Non-Conference Game 12/22/07

StP 73 Augustana 63 Hats off to the Pointers for heading down to Rock Island, IL and taking down #5 Augustana in front of 1100 fans. Augustana suffers its second loss of the year with both losses coming on their home floor against WIAC teams. Point welcomed sharpshooting Pete Rortvedt back from his knee surgery. He led the team with 15 points off the bench and hit some important shots at big moments of the game. Point has gotten some quality minutes from Ross Rortvedt and Matt Moses over the past two games. I would imagine that Khalifa's and Pete's minutes will both be up once the conference season starts again, but it's nice for Semling to have some guys who can step up off the bench. I was impressed with Semling's post-game interview. He is a classy coach who loves his job and I would imagine he is a great guy to play for. Stat of the game: Augustana had 18 TOs vs. only 8 for the Pointers.

Non-Conference Game 12/21/07

Loras 73 Lax 67 Lax falls to a good Loras team. Tony Mane led the Eagles with 24 points, but only had 26 BARPS. Loras went 24-30 from line while La Crosse only made it to the stripe 16 times. Lax put up 27 threes for the game. Lax has the guns to hit those shots, but it seems like they may have been settling for jumpers too much. That could be due to the fact that they played without their floor leader, “Lil Smooth” Brandon Brown. As River Falls knows, it’s a whole different game when you lose your floor leader. Not sure what the extent of Brandon’s injury is, hopefully it is nothing serious. One thing I found interesting was that Loras turned the ball over 18 times (Lax only had 5 TOs) and still won.

Non-Conference Game 12/19/07

Osh 81 Tri-State, IN 72 Oshkosh shook off the cobwebs from their game against Defiance and took it to Tri-State on the Orlando Magic’s practice court. Speaking of the Magic, could you imagine Dwight Howard playing in the WIAC? I just had that random thought in my head. He’s a freak of nature physically and he’s intelligent to boot. I would love to see him tear the basket off the supports at Karges sometime. Maybe Bowen can pull some strings and get an exhibition game between the Wolves and the Magic at Karges next season. Matt Miller hit a 3 on the opening possession and Oshkosh never relinquished the lead. DJ Marsh ended his silence and dropped 40 BARPS while shooting 9-12 from the floor. DSA continued filling up the stat lines like house cups at a keg party with 19 pts 6 rbs, 6 asts, 2 blks, 2 stls. Tri-State only has 2 wins on the season, so I don’t think this was too much of a test for the Titans. Osh gets a long break for the holidays before getting back to action on January 2nd, when they welcome WIAC #10 to town.

Non-Conference Games 12/18/07

Defiance College 53 Osh 46 The Titans must have lost all their energy sitting out in the Orlando sun because they were only able to muster a measly 46 points against Defiance College of Ohio. I almost mistook Defiance College for the Bay Area death metal band, DEFIANCE! It’s an intimidating name for a college. DSA had a nice game with 30 BARPS, and the Defensive Specialist had a double-double. Not much else going on for the Titans. They were 0-10 from the 3-point line. Defiance was only 1-11 from three. Unforgiving rims down in Orlando. Not really sure what this loss says about Oshkosh other than they have their first losing streak of the season.

WW 95 Cardinal Stritch 50 WW almost went double-fifties on Cardinal Stritch. This one was over early. Miller got to clear the bench and give plenty of guys minutes in this one. Savage dropped 18 points in 20 minutes. WW forced 19 TO’s and they only coughed it up 7 times. Nice blowout win for the Warhawks.

Non-Conference Games 12/15/07 and 12/16/07

Augustana 59 Osh 54 The 9^th rank team takes down the 13^th ranked team. Oshkosh was slow to get out of the blocks and trailed 34-14 at the half. Hard to make 20 points up against any team and it is twice as hard against a good team like Augustana. Matt Miller helped lead the comeback in the second half by bombing threes, NBA Jam style. He’s on FIRE! Osh cut the lead to 51-50, but Augustana managed to hang on. DJ Marsh struggled once again. The scouts must have picked up on something with his game. It appeared that he was in foul trouble all game and was a non-factor in his 20 minutes. First loss of the year for the Titans, but they will bring up the morale with a trip to sunny Orlando, Florida.

StP 71 Ripon 67 Point trailed 45-34 with 13 minutes to go, but they rallied to beat another MWC opponent. The other Rortvedt, Ross, led the team with 17 points, all on 3-pointers and free throws. Not really sure if Point was taking them lightly because Semling played lots of different players. I’m guessing he is trying to find a rotation he likes with Pete Rortvedt out. Khalifa, who always seems dependable, only had 15 minutes.

RF 66 Bethany Lutheran 64 RF struggles with a 2-7 Bethany Lutheran team. RF trailed by 12 with 9 minutes to go, but found a way to sneak out of Mankato with a 2 point victory. A win is a win, but I have a feeling RF should have blown these guys out. The soul searching continues for the Falcons.

Plt 65 Clarke 50 Starting slow seemed to be the running theme for the WIAC teams this weekend. The Pioneers trailed 33-24 at half, but then when on a 41-17 second half run to take care of business on Bo Ryan’s court. Jeff Skemp led the way with 31 BARPS.

EC 78 WIAC #10 76 I sound like a broken Beatles record...EC starts off slooooow. The pieces came together up in the U.P. though. Ryan Shea played all 40 minutes and dropped 45 BARPS, 31 of them were points. He has stepped up as the early Freshman of the Year. Tyler Gordon is a hell of a player for Finlandia. He was 9-11 from the floor including 8-9 from downtown. Nice road win for the Golds against a Finlandia team who has caused many problems for WIAC teams this year.

Sup 98 Martin Luther 87 Superior didn’t start slow!! They took an 8 point lead into the locker room and never looked back. Dwight Hill led the charge again with 34 BARPS. Ray Burns hit 6 of his 7 three point attempts and Shane Manor stepped up with a nice offensive game. I think Manor has a chance to be a great player. He’s the most athletic player on the team. If he bulks up a bit and gets more aggressive he could be tough to stop.

WW 74 Olivet 54 WW doubled up Olivet in the first half, 32-16. Miles McKay led the Warhawks with 37 BARPS. Savage put in his usual day at the office with 26 BARPS. I don’t think Whitewater had too many problems in this one. It was probably nice for them to shake off the rust a bit though.