Game Notes: (MBK) Wheaton College @ North Central College (1/4/20)

Final Score
NCC 74, Wheaton 71 (OT)

Game Summary
This one lived up to the billing going in, with the Cardinals (10-3, 3-1) scoring the game's first four points. But the Thunder (9-4, 3-1) answered with seven straight, settling us into a dogfight. The lead changed hands a few times in the half before the Cardinals settled into a 32-27 advantage going into the break. The Cardinals kept that one-to-two possession advantage for a few minutes, but the Thunder used a 12-2 run to grab a lead of their own about seven minutes into the half. A key off-ball foul on a made three extended their lead to six at 54-48, and Wheaton would lead by as many as eight at 58-50 with about seven minutes to go, but then the Cardinals mounted their comeback. North Central got a bunch of points back at the line, but the Thunder were more or less answering each time, but a missed one up 63-58 with four minutes to go opened the door. The Cardinals scored five unanswered over the next couple minutes to tie the game, and neither offense could muster a successful possession, forcing extra time. The bonus session prompted a back and forth affair for the first few minutes, but another Wheaton missed free throw opened the door, and a three with just under a minute to play gave the Cardinals a one point lead. Wheaton turned it over on the other end, with the Cardinals calling a timeout to avoid a jump ball which would have given the Thunder the ball back. After emptying their reserve of timeouts, a full court pass ended up out of bounds, but good hustle forced Wheaton to go the length of the floor, and a fallaway for the lead bounced off the rim, with a pair of Cardinal free throws sealing the deal.

Key Players

• Connor Raridon (NCC): 10-19 FG (1-2 3PT), 15-15 FT; 36 pts, 8 reb (2 off), 6 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl.  This might have been the best game I've seen Connor play. On a night where the rest of the team struggled from the field (15-41, just a tick below 40%), he took the game over, attacking the basket and getting to the line again and again, where he made the Thunder pay. His 15 made free throws were the second-most of his career, tied for the sixth-most in program history, and is the fifth time Connor was perfect at the line in a game with at least ten attempts (first since the NCAA Tournament loss to Loras this past March). The Cardinals needed Connor on Saturday, and he responded in the biggest way.
• Blaise Meredith (NCC): 4-13 FG (0-5 3PT), 1-2 FT; 9 pts, 8 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl. This season has been a bit of a struggle for Blaise; he's only averaging about seven points a game on 34/32/59 splits, but it's not for a lack of trying. He has the confidence, as evidenced by his five three attempts in this one, which were pretty much all on line, but drew back iron. Even with that, he still tied for the team lead in rebounds, drew a couple charges, and some of the buckets he hit were huge, opening the scoring in overtime and getting a big bucket plus a foul with his team down eight to spark the comeback effort. I fully believe the threes will start to fall, and when they do... look out.
• Cade Alioth (WHE): 6-12 FG; 12 pts, 11 reb (4 off), 6 ast. I could have gone a few different directions with my Wheaton pick; Tyson Cruickshank and Luke Anthony led the team in scoring with 17 apiece, while Nyameye Adom put in 14 for the Thunder. But Alioth was a presence for Wheaton, playing some decent interior defense and leading the game in rebounding. He hit a few tough shots throughout the game, and the final play was called for him, but the Cardinals did a great job swarming him, and his fallaway hit off the back of the rim and bounced away.

Key Stats

• NCC: 18 points off 18 WHE turnovers. Wheaton shot better in this game on the whole (46/48/73 for the Thunder, 42/29/90 including Connor for the Cardinals) and outrebounded North Central. Normally those metrics give you a win, but Wheaton did not take care of the ball in this one. They were called for about half a dozen travels, mostly in the first half, prompting a complaint from Wheaton coach Mike Schauer (after each team had been called for one late in the half, he was yelling, "Don't call either one of those!")
• WHE: 11-15 FT (73.3%). Normally, I'd be fine shooting 73 percent at the line, and only missing four isn't bad. But when you lose by three in overtime... you start to nitpick. Wheaton hit both of their first half attempts, then went 7-9 in the second half. Luke Anthony split a pair with the Thunder up four, only extending the lead to five at 63-58, and Nyameye Adom missed the front end of a one-and-one about a minute later, then turned it over to set up North Central's tying rally. Then in overtime, Adom split a pair with about three minutes to go, ending up tying it instead of putting his team up one, and Anthony split a pair with just under a minute to play, only giving his team a two point lead, setting the stage for Connor Raridon's heroics. Misses can be forgiven, obviously, especially when you shoot well for the game, but if Wheaton makes even one of these... I may be writing about a North Central loss.

CCIW Scoreboard/The Belt^TM Watch

I'm adding a section to the CCIW Scoreboard Watch for this season just because we've got a fun additional incentive to CCIW games this season. I'll have to do a full post about it sometime, but long story short, in 2007 someone on D3Boards came up with the idea for a Division III Championship Belt^TM, and over the past decade-plus it has morphed into a supernatural force with the legal backing of weasels. Basically, It^TM was conceived as being won by the 2006 national champion, and whoever beats the holder takes possession until they themselves are beaten. Going into the resumption of conference play, Millikin was the holder, meaning It^TM will remain in the CCIW for the rest of the regular season. As such... we are now officially on Belt^TM Watch as well. The game for The Belt^TM will be included as part of this section for the remainder of the season.

• @ IWU 80 (9-4, 3-1), MIL (BELT^TM) 71 (3-10, 0-4)
• IWU gains possession of The Belt^TM
• AUG 84 (8-4, 2-1), @ CAR 68 (9-3, 1-2)
• ELM 82 (11-1, 2-1), @ CRL 81 (9-4, 2-2)
• Chicago 85, NPU 65 (2-10, 0-3)
  
• WBK: WHE 52 (9-4, 2-2), @ NCC 40 (5-8, 1-3)
• WBK: @ IWU 86 (9-4, 3-1), MIL 81 (8-4, 1-2)
• WBK: @ CAR 90 (7-5, 2-1), AUG 84 (7-6, 2-2)
• WBK: ELM 56 (6-6, 1-2), @ CRL 55 (5-7, 1-3)
• WBK: Bye- NPU (10-2, 3-0)

Final Thoughts

It was nice to finally get to announce a game again after a little over a month off, and I got a thriller to boot. This marks North Central's 12th win in their last 13 games against Wheaton (and the one Thunder win required Aston Francis to do Aston Francis things). It also guarantees that the streak of no CCIW team running the table stays intact (the last team to pull it off were the 1973 Augustana Vikings). This is a very strong conference this year, arguably the best in the country, and we'll probably see a champion no better than 12-4, maybe 13-3 by the time it's all said and done unless someone goes on an absolute tear.

It's way too early to even start considering regional rankings and at large chances, but I can't help it... and the Central is absolutely loaded. Matt Snyder, a prominent D3 prognosticator, currently has North Central 12th in the region with an okay strength of schedule (0.529). Obviously, there a lot more data points that will come with 12 regular season games to go, plus the CCIW Tournament, so the Cardinals still have a lot of room to improve. But after some struggles early in the season, we're starting to see this Cardinal team show a ton of resiliency and heart with a couple big conference wins over Elmhurst and now Wheaton.

North Central puts its six game win streak on the line as they continue the homestand on Wednesday, welcoming in Illinois Wesleyan, so not only is this a battle for first place in the CCIW... it's also NCC's third shot this season at The Belt^TM. Needless to say... I'm excited.