We will get to yesterday’s news, notes and recaps below, but looking ahead to today’s slate, it’s fun to have a slate that is filled with conference games as the CCAC continues its conference action and the WHAC starts its conference play tonight! League games are just different. Scouting reports are better, environments are better and overall, the games are better!
Top Headlines
NAIA Men
- No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan moves to 2-2 on the year with a 94-57 beat down of No. 22, Oregon Tech. More on this one in the Games of the Day section.
- No.2 Thomas More, No. 10 Georgetown, No.14 Marian, No. 24 Briar Cliff all took home wins last night.
- The AAC was the only league playing conference games last night.
NAIA Women
- No. 15 Georgetown and No. 22 Rio Grande both battled to hard fought wins last night.
- No. 15 Dordt rolled past Bellevue last night, 77-53.
- The AAC went wild last night as Reinhardt went on the road to knock off No. 14 Bryan, 69-66.
- Here are the full AAC Women’s Scoreboard:
Games of the Day Recaps
Men’s Games of the Day
No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan 94 – No. 22 Oregon Tech 57
- These two teams couldn’t have come into this game on any more opposite sides of the momentum train. IWU, who was 1-2, and coming off of a 16pt home loss to No. 2 Thomas More and OIT, who was coming into this game off of a win vs No. 6 Jessup. But the game of basketball can be funny like that. It doesn’t care what you did last, or who you have beat. The game of basketball cares about the present moment of time and last night, it was ALL Indiana Wesleyan. Pat and I had talked about how good IWU has been after a home loss, and they didn’t make us fools, that is for sure. This was a game they needed, not just to protect their home court, or because it was a Top 25 showdown. IWU needed this one to prove to themselves they could. This is a very good team, who needed a shot of confidence, and they got it. Now, saying that, the gap between these two teams isn’t the result of last night. Oregon Tech is very good as well and they will bounce back from the pounding they took. Like we said, the game of basketball doesn’t care what you did last, it cares about the present moment and this weekend OIT gets the shot to go play No. 9 Grace (IN) and a hot Bethel (IN) team. You can expect them to play much better in those games!
Iowa Wesleyan 74 – Culver-Stockton 54
- New IW head coach, Jordan Ashton, is doing a great job at Iowa Wesleyan. His Tigers move to 3-1 on the season and while they may not be beating the top tier teams, they are playing some defense and winning games. We mentioned that we were excited to watch the small guard battle between Robert Fry and Allante Pickens and it was a fun battle. Both led their teams in scoring. Fry with 14pts and Pickens with a game high 19pts. Pickens also added in 5 assists in leading IW to the win. The Tigers will face their toughest test of the season this weekend when they have to face off with Columbia (MO).
Women’s Games of the Day
- After suffering a road loss to Lindsey Wilson to start their season, Midway was able to bounce back with a road win last night against Taylor. Dezeree White led the way for Midway with a game high 21pts as the Eagles used a big 1st half to secure the win and move to 1-1 on the season. With the loss, Taylor is now 3-2. Taylor Westgate had another nice game with 19pts and 14rebs.
Reinhardt 69 – No. 14 Bryan 66
- We discussed, in our Game of the Day breakdown, that this was going to be a fun battle. Reinhardt was picked to finish 4th in the preseason AAC polls but did secure a 1st place vote. Bryan was picked to win the AAC and received 11 1st place votes. Reinhardt was ready for this game and proved it as they went on the road to secure a big win and to move to 3-0 in AAC play. Ashley Woodroffe scored 17pts for the Eagles. For Bryan, it was Gracee Dishman, who continues to have an impressive career, and finished with a game high 27pts in this one.
Milestones
- Congrats to USAO Head Coach, Darrick Matthews who last night, became the All-Time Winningest coach in program history.
1⃣2⃣8⃣
With tonight’s win over Bethany College, Darrick Matthews has become the winningest coach in program history, with a record of 128-77!
Originally tweeted by Science & Arts Drover Athletics (@DroverAthletics) on November 9, 2022.
Originally tweeted by Science & Arts Drover Athletics (@DroverAthletics) on November 9, 2022.
- Congrats also to Dordt’s Karly Gustafson who joined the 1,000 point club last night.
- It was a record-breaking night for Union’s, Madison Cox. Who went bonkers from the 3pt line!
- Was also a big night for Montreat Head Coach, Anthony Barringer, who got his first win as a Cavalier!
In Case You Missed It
- It’s never to late in the week to listen to our ‘Road to Muni’ podcast!
Fab Four Preview – Road To Muni Podcast
We are down to the final three games of the season as College of Idaho, Ottawa (AZ), Georgetown and Indiana Tech make up your NAIA Fab Four teams and tipoff on Saturday! In this episode, Junior and Pat dive deeper into the games, the paths of each team and more!
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