Game Notes: (MBK) Wheaton College @ North Central College (2/9/19)

Final Score
Wheaton 82, NCC 71

Game Summary
This one couldn't have started worse, as the Thunder (17-7, 10-5) went bombs away to open the game with a 16-6 run. But the Cardinals (18-5, 10-4) survived the initial flurry and managed to work their way back to a 19-all tie. The Cardinals built off that momentum and managed to avoid a later tie and build an eight point lead at 39-31 late in the half. Wheaton cut it to three late, but an Aaron Jones triple just before the buzzer made it 42-36 going into the break. The Cardinals seemed to be in control in the first few minutes, pushing the lead as high as nine a couple times, but the Thunder battled back to tie it at 52 about eight minutes in. The teams then traded leads for a bit, with the Cardinals hanging on to a 67-64 advantage with five and a half to play after a fast break layup. Then the Thunder went bombs away again, hitting three straight threes to make it a four point game, and with the Cardinals struggling offensively, got the dagger with just under two to play and it was over.

Key Players

• Aston Francis (WHE): 17-27 FG (10-19 3PT), 5-8 FT; 49 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl. This man is not human. Francis was red hot early, hitting four straight triples to open the game, including banking one in that kind of set the tone. Some of the early ones he was open on, but as the game went on, North Central was able to get a hand in his face on his releases. Even with that and him fading away... it just didn't matter. 49 is the most I've ever seen from an opposing player, and the second most I've ever seen in person. Good lord.
• Luke Peters (WHE): 3-9 FG (0-1 3PT), 4-7 FT; 10 pts, 8 reb (1 off), 6 ast. I could have gone with Luke Anthony (13 points on 5-8 shooting, including the dagger three), but Peters did all the little things in this one. He scored plenty, but also did a great job on the glass and found the open guy a ton. Five assists came in the first half; three to Francis, plus a fourth to him on the three that tied the game at 67.
• Matt Cappelletti (NCC): 6-12 FG (4-7 3PT), 4-4 FT; 20 pts, 8 reb. It was a pretty good night for Cap, as he was able to find his groove from the corners, especially early. 11 of Cap's points came in the first half, but he went just 1-3 from deep in the second and was held to nine points after intermission.

Key Stats

• NCC: 1 FG in final 5:30. This time frame came after Matt Cappelletti got a fast break layup to make it 67-64 North Central and force a timeout. At this point, Francis was in and out with four fouls, and the Cardinals just went cold. Some of it was good defense, but some of it was also the Cardinals getting in their own heads a little too much. With Francis on the verge of fouling out, they wanted to go at him, and did on numerous occasions. While there were a couple instances he could have been whistled for his fifth, he wasn't, and other times Cardinals drove on him hoping for a call instead of trying to go strong for a basket. The only field goal in this timespan was a jumper by Connor Raridon with the game out of reach.
• WHE: Outrebounded NCC 44-30. I debated about going with Wheaton's shooting percentages by players not named Aston Francis (11-33 from the field, 4-15 from deep), but his supporting cast hit shots when they needed to and did the more important things well... like rebound. Taking advantage of North Central's lack of a center, they dominated the glass, getting 10 offensive rebounds leading to 10 second chance points. North Central only got four offensive boards, but did get 10 second chance points out of it.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ IWU 79 (15-8, 8-6), ELM 76 (12-11, 7-7)
• Due to this game, both Wheaton and North Central are guaranteed a top four seed
• @ AUG 78 (22-2, 14-1), MIL 56 (10-12, 4-10)
• CAR 85 (8-15, 3-11), @ NPU 65 (4-19, 2-12)
• Bye: CRL (10-13, 6-8)

Final Thoughts

A week and a half ago, I was flying high following North Central pulling off the big upset of Augie. They've since come crashing down with back to back home losses to teams they beat on the road. This team, ranked third in the initial Central Region rankings, is going to plummet on Wednesday when the second batch comes out. NCC will have a 2-2 record against RRO's, but that's not going to be good enough I don't think to overcome the fact that they lost twice at home.

This one hurts. Wheaton traveled extremely well, with its own student section complete with the Little Brass Bell as they currently own it, and they erupted with every ridiculous Aston Francis make. I mean... there's nothing more North Central could have done. Francis was just ridiculous, and you have to tip your cap. They earned the win, and it's a big one. I will probably see Francis draining a fadeaway contested three in my nightmares tonight.

The Cardinals close their home schedule with a 9-3 record. It's good, to be sure, but the three they dropped were all disappointing. They close the regular season with a pair of road games: at Carthage on Wednesday and at Elmhurst next Saturday. North Central needs only a single win to lock up the #2 seed, but neither of these games are going to be easy. I'll touch on the full regional ranking implications on Wednesday when those get released, and after the Wednesday games I'll update the seeding scenarios for the CCIW Tournament.