70-64 win in a showdown of ranked teams in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Anthony Buzz led the Yellow Jackets (18-2, 10-1) with 19 points on 9-for-14 shooting, while Nowell added 13 and two blocked shot. Austin Wrighten had 20 for the Hornets (17-2, 8-2), who got as close as four points in the final minute. Chance Greene scored on a putback with just under a minute left, but Nowell answered with a three-point play at the other end to stem the tide. Randolph-Macon led for the final 36:44.
No. 15 Christopher Newport led for most of the afternoon, but a driving layup by York (Pa.) guard Jared Wagner with five seconds left gave the Spartans an 82-81 victory. CNU (16-3, 6-2 Capital Athletic Conference) had a five-game winning streak snapped. York (13-6, 6-2) erased an 11-point CNU led and held 48-47. York senior guard Jason Bady led all scorers with 30 points, while Wagner posted 28.
Elijah Hannah and Tom Madison each scored 14 points off the bench to lead No. 7-ranked St. Thomas to a 72-45 win at Carleton. It's the 17th consecutive win for the Tommies, the longest streak in 10 seasons. Kyle Dixon led five scorers in double figures as No. 10 Marietta got past John Carroll 108-92. Dixon had 20, Anthony Wallace 18, Jason Ellis 16, Mel Shuler 13 and Caleb Hoyng 12 as the Pioneers improved to 17-2, 11-1 in the OAC. The game featured 16 lead changes, but all of them were in the first half.
Sam Toney hit a fallaway with four seconds to play to lift New Jersey City to a 64-62 win at Rutgers-Newark, lifting the Gothic Knights into sole possession of first place in the New Jersey Athletic Conference. Rowan lost 77-65 to Ramapo on Saturday afternoon to fall one game back in the standings. Toney scored 24 points on 8-for-13 shooting and 6-for-9 from 3-point range.
Liam Sanborn scored a career-high 27 points to help lift Oswego State to an 81-72 win against Buffalo State. The Lakers' 16-2 start is their best in 57 years. Oswego went on a 15-4 run to blow the game open in the first half and the Bengals (4-13, 2-9 SUNYAC) never got within nine points the rest of the way.
One night after Vinny Curta reached the 2,000-point mark, he scored 20 points to help lead Grinnell to a 107-92 win vs. Ripon. Grinnell improved to 15-4, 11-2 in the Midwest Conference. The Pioneers turned the ball over just six times, while generating 22 turnovers from the Red Hawks (11-7, 7-5). Patrick Simms added 18 points.
Barry McCormick made two free throws with two seconds left for the winning points as visiting Washington College stunned Centennial Conference leader Johns Hopkins in Baltimore 82-80. Alec Lewis, who had given the Shoremen (9-10, 5-7) the lead with a jumper with 37 seconds left, led Washington College with 14 points. Braeden Johnson scored a game-high 20 and Michael Gardner added 19 for Johns Hopkins (13-6, 10-2).
Montroy Scott scored a game-high 28 points and added 11 rebounds, while Mac Reykdal added 18 as UW-Superior defeated Martin Luther 74-69 in double overtime. It was one of two UMAC games that went to double overtime, with Crown defeating North Central (Minn.) 126-115 in the other.