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| Kyle Wagner hit 9-of-11 and 4-of-4 from beyond the arc en route to 25 points in Simpson's win. Simpson athletics file photo |
Simpson took down conference rival Nebraska Wesleyan to remain in the hunt, Jake Ross surpassed another milestone, North Central came back from six down with 14h seconds left and Eastern Connecticut's long run in the Little East is over as a result of Wednesday's Division III men's basketball games.
Needing a victory to stay in contention for a spot in the American Rivers Conference tournament, Simpson not only got an unexpected win, but did so in an unexpected way. The Storm snapped Nebraska Wesleyan's 11-game winning streak, blowing out the sixth-ranked Prairie Wolves, 86-59. Simpson never trailed in handing NWU its first conference loss, as the Storm shot 53 percent from the floor, led by a 9-for-11 night from Kyle Wagner. Wagner scored a game-high 25 points and Conor Riordan added 23.
Nate Schimonitz scored 21 points for NWU (21-3, 14-1 ARC), but needed 22 shots to do it. The Prairie Wolves were 17-for-55 from the floor in the loss. Simpson improved to 12-12, 6-9, to remain tied with Wartburg for sixth place in a conference with six playoff teams. Simpson holds the head-to-head advantage with a season sweep of the Knights.
Jake Ross scored 32 points and became just the 19th men's basketball player in the history of Division III to surpases the 2,500-point plateau as No. 15 Springfield got past No. 21 WPI 80-64. Heath Post added 20 points and 11 rebounds in the win. Springfield (21-3, 12-1) is now two games up on Babson and WPI with one to play in the NEWMAC schedule.
Randolph-Macon won its first game as the No. 2 team in the country, as Buzz Anthony scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Yellow Jackets to their 11th consecutive win, 84-58 vs. archrival Hampden-Sydney. The Tigers, who fell to 13-11, 8-7 in the ODAC, nonetheless have won three more games this year than in the past two seasons combined. Randolph-Macon (23-1, 15-0) will be the top seed in the upcoming ODAC tournament.
Fighting uphill throughout a second half in which its opponent seemed to have all the answers, No. 11 North Central summoned a rally in the final seconds of play to snatch a 70-69 victory from the clutches of defeat over Carthage. The win clinched the top seed in the CCIW tournament for the Cardinals (20-4, 13-2). With his team down 68-62, Aiden Chang buried a contested three from the left wing to halve the deficit with 14 seconds left. Crishawn Cook made one of two free throws on the other end, after which Chang was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 4.3 seconds on the clock. Chang made all three to leave the hosts trailing by a single point. To stop the clock, the Cardinals fouled Kienan Baltimore, who missed the front end of a one-and-bonus at the free-throw line. The ball was rebounded by Matt Cappelletti and North Central called a timeout with 3.0 seconds left. Cook intercepted theinbounds pass but was called for traveling with 1.9 seconds to go. Attempting to collect the ball for a buzzer-beating shot, Cappelletti was fouled with just 0.9 seconds left, and the senior sank both free throws to give the Cardinals their first lead since late in the first half, and the win.
Drew erupted for a 21-2 run over a 6:50 stretch late in the second half and rallied for big 73-70 Landmark Conference victory at Scranton. The Rangers (19-5, 10-3) entered the night in a three-way tie with Scranton and Susquehanna for first place in the conference standings, but are now tied with only Susquehanna, who defeated Moravian on Wednesday. Drew can clinch a home Landmark Conference playoff semifinal with a win over Catholic on Saturday. It was Drew's first win at Scranton since 2013, and it saw Riley Collins score a game-high 25 points.
Freshman forward Nick Redden came off the bench to connect on all four of his three-point field goal attempts to help power Keene State to a nine-point halftime lead and the Owls were never seriously threatened in the second half on the way to a 74-60 Little East Conference victory over Eastern Connecticut. The Warriors, who had won 10 or more Little East Conference games for each of the past nine years, were eliminated from conference tournament contention. Eastern had reached the LEC title game the last three years against Keene, winning twice. With one game remaining, Keene remains in a tie with Plymouth for fifth place. Western Connecticut clinched the regular-season title and No. 1 seed with a 77-66 win at Rhode Island College.
New Jersey City kept its season alive as Jahmere Calhoun and Jaimik Moore had key baskets in the last couple of minutes to help the Gothic Knights move on to the NJAC tournament. NJCU rallied from an eight-point second-half deficit to defeat Ramapo 81-79. NJCU, which swept Rowan in the regular season, used that tiebreaker to claim the No. 5 seed in the playoffs and will face No. 4 seeded Rutgers-Newark in the first round on Saturday. Moore scored 23 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and finished with five assists and three steals to lead four Gothic Knights in double figures.
Westfield State senior guard Vawn Lord erupted for 44 points to lead Westfield State to an 86-63 victory against Salem State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game. Salem dipped to 5-20 overall and 4-8 in the MASCAC. The Vikings were led by 15 points and 10 rebounds from Hakeem Animashaun. Westfield (17-7 9-2) will have a chance to clinch the conference regular-season title and top seed in the MASCAC tournament when they host MCLA on Saturday.
Timothy Wendel surpassed the 2,000-point plateau but it wasn't enough as Crown fell to Bethany Lutheran, 98-90. Cire Mayfield, Trenton Krueger and Brian Smith each surpassed 20 points for the Vikings, who improved to 18-6, 13-2 in the UMAC. But that's only good for a tie for second with UW-Superior, one game behind Northwestern in the conference standings after Northwestern won at Superior on Wednesday night.
For more from Wednesday's Division III men's basketball action, check out the list of headlines from game stories posted to D3hoops.com by Division III schools.