Game Notes: (MBK) Augustana College @ North Central College (1/14/15)

Final Score
Augustana 75, NCC 64

Game Summary
The #9 Cardinals (13-2, 3-1) came out tough but got into early foul trouble. The top ranked Vikings (14-1, 4-0) played them close despite cold Cardinal shooting. Tied at 27, Augie made a run ignited by a Jawan Straughter dunk plus a foul and led by as many as ten before a late three made it 41-34 at the break. After scoring on their first possession to make it 41-36, the Vikings answered with a run and North Central completely lost their composure, with Charles Rosenberg picking up a technical after a jump ball, and Augie scored 14 unanswered to go up 55-36. Todd Raridon called for time, and the Cardinals fought back into the game, going on an 11-0 run of their own to make it interesting. The Cardinals would close the gap to five at 57-52, but Augie got an unconventional three point play and were able to clamp down and hang on for the win.

Key Stats

• Jack Burchett/Charles Rosenberg (NCC): 3-13 FG (0-1 3PT), 3-4 FT; 9 pts, 10 reb (2 off), 3 ast, 3 blk, 1 stl. The Cardinals largely need these guys to play well to have a chance at winning, and they didn't have it last night. Burchett went scoreless on five shots but led the team with six rebounds. Credit Augie's defense for clamping down and double teaming both guys when they tried to make a move in the post, but it was clearly an off night for both.
• Danielius Jurgutis (AUG): 6-8 FG (1-2 3PT), 5-5 FT; 18 pts, 2 reb (1 off). It was hard to pick one outstanding Viking. I was planning on going with Jawan Straughter, but he only had six points and five boards (but those six points were probably the biggest of the game). Jurgutis led the team in scoring, splitting his points evenly between halves and playing good defense.
• Jayme Moten (NCC): 8-15 FG (5-10 3PT), 1-2 FT; 22 pts, 5 reb (2 off), 4 ast. Jayme had a monster game, hitting that key triple before halftime to make it a single digit deficit, then all but singlehandedly answered the Augie run, catching fire from outside the arc and picking up a couple lay ups to boot. If the inside game ever struggles, we know he can take over if he has to.

Around the CCIW

• Carthage 70 (6-8, 2-2), @Elmhurst 68 (12-3, 2-2)
• @Wheaton 88 (8-7, 1-3), North Park 82 (9-6, 0-4)
• @Illinois Wesleyan 93 (11-4, 3-1), Millikin 60 (6-9, 1-3)

Grey Giovanine Jacket Watch
This is a special one-time (per season) feature with this game. If you've followed CCIW basketball for any decent stretch of time, you'll know that one of the most entertaining figures to watch is Augustana head coach Grey Giovanine. From what I understand, off the court he's the nicest guy ever, but on the court he is a maniac. The most fun thing to do is see when his suit jacket comes off. The official scorer and I figured it would be off by about two minutes into the game, but he seemed mellow at first. While he did yell more as the game went on, the jacket remained on to the point that I even texted Geoffrey Clark to tell him the shocking development. Eventually, we lucked out: the jacket came off with 4:52 left in the first half following one of the Cardinals drawing a charge.

Final Thoughts
I seem to harp on this sort of thing way more than I should with these games... but the officiating last night was absolutely horrendous. Probably more horrendous than it usually is when I complain. I probably could have made an entire blog post just on that. Multiple over the back fouls missed, a couple traveling calls missed during that Augie run in the second half, Cardinals getting called for fouls when Augie players are arm-barring them, an obvious backcourt violation call that was inexplicably overturned... you get the idea. It was awful. All of that said... that isn't why the Cardinals lost. They lost because their frontcourt couldn't score and got into foul trouble. They lost because they lost their composure during the Augie run. They lost because they got into early foul trouble and the Vikings made them pay at the free throw line. It's a tough loss, but that's why Augie is number one in the country.

It's a home double header on Saturday. The NCC women bounced back from their loss at Wheaton last weekend with a 95-82 win at Augustana last night, and face off against an Elmhurst team that is pretty good in both men's and women's basketball. The Cardinals will look to improve to 4-1 in conference and try to maintain their ranking in front of a raucous home crowd.