Our Daily Dive series is your daily rundown of what is happening around NAIA basketball. We feature game breakdowns, updates on players, coaches teams and leagues for both men’s and women’s basketball.
Happy Veterans Day and a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has served or is serving our country. Everyone should have two things on their docket for the day. 1. Honor those who serve our country & 2. Watch some NAIA Basketball! Sounds like a GREAT day!
– On the Men’s side last night, our Games of the Day were conference focus. We got one right and well, one was a complete miss! Hey, we are good, but we don’t always get them right, okay!! 🙂
- RV Olivet Nazarene 78 – Lincoln (IL) 45
- A Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup which we thought had the possibility to be really good ended up with ONU imposing their will against Lincoln. Lincoln is usually a tough place to play and they were a team who we thought was maybe ready to make that next jump and compete in the CCAC this season. Maybe by the end of the season things will change, but last night the Lynx didn’t look like a team ready to compete for a CCAC Championship. ONU is starting to find it’s stride a bit. Alex Gross was dominant again with his fourth double-double of the season going for 22pts and 15rebs. As good as Gross has been, it’s the supporting cast behind him that is starting to step up their games. Cade Chitty, Barik Olden and Tyler Schmidt are starting to settle in as secondary options.
- Cornerstone 88 – RV Indiana Tech 76
- Our second Game of the Day was a good one out in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference. Indiana Tech came in as the preseason WHAC favorites, while Cornerstone was picked 5th. However, Cornerstone has had other plans this season as they moved to 5-1 on the year last night. This was actually a great game thru the first 30 minutes of game action. We were tied at halftime, and it was just a 1pt game midway thru the 2nd half, but Cornerstone put together a couple of mini runs late to put Indiana Tech away. Cory Ainsworth finished with 24pts in the win. Christian Rodriguez followed him with 23pts on the night. Carter Nyp fell just shy of a triple-double with 14pts, 12rebs and 6assts. This Cornerstone team has yet to play a road game this season, so we will have to see how they handle a string of road games coming up, but right now they have looked like a serious WHAC contender!
– On the Women’s side:
- Montana Tech 84 – #22 Bushnell 73
- Montana Tech made it three wins in a row as they knocked off #22 Bushnell last night. Tech used a 10-2 run in the fourth quarter to get the upset win. They were led by Brooke Heggie who had a game high 18pts. Tavia Rooney chipped in with a 14pt, 16reb double-double for the Orediggers.
- #6 Morningside 84 – #11 MidAmerica Nazarene 64
- After losing their first two games of the season, Morningside bounced back with a huge Top 15 win last night over MidAmerica Nazarene. Morningside actually found themselves down at the half, but outscored MNU 23-7 in the 3Q to grab a hold of this game. The Mustangs got 17pts apiece from Sierra Mitchell and Sophia Peppers. MNU got a game high 23pts from Megan Scott in the loss.
– In other Men’s Action:
- The Trolls of Trinity Christian won BIG in the battle of the Trinity’s.
– Also in CCAC play, St Ambrose moves to 2-0 on the young season with a 76-74 win over Judson.
– In a battle between the Heart and the GPAC, Mount Mercy got a nice win for the Heart of America.
– We had a couple really nice plays last night!
– Tonight we get some more Appalachian Athletic Conference games and The Sun Conference will kick off their conference season tonight as well! Going to be another great night in the NAIA. As always, make sure you stay tuned with us as we continue to bring you the BEST coverage in NAIA basketball!
