Day 2: WPI outslugs Chicago at Hoopsville Classic

More news about: Gwynedd Mercy | Randolph-Macon | WPI
Nov 23, 2014
Northeast met Central as WPI and Chicago battled in Day 2 of the Hoopsville Classic.
Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com 

By Phil Naegely
for D3sports.com

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- The matchup between No. 12 WPI and Chicago on the second day of the Hoopsville Classic was circled on many calendars for a long time. It featured a Chicago squad from the strong UAA and a talented WPI from the Northeast region.

It was a back-and-forth affair that looked similar to a boxing match. Each team won a round; WPI held the 31-27 advantage at half, Chicago won a 40-36 advantage in the second half.

"It was, not to be cliche, a heavyweight fight," WPI head coach Chris Bartley said. "We hit them and they hit us back."

Chicago's Jordan Smith hit WPI in the gut with a three-pointer to force the game to overtime. "The three by Smith was a back-breaker," said Bartley. "[WPI's] faces looked dejected going into the overtime and, to our credit, we regrouped."

Chicago took the early overtime lead, but Chris Rodgers' layup with 44 seconds left put WPI in front and Zach Karalis made six free throws down the stretch to give the Engineers an 81-79 win.

"They are a hard team to drive on, but we tried to feed it in their through the post," said Bartley. "Our big men (Clyde) Niba and (Zach) Karalis provided for us down the stretch inside the paint and at the line."

Threes lift Gwynedd-Mercy over Mary Hardin-Baylor

At the end of the game between Gwynedd-Mercy and Mary Hardin-Baylor, the stat sheet and scoreboard conveyed two entirely different messages.

The Griffins defeated the Crusaders by a comfortable margin, 85-65, but the stat sheet was much more even and Mary Hardin-Baylor even held the rebounding advantage, 40-37. But one glaring difference stuck out. Gwynedd-Mercy took 32 three-pointers and made 14 of them. The Crusaders made five of 16.

"Two guys, No 21 (Brian Hennessey) and No. 2 (Julian Hyden) outshot our entire team from the three-point range," said Mary Hardin-Baylor head coach Ken DeWeese. "This is the second night in a row where we let two people from the other team outshoot our entire team from three."

Hennessey hit five of nine three-point attempts and Hyden nailed four of eight.

"It’s on me to fix this issue so the team can be competitive moving into the remainder of the season," said DeWeese. The Crusaders play their home opener and their final non-conference game of the regular season on December 1 when Southwestern comes to Belton, Texas.

Offensive-minded Randolph-Macon sails past Wittenberg

Randolph-Macon played its fourth game in seven days, but fatigue wasn't an issue for the Yellow Jackets. They scored 12 points off 16 Wittenberg turnovers and 13 points off the fast break in a convincing 70-49 win. Three Randolph-Macon players scored double-digits with Joe Hassell's 17 points leading the way.

"It's nice to play neutral site games against talented teams," Randolph-Macon coach Nate Davis explained. "You can see how your guys play in certain situations, without fans pushing the team on."

The Yellow Jackets dominated the Tigers, but Davis pointed out the need to improve offensively.

"We've improved defensively these last four games, but we need to execute better on offense. Luckily, we've faced tough opponents and can learn from our mistakes thus far."

Randolph-Macon, which lost both games in the 2012 Hoopsville Classic, heads home with two wins this time. Wittenberg starts the season 0-4.