Benedictine looking for first road win of season

With three consecutive wins in a five-day stretch last week, the Benedictine men’s basketball team proved it can be awfully tough to beat.

When the Eagles are playing at the Rice Center in Lisle, that is.

Benedictine tallied Northern Athletics Conference wins over Dominican, Aurora and Maranatha at home last week, running its Rice Center record to 7-2. The Eagles’ problem is on the road, where they are winless in 2011-’12 with an 0-8 mark that includes a pair of loses on a neutral court in Las Vegas.

In those eight games Benedictine has been outscored by an average of 11.25 points.

Not exactly an encouraging sign as five of the Eagles’ last seven games will come on the road, starting with Wednesday’s 7 p.m. contest against Milwaukee School of Engineering (8-9, 6-3) in Milwaukee, Wis.

“For us to win in our league, we’re going to have to win some games on the road,” coach Keith Bunkenburg said.

Wednesday would be a good time to start.

Benedictine (7-10, 6-4) trails MSOE by half a game in the NAC South Division. A win would give the Eagles at least a share of the division lead, depending on the outcome of Wednesday’s game between Rockford (9-9, 6-4) and Aurora (8-9, 4-5).

The Eagles have already beaten MSOE once this season, a 54-51 win Nov. 29 that Bunkenburg called “one of those grind-it-out games.” He expects more of the same Wednesday, and not just because Benedictine is leaving the comforts of home.

MSOE “wants to take time off the clock on both ends of the floor,” Bunkenburg said. “They make you work on both ends.

“They’re leading our division, so you don’t want to put yourself more in the hole.”

Benedictine has won four of its past six games after a six-game losing streak in December. Bunkenburg credited his team’s recent run of strong play to increased experience — the Eagles had to replace six of their top eight players before the start of the season.

Now he just has to hope that strong play at home translates into a few road wins.

“We have a lot of inexperience,” Bunkenburg said. “It’s taken us a while to play together.”

Lacrosse: Benedictine ended its search for a new women’s lacrosse coach Monday, announcing the hire of Elise Manzie. Manzie replaces Stephen Wagner, who resigned Jan. 9 to take the same position at Brockport State.

A Naperville native, Manzie had been serving as the recruiting coordinator for North Central since 2010. The Cardinals went 7-7 in 2011.

Manzie graduated from North Central, where she excelled at both soccer and lacrosse as a goalkeeper. Benedictine will begin sponsoring women’s lacrosse in the spring of 2013, according to a university news release.

Wheaton: Senior Tim McCrary scored 10 points, sophomore Tyler Peters added 8, but the Wheaton men#146;s basketball team saw its five-game winning streak come to an end with a 70-46 road loss to Augustana on Tuesday.Brian DeSimone scored 21 points to lead Augustana (14-4, 4-3 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), the No. 20-ranked team in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll. No. 22 Wheaton never led on Tuesday, falling to 14-4 with a 5-2 mark in CCIW play.In other CCIW action Tuesday Elmhurst (9-9, 3-4) dropped a 77-58 decision at Carthage (9-9, 3-4) and Illinois Wesleyan (15-3, 6-1) rolled over Millikin (1-17, 0-7, 75-53. North Central (12-6, 6-1) kept pace with Illinois Wesleyan at the top of the conference standings with a dominant 73-54 win over North Park (5-13, 1-6).Women#146;s basketball: Riding a combination of stifling defense and red-hot shooting, the Wheaton women#146;s basketball team has put together a four-game winning streak.The Thunder beat North Park 48-36 Saturday, completing a 2-0 week that also included a victory over Carthage Jan. 18. Wheaton shot only 29.5 percent from the floor against North Park but connected on 6-of-10 3-pointers to push its record to 11-6 with a 4-2 mark in CCIW play.Brooke Olson (Wheaton North) led the Thunder with 13 points. The junior guard was the third player to lead Wheaton in scoring during the winning streak.#147;It always helps to get balanced scoring,#148; coach Kent Madsen said. #147;I#146;ve been really pleased with the production.#148;Madsen gave most of the credit for the streak to Wheaton#146;s defense. The Thunder has allowed just 47.75 points a game in the four wins.Wheaton will try to win its fifth in the row on the road against Augustana (9-8, 1-5) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. In other CCIW action Saturday, Elmhurst (14-3, 5-1) lost 75-56 to Illinois Wesleyan (13-4, 6-0) to drop its first conference game of the season and fall out of a tie for first in the league. Illinois Wesleyan is now alone in first.