Saturday men: Thunderous applause

More news about: Trine
Mar 06, 2021
MIAA photo
 

Trine finished its MIAA season by running the table, getting a key 3-pointer, a thundering dunk and a putback to hold off Albion 64-62 in the conference tournament final. 

The Thunder improved to 17-0 heading into ... who knows? Some postseason possibilities may remain on the table. On a night in which Nick Bowman was held to just eight points on 2-for-14 shooting, it was Brent Cox who stepped up for the Thunder, with perhaps no shot bigger than his rebound and putback of a Bowman miss with 16 seconds to play. Cox hit a free throw to complete the three-point play. Albion turned the ball over on its next possession and Bryce Williams hit two free throws before Cortez Garland canned a three at the buzzer to make the final margin two points.

Cox led all scorers with 21 points, while Williams added 14 for Trine. Garland scored 19 for Albion, which fell to 10-4.

No. 1 Randolph-Macon remained unbeaten in a big way as well, getting past Bridgewater 80-49 in the quarterfinals of the ODAC tournament. Although the Yellow Jackets entered the conference tournment at 8-0, and Bridgewater at 2-5, R-MC was the five seed in the conference tournament, playing at four-seed Bridgewater because of scheduling and seeding related to the pandemic. But it didn't seem to affect the victors much as Buzz Anthony scored a game-high 23 points and Ben Cerrato added 14 in the win. Randolph-Macon plays next at top seed Roanoke, which at least has a record befitting a high seed at 10-1. 

Fifth-ranked St. Thomas took excellent care of the basketball and made sure Bethel couldn't steal a win as the Tommies turned the ball over just twice in rolling over the Royals 84-66. The win gave St. Thomas enough conference games played to qualify for the MIAC championship under the rules the conference set out before the season started and the Tommies (6-0, 4-0) remain unbeaten heading into a final scheduled contest on Sunday at Gustavus Adolphus. Anders Nelson finished with 28 points and nine assists for St. Thomas, while Parker Bjorklund, who walked onto the team this season after spending two years as just part of the UST student body, had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Lybrant Robinson banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime, then went on to score 10 points in the extra session to carry Drew to its first Landmark Conference title, defeating Scranton 84-78. Robinson, the tournament MVP, scored a game-high 31 points, including a 3-pointer that put the Rangers up four with 32 seconds left. He then went 4-for-4 from the foul line in the final 19 seconds. Malcolm Newman added 24 points for the Rangers (6-1).

The Ohio Athletic Conference final was the most lopsided in the conference's history of title games, as Jason Ellis scored Marietta's first 13 points and the Pioneers went on to obliterate Ohio Northern, 100-49. Marietta leapt out to a 17-1 lead. Ellis led Marietta with a game-high 25 points on 5-of-7 shooting from behind the arc.

St. Scholastica, the top seed in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference tournament, improved to 10-0 as the Saints defeated Bethany Lutheran 71-53. Isiah Hendrickson had a game-high 18 points. The Saints will host Northwestern (Minn.) in the conference final on Monday.

Augustana outlasted Carthage 109-107 in triple overtime in the quarterfinals of the CCIW tournament and will face Wheaton, which cruised to an 81-53 win against Millikin. On the other side of the bracket, Illinois Wesleyan rolled past North Park and Elmhurst defeated Carroll.

Brandon Emerick from Rockford hit nine 3-pointers as the Regents topped Aurora in the NACC South tournament final. He had 34 points and nine assists in a 97-91 win. Rockford plays North champion Wisconsin Lutheran next Saturday. WLC got 22 from Alex VanCrete and 17 from Jacob Stoltz in its 75-65 NACC North final victory against Edgewood.

The Aurora bench brought the noise, but Rockford's Brandon Emerick brought the points as he rained nine 3-pointers on the Spartans on Saturday.
Photo by David Malamut, d3photography.com
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St. Joseph (Conn.) used an aggressive second half to overcome a 14-point deficit and win 73-67 at Babson. After shooting just three free throws in the first half, the Bluejays hit 16 of their 18 foul shots in the second half and outrebounded the Beavers 23-10 in the closing period to bridge the gap and win their first of the season. Ryan O'Neill needed no apologies in leading St. Joe's with 17 points and 10 rebounds. The two teams match up again tomorrow in Connecticut.

Geneva had a very System-like afternoon, using 20 players and shooting 20-for-42 from 3-point range in defeating Franciscan 129-102. The Golden Tornadoes led 73-37 at the half and were up 127-81 when Geneva emptied its bench, allowing Franciscan to cut into the deficit against the third and fourth string. Six players scored in double figures, as senior Joel Stutz finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Senior RJ Bell scored a career-high 19 points, including a 5-of-8 effort from 3-point range, while senior Jake Ford also hit a career-high with 12 points. AJ Stroop, Geneva's last senior, narrowly missed double digits, finishing with nine points. Matt Veynovich and sophomore Lyle Tipton also had big games, each finishing with 21 points, with all of Veynovich's points coming due to a 7-for-11 effort from long range.

And a SCIAC team took the floor on Saturday night, as Redlands took on area non-Division III school La Sierra in Eric Bridgeland's first game as coach of the Bulldogs. A Redlands team comprised primarily of freshmen and a couple of transfers from Bridgeland's former post at Whitman fell by a 109-102 score.