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| Nathaniel Jack had a double-double for Hardin-Simmons with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while going 9-for-9 from the line and tying for the team lead with four assists in a win vs. No. 5 Salisbury. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com |
Hardin-Simmons made its debut at the D3hoops.com Classic in emphatic fashion, sending Salisbury home 0-2, while UW-Eau Claire finished its sweep and Puget Sound escaped with an 2-0 mark in women's action on Day 2 in Las Vegas.
Salisbury came in as the fifth-ranked team in the country, but the Sea Gulls head home on the heels of a two-game losing streak, as Hardin-Simmons followed Ramapo's lead and expanded on it, defeating Salisbury 84-70. The Cowboys, playing their first game of the event in Vegas, came in with just a 7-4 record but also had their entire team on the floor and healthy for the first time, and it showed. Hardin-Simmons got balanced scoring, with five players in double figures, and wore down the Sea Gulls in the win.
Nathaniel Jack posted a double-double to lead the Cowboys (8-4), recording 18 points and 13 rebounds. Christian O'Neal and Caleb Spoon added 15 apiece, with Justin Jones scoring 14 and Duane Hopper 13. Braedon Dorsey hit a three-pointer to cut the Cowboy lead to 61-59 with 8:53 left, but Hardin-Simmons went on a 12-0 run to blow the game open. A couple of minutes later, after the Sea Gulls (8-2) had cut the lead back to eight, HSU reeled off nine unanswered points to seal the deal.
Chad Barcikowski led Salisbury with 19 points and three rebounds.
No. 11 UW-Eau Claire pulled away in the first half, then pulled away a little more in the second half, improving to 10-1 with a 77-57 win vs. UC Santa Cruz. Jack Martinek led four scorers in double figures with 17 points, while George Diekelman added 15 and Jared Schneidermann had 13 points and a game-high five assists. The Banana Slugs (6-9) got 15 from Adam Marlow and 14 apiece from Kyle Creighton and Ben Dorfman.
Ramapo went home from its sixth trip to the D3hoops.com Classic on a happy note and looking to make a move into the Top 25 as the Roadrunners topped Gustavus Adolphus 77-62. Thomas Bonacum led the way for Ramapo (11-0) with 21 points, while Cory Soanes topped his emphatic dunk from Day 1 with 19 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, along with a game-high five steals.
Gustavus Adolphus (2-7) looked much better vs. Ramapo than it had against UW-Eau Claire the previous night, as Riley Sharbono scored a team-high 16 and Benjamin Lies added 10.
Women's coverage continues below.
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| Elizabeth Prewitt hit two big three-pointers in overtime to help push Puget Sound past Simpson. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com |
Puget Sound had a big surge to open the game, but then needed another big surge in overtime as the No. 23 Loggers got past Simpson 77-69 on Day 2 at the 2016 D3hoops.com Classic.
Puget Sound (10-1) used a 13-0 run in the first quarter to get off to a double-digit lead, and maintained a 23-15 advantage at the end of the period when Noreen Morrow, Simpson's top player, hurt her foot and was unable to continue. However, even without her double-double average and post presence in the lineup, the Storm (3-7) rallied, cutting the lead to 32-30 at the half, and the game was tied going into the fourth quarter.
Simpson led for most of the fourth quarter, but was unable to close as Prewitt made a key three-pointer to cut the lead to one, followed by two Samone Jackson free throws to give UPS the lead. Megan Lankford hit two with 17 seconds left in regulation to take the lead back for the Storm, but Prewitt made one of two with five seconds left to tie it.
In overtime, Puget Sound came out on fire, with two threes from Prewitt and Jackson ending a drought from downtown.
Prewitt got her name in the D3hoops.com Classic record book with a game-high 31 points, the highest single-game scoring total in the event's seven seasons. Amarissa Raley led Simpson with 14 points.
Coe salvaged a split out of its trip to Las Vegas, surviving with a 70-68 win as Pacific Lutheran had three chances to tie or take the lead in the final minute. Coe led by as many as nine points in the third quarter before the Lutes (1-9) fought their way back into it behind the relentless play of point guard Kaelyn Voss and the long arms of post player Lacey Nicholson, who had nine of her 16 points in the second half.
Voss finished with a season-high 22 points along with six rebounds and four assists, but in the closing seconds, Nicholson missed a wide-open layup that would have tied the game. Coe then missed two free throws and PLU had another shot with 5.2 seconds left but couldn't convert on a midrange jumper.
Jenna Lehman scored a game-high 10 for the Storm (6-6), while Aleena Hobbs added 17 points and 11 rebounds. Mickey Hansche scored 14 points on 4-for-9 shooting.
The final women's game of the day saw the Lewis & Clark women finish 2-0 in Vegas and head home with an 8-2 mark after the Pioneers defeated Stevens 58-49. Ayisat Afolabi came within three steals of a triple-double, settling for 11 points, 14 rebounds and the D3hoops.com Classic steals record with seven in the win.
Miyah Leith went for 17 points for the Pioneers while Janessa Willie added 15 points off the bench. Megan Brown scored 13 and added 12 rebounds for Stevens (1-6), which was able to cut a 15-point deficit to five points in the final minute before Lewis & Clark pulled away.