Saturday men: Streaks get stronger

More news about: Case Western Reserve | Christopher Newport | Emory | WPI
Jan 08, 2022
The Spartans have won 11 consecutive games, the most in the history of the Case Western Reserve men's basketball program.
 Case Western Reserve athletics file photo
 

Case won its 11th in a row, CNU's streak was extended, Emory continued to turn its season around, Whitman and Amherst got big wins in rivalry games and WPI played a home game for the first time this season in Division III men's basketball action on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022.

Ryan Newton tipped in a putback at the buzzer as Case Western Reserve won its 11th consecutive game and got a win in its first University Athletic Association game of the season, defeating Carnegie Mellon 89-88 on the road. It was the first day of UAA basketball play after a 679-day absence.

The Spartans had trailed by as many as 16 points in the second half and were down by six with 1:35 left before a putback by Robert Faller. Faller followed a CMU free throw with a 3-pointer to tie it up, and after the Tartans (6-4, 0-1 UAA) made one of two foul shots, Newton's heroics saved the Spartans. Case (11-1, 1-0) got 23 points from Mitch Prendergast and a team-best five assists from Griffin Kornaker, a grad transfer who played as an undergrad at Middlebury.

Emory continues to recover from its 1-2 start and the Eagles got off on the right foot in UAA play as well, as they won at the University of Rochester 64-61. Four players scored in double figures for Emory (8-3), including Matthew Schner, who led all scorers with 16. Emory came away with the win despite shooting just 5-for-27 from 3-point range, including Schner's 2-for-7 and a 1-for-6 performance from Romin Williams, who ended up with 12. Emory shot 21-for-35 from inside the arc and added 11 offensive rebounds to help make up the difference.

WPI had won nine out of 10 to open the season and had done every single one of them away from Harrington Auditorium, and the No. 24-ranked Engineers made their homecoming a memorable one as they defeated the Engineers of MIT 67-49. John Lowther got things started for WPI (10-1, 2-0 NEWMAC) with a slam dunk five seconds into the game and WPI ended up leading wire to wire. Lowther finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots, while John Adams added 14 points and 13 boards. MIT fell to 7-5, 0-2 in the conference.

Amherst scored the first nine points of the second half and never looked back as the Mammoths came away with the big win at Williams, knocking off the No. 17 Ephs 73-65. The loss was the first of the season for Williams after a 10-0 start. Williams got as close a four points on three separate occasions in the final four minutes, but Amherst (9-3, 1-1 NESCAC) answered each time, twice on Devonn Allen jumpers to push the lead back to six. They were Allen's only field goals of the game. Grant Robinson finished with 27 points and five assists, shooting 3-for-5 from beyond the arc and 14-for-14 from the free throw line.

Whitman's program has struggled so far this year, starting off 3-7, but the Blues got a big win against their archrival, and knocked off a Top 25 team in the process. Xzavier Lino shot 9-for-14 on his way to a game-high 21 points as Whitman defeated No. 13 Whitworth 71-69. The Blues held Whitworth to just 3-for-17 shooting from beyond the arc.

No. 2 UW-Platteville put six scorers in double figures and escaped with a 93-86 home win against UW-Stout on Saturday night. The Pioneers, who received nine of the 25 No. 1 votes in the D3hoops.com Top 25 earlier this week, led for the final 30 minutes of the game, although Stout got as close as three points with 1:33 left. Stout is 10-5, having lost three games in a row after a 10-2 start. Platteville remains unbeaten at 15-0, 4-0 in the WIAC. Quentin Shields scored 17, Kyle Tuma added 16 (with 10 rebounds) and Logan Pearson and Ben Probst contributed 15 apiece.

Christopher Newport won its 11th in a row as the Captains ran past Marymount 91-66 in an empty Converse Family Fieldhouse on Marymount's campus in Arlington, Virginia. Marymount (7-5) jumped out to a 14-point lead before the 10th-ranked Captains rallied. "They jumped on us early, but once we got it going we recovered in a hurry," CNU coach John Krikorian said. "It was difficult playing in an empty gym, and I think that may have had something to do with our slow start. One of our biggest attributes is our depth, and a lot of guys stepped up again for us today. The Captains (14-2) haven't lost since Nov. 21 at Lynchburg, a stretch which includes the only loss dealt to No. 1 Randolph-Macon this season.

Limited to just seven players because of the pandemic, Greenville was forced to abandon its traditional System offense, falling to Webster 96-85. Three of the players played all 40 minutes, including Jarred Johnson, who shot 14-for-19 from the floor en route to 34 points, adding eight rebounds and six assists. Mark Moore led Webster (3-9, 1-0 SLIAC) with 25 points off the bench, shooting 7-for-15 from 3-point range. Greenville fell to 1-12, 0-2.

After 13 ties and 26 lead changes, Ohio Wesleyan outlasted Wooster 82-81. Wooster's Brandon Styers was fouled with 4.8 seconds remaining in the game, and made both free throws to give the Scots an 81-80 lead. Ohio Wesleyan's Henry Hinkle drew a foul shortly after the Battling Bishops (7-6, 4-2 NCAC) made their inbounds pass, and he matched Styers at the line with four seconds left. Ohio Wesleyan's point on Hinkle's first free throw marked the 13th tie of the NCAC clash, and the lead changed hands for the 26th time right after. The Scots (8-4, 4-1) did get the ball down to the corner after Hinkle's go-ahead free throw, where Carter Warstler's buzzer-beating try bounced off the rim.

UW-Whitewater remained unbeaten in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 77-72 victory at UW-Eau Claire. The Warhawks (11-4, 4-0) erased an eight-point deficit midway through the second half and took the lead for good with 33 seconds to play on a jumper by Derek Gray. Whitewater committed a season-low three turnovers. Gray finished with a team-high 19 points.

Washington & Jefferson saw its six-game winning streak snapped as Geneva came to W&J and walked away with a 79-76 win against the Presidents (10-3, 5-1 Presidents' Athletic Conference). W&J took the lead at the beginning of the second half before Geneva (5-5, 3-1) scored the next 12 points. The Presidents got as close as two, trailing 76-75 with 1:45 left, but Trevor Tipton beat the shot clock buzzer with a 3-pointer and Geneva held on for the win. Tipton finished with a game-high 26.

Penn State-Harrisburg got back on the floor after nearly a month off and seemingly did not miss a beat. The Nittany Lions roared out to a 20-1 lead and cruised to an 87-53 win against United East Conference opponent Gallaudet. PSH improved to 10-1, with its only loss to Delaware Valley (7-6). Donyae Baylor-Carroll scored 19 points and added nine assists.

Parker Lawrence and Evan Glaser combined for 44 points as St. Norbert defeated Benedictine 71-63. The Green Knights improved to 10-4, 6-1 and stand atop the Northern Division in their new home, the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. Benedictine fell to 5-7, 4-3. Lawrence and Glaser combined to shoot 17-for-27 from the floor in the win while Lawrence (24 points) went 5-for-10 from beyond the arc.