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Madison Geers' driving layup with 1.2 seconds left lifted Hope over Wheaton in the teams' season opener. |
After the opening day for the 2016-17 Division III basketball season started with major news off the court, opening night produced several close finishes, headlined by the No. 13 Hope women edging No. 21 Wheaton (Ill.) in overtime.
Madison Geers drove the length of the floor and scored a layup with 1.2 seconds left, and No. 13 Hope edged No. 21 Wheaton (Ill.) 99-97 in overtime.
Wheaton jumped out to a 16-point halftime lead over Hope at DeVos Fieldhouse, but the Flying Dutch responded by outscoring the Thunder 32-13 in the third quarter. Wheaton had two chances to win the game at the end of overtime, but Elizabeth Perkins and Angelique Gaddy blocked the two shots.
In overtime Wheaton tied the game at 97 on a Katie McDaniels free throw with 10 seconds remaining, and then Geers dashed up the floor for the game-winning shot. McDaniels set a DeVos Fieldhouse single-game scoring record for women's basketball with 38 points and 10 assists in 41 minutes. Francesca Buchanan notched a career-high 27 points for Hope. Watch the winning play here
No. 3 Thomas More capped a difficult day with a victory over Centre, 69-36. The Saints held the Colonels to 12 points in the second half and Nikki Kiernan tallied 24 points for Thomas More. Earlier in the day the school announced that it would have to vacate the 2014-15 national championship because of violations involving Sydney Moss' eligibility that season.
Moravian rode a 30-point, 19-rebound performance from Camille McPherson past No. 17 Muhlenberg 58-50 in a season-opener between the Lehigh Valley rivals. New York University shot 29 percent from the field (18-for-62) but it was more than enough to beat No. 24 Stevens 60-48. The Ducks shot 18-for-60 from the field, including 1-for-16 from three, and turned the ball over 22 times.
Preseason Little East favorite Mass-Dartmouth topped preseason NEWMAC favorite WPI 56-47. Eastern defeated Cabrini 59-53 in the women's edition of the Eagle Road rivalry. Staten Island narrowly missed an upset victory over Division I Wagner before falling 62-60.
Men's recap: WIAC wows, Tommies tumble
| Josh Weix probably made this shot. Eau Claire didn't miss many on Tuesday night. Photo by Bill Hoepner, UW-Eau Claire |
The WIAC went 4-1 on opening night with wins over the defending national champions, the preseason No. 4 selection and a Division II opponent.
No. 10 St. Thomas' title defense opened on a sour note as UW-River Falls knocked off the Tommies, 74-65. Devin Buckley scored 29 points on 8-for-13 shooting, including six 3-pointers and a 7-for-7 performance from the line for the Falcons.
UW-Eau Claire edged No. 4 St. Norbert 68-67 behind a tremendous shooting performance. The Blugolds shot 58 percent from the field (25-or-43), including 8-for-9 from three. Josh Weix's layup with 50 seconds left was the game winner.
Elsewhere UW-Stout defeated Division II Minnesota-Crookston 81-73 and UW-Platteville stifled Luther, 69-39. The only WIAC team to stumble on Tuesday night was Stevens Point. St. Olaf defeated the Pointers 63-55 as Austin Majeskie scored 18 points for the Oles.
Central Pennsylvania hosted the most exciting men's game of the night as Misericordia outlasted No. 25 Susquehanna 120-116 in double overtime. Steven Weidlich rolled up 49 points on 44 shots in 46 minutes for Susquehanna. Four of the Cougars' starters reached double figures, led by Jason Kenny's 37 points. Box score
A couple of highly ranked teams shook off slow starts and pulled away from quality opponents on opening night. No. 2 Christopher Newport turned a two-point lead over Randolph-Macon into a 23-point victory, 70-47. The Captains outscored the Yellow Jackets 42-16 in the paint.
No. 3 Babson erased a six-point halftime deficit and blew past Albertus Magnus, 101-81. All-American Joey Flannery finished one assist shy of a triple-double (33 points, 11 rebounds, nine assists). Trailing by one with one second left against No. 20 Washington U., Webster missed two free throws and the Bears escaped, 60-59.
A couple new coaches got their careers started on the right foot. Arte Culver saw his Covenant squad notch its first win over a ranked opponent in the NCAA era as the Scots topped No. 15 Emory, 74-70. Loras scored four points in the final three seconds to upend Elmhurst 104-102, giving the Duhawks' new head coach Chris Martin a win over his alma mater. Mike Wacker won his coaching debut at Texas Lutheran as the Bulldogs beat Mary Hardin-Baylor, 87-84. Mark Seidenburg won his coaching debut for Delaware Valley in the Aggies' 73-44 romp over Immaculata.
At the other end of the experience spectrum, Tom Curle picked up his 500th victory as a college coach after Plattsburgh State beat Clarkson, 84-68. Curle has a career record of 500-300 including his time in Division II and the NJCAA.
Colin Lake drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer to lift North Park over crosstown rival Chicago, 88-87. Lake and Preseason All-Americans Juwan Henry and Jordan Robinson scored 68 of the Vikings' 88 points.