Game Notes: (MBK) Chatham University @ North Central College (3/1/19)

Final Score
NCC 77, Chatham 48

Game Summary
Like many games this season, the Cardinals (23-5) got off to a bit of a slow start, but overcame the Cougars (19-10) getting the first basket of the game three minutes in by scoring eight straight to grab the lead. But the Cougars didn't go away, answering with an 8-0 run of their own to retake the lead. The Cardinals answered back to grab the lead again, going up five late in the half, but Chatham got a couple threes and wound up taking a 25-24 lead into the locker room. After presumably getting the fear of God put into them, the Cardinals came out in the second half guns blazing, opening the half on a 9-0 run and grabbing control. It took just six minutes for the Cardinals to push the lead to double digits, and with about seven minutes to go the lead was 20. Three minutes later the lead was 30, and Todd Raridon began to call off the dogs.

Key Players

• Connor Raridon (NCC): 7-12 FG (0-1 3PT), 4-4 FT; 18 pts, 7 reb (1 off), 4 ast, 2 stl. I don't want to call this a weird game, but Connor had just four points on 2-6 shooting in the first half, and he sat out the final eight minutes due to some foul trouble. But come the second half, he was a man possessed, scoring four of those nine straight points, but that was just the beginning. He began to attack the basket with his specialty fallaways, and for good measure swished a pair of midrange jumpers, the second of which made it a 15 point game.
• Matt Cappelletti (NCC): 3-8 FG (0-4 3PT), 3-4 FT; 9 pts, 11 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk. Cap didn't really have his offense going in this one, so instead he did the little things. He moved in the flow of the offense, crashed the boards, got to the basket a couple times including one off a beautiful 60 foot pass from Raridon, and provided a couple big blocks early to set a good defensive tone.
• Will Clausel (NCC): 6-6 FG (1-1 3PT), 1-1 FT; 14 pts, 3 reb (1 off), 2 ast. Clausel's become a critical rotation piece this season, and was especially so in this one. He was needed in some relief with both Raridon and Cappelletti picking up a pair of fouls in the opening half, though Clausel himself also wound up sitting late in the half with a pair. He was a key part of the second half though, too, converting a huge old fashioned three point play to make it a 16 point game, and provided the exclamation point with a three to make it 71-41 late.
• Will Sandherr (CHA): 7-17 FG (1-3 3PT), 1-3 FT; 16 pts, 8 reb (1 off), 1 ast. I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up someone from Chatham, and Sandherr was the obvious choice. He put in a fairly efficient 10 and 6 in the first half, as he was able to get to the basket with some ease, but he was contained in the second half; his last basket came with 10:13 to play.

Key Stats

• NCC: 18-31 FG in the 2nd half (58.1%). The Cardinals were ice cold in the first half, hitting just one of 13 threes and missing shots at the rim, finishing the half at 32.3 percent from the floor. They were lucky in that Chatham left the door open (see below), and they made the Cougars pay in the second half as they regressed to the mean and blew the game wide open. That second half percentage included a 5-11 (45.5%) mark from beyond the arc.
• CHA: 7-17 FT (41.2%). The Cougars came into the NCAA Tournament a roughly 70 percent team from the charity stripe. But whether daunted by their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance, affected by a raucous student section on that end of the basket in the first half where they went 3-9, or just an off night, Chatham was not good at the free throw line. Ultimately, a line like this when you lose by 29 doesn't matter, but consider that they led by one at halftime. A few more first half makes might have changed the complexion ever so slightly, though I don't think it would have changed the outcome.

Other NCC-Hosted First Round Game

Loras 75, Albion 64

This was an interesting one as the Britons (19-9) managed to keep it close for a while, but the Duhawks (22-6) used a 21-6 run in the first half to take command and led 38-26 at the intermission. Albion managed to make it interesting in the second half, pulling within six at one point, but the Duhawks responded with six straight and put it away late. Josh Ruggles led the way for the Duhawks with 19 points, 6 rebounds, and four assists, Ryan DiCanio added 17, 7, and 4, and Rowan McGowen chipped in 11 points. Quinton Armstrong paced the Britons with 18 points and 9 rebounds, 6 on the offensive glass.

NCAA Tournament Scoreboard Watch

• CCIW Teams
• Wheaton 84 (20-8), Hanover 73 (21-7)
• Augustana 93 (25-3), Aurora 67 (17-12)
• St. John's (MN) Pod- Would be Sweet 16 Opponent
• UW-Oshkosh 86 (24-3), Lake Forest 62 (18-10)
• Northwestern (MN) 93 (22-6), St. John's 78 (23-5)
• Guilford Pod- Would be potential Elite 8 Opponent
• Wittenberg 100 (24-5), Emory 88 (20-6)
• Guilford 97 (21-7), Sewanee 59 (22-6)
• Nebraska Wesleyan Pod- Would be potential Elite 8 Opponent
• St. Thomas 80 (23-4), UW-La Crosse 66 (17-10)
• Nebraska Wesleyan 101 (27-1), Eureka 75 (13-15)

Final Thoughts

Cardinal Crazies are out in full force for North Central Men’s Basketball’s first round game in the ⁦@NCAADIII⁩ tournament game! ⁦@NCC_Athletics⁩ pic.twitter.com/EAWWrYwJ9R

— Naperville Community Television (NCTV17) (@NCTV17) March 2, 2019

After a year where, other than really the last couple minutes of the Augie upset, the student section left a lot to be desired, they were in this one from the get-go. I'm convinced they helped play a role in Chatham's poor free throw night, but this group came ready for this game, and they did their part.

Chatham has to be commended; North Central was clearly the better team, but the Cougars didn't give up in this one, taking advantage of a sluggish first half to at least lead at halftime, even if they got bulldozed in the second half. They played hard and never gave up, a credit to their school, conference, and Division III basketball.

Photo by Steve Woltmann

Meanwhile for the Cardinals, this one had to have been at least a little frustrating. They've had some sluggish starts this year, and this wasn't the first time they got the fear of God put into them at halftime, prompting them to assert themselves as the team they are and taking control. It's good that this team continues to show its resilience, finding ways to win games like this. But they can't play this way tomorrow. Loras is a much better team than Chatham, having knocked off Augustana early this season, as well as handing Nebraska Wesleyan its only loss of the campaign. This is going to be a doozy of a second round game.

From "Bubble-Out" to Dancing at Merner Fieldhouse

This has been a crazy year.

If you go back to December, with the Cardinals losing both Aiden Chang and Jack Bronec for the season, you would be forgiven to have doubts about the Cardinals' postseason hopes, even with an enlarged CCIW Tournament field. But the Cardinals clearly didn't romping through much of CCIW play, including a big win over Augustana at home. But after a couple tough home losses the week after that big win, the Cardinals were suddenly proclaimed "bubble-out" by some of the experts, something backed up by the numbers.

But then something amazing happened. Illinois Wesleyan entered the regional rankings to give North Central a couple more regionally ranked opponent results, and they took care of business on the road to lock up the #2 seed in the CCIW Tournament, earn a bye, and jump a spot in the Central Region. Even then, North Central was still on the bubble and was projected to need to make the conference title game. They knocked off Wheaton in the semis, forcing a rubber game with Augie. And to quote a wise man, "We're in, so we might as well win the whole thing."

Meet your CCIW CHAMPS @NCCMBB!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/SydPgWV5m4

— Haley Chang (@h_chang22) February 24, 2019

Photo by Steve Woltmann

Saturday was North Central's fifth CCIW Tournament championship, putting them just one behind Augustana for the all time lead. In the 14 years the tournament has been held, the host team has won it nine times. Of the remaining five tournaments won by someone other than the top seed, North Central has won four of them, including Saturday in Rock Island. This gives the Cardinals their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth, sixth in eight years, and eleventh in program history.

It was nice to not have drama like in past years where I'm anxiously awaiting with bated breath to see if North Central received an at large bid. That drama also wasn't reserved for Augustana, who was probably the first team taken in Pool C as they earn yet another NCAA Tournament berth and try to make it five straight years in the Elite Eight and keep up their odd year dominance of making the title game. Wheaton, however, had plenty of it as they were towards the end of the bubble and needed some mercy from the entire committee except for the Central Region rep... as that was Thunder coach Mike Schauer and he had to recuse himself for that part of the conversation. Augie getting in made it 12 years in a row that the CCIW has gotten a team in via Pool C, and with Wheaton getting the nod, it's the seventh time in eight years the conference has gotten three teams into the Tournament.

I'd be lying, though, if I said there wasn't drama on this Selection Monday for me. And I get rewarded with an item from my bucket list.