Wheaton, North Central win NCAA openers
The Wheaton College men’s basketball team defeated Gustavus Adolphus College 68-60 on Friday night in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Division III Tournament.
The Thunder advances to the second round at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Wisconsin-River Falls. Wheaton will face either Edgewood College or the host Falcons of UW-River Falls.
Senior forward Spencer Schultze led the Thunder with 20 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Senior guard Jeremy Pflederer scored 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field, including three 3-pointers. All-America Tim McCrary scored 11 points, with 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals. Sophomore Tyler Peters contributed 10 points, with six rebounds and four assists.
“I thought this was a great team effort,” Thunder coach Mike Schauer said. “First of all, Gustavus is wonderful team, had a great year and has one of the elite players in the country in (Seth) Anderson.
“I thought a key tonight was that our team’s depth shone through. Both Tim (McCrary) and Aaron (Garriott) got in foul trouble midway through the first half, and we had to massage that first half a little bit. I thought Spencer (Schultze) really stepped up and made a lot of big plays and gave us a place to go with the basketball.
Wheaton led 28-23 at halftime. Wheaton led 45-31 with 13:20 left in the game; however, the Gusties outscored Wheaton 16-5 over a span of 5:30 to cut Wheaton’s lead to 50-47 with 7:35 left in the game. The Thunder held a 57-53 lead when Pflederer buried a big 3-point basket with 2:50 left in the game to extend Wheaton’s lead to 60-53, helping Wheaton secure the win.
Seth Anderson led Gustavus Adolphus with 22 points and James Hill added 13 points, with 10 rebounds.
North Central 74, Rose-Hulman 71:Undeterred by a prolific shooting performance by its first-round opponent, North Central College dominated on the inside and made several key plays down the stretch in defeating the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Fightin#146; Engineers 74-71 in opening-round NCAA Tournament action at Washington University.The win pits the Cardinals (21-7) in a second-round matchup Saturday against the winner of Friday night#146;s game between Washington and Buena Vista University.Rose-Hulman came out firing from long range and stayed hot throughout the contest, making 12 of 21 3-pointers, including a 7-of-10 effort in the second half. The Cardinals were able to overcome the onslaught by outscoring the Engineers in the paint 48-16 including a game-high 27-point performance from sophomore forward Landon Gamble.#147;I was very pleased with our effort,#148; said North Central coach Todd Raridon. #147;You have to give Rose-Hulman credit. I thought they did a terrific job executing their offense, and they made us work hard defensively. They just made big plays at crucial times and we could not put them away.#147;I thought Landon did a nice job inside and the kids did a good job of getting him the ball, and we made big plays when we had to.#148;After opening the game with a 7-2 run, North Central yielded a 8-2 surge that netted Rose-Hulman its first lead at 10-9. The Engineers extended their lead to as many as five points before a layup by Gamble and two 3-pointers by Kevin Gillespie got the Cardinals back in front 26-24.The Engineers nudged themelves back in front 28-26 though back-to-back layups by Gamble and Charlie Rosenberg put North Central ahead once again 30-28. The lead changed hands once again on Austin Weatherford#146;s three-pointer with 3:48 on the clock, and Rose-Hulman held a 34-32 edge with 2:22 left before the Cardinals put the locks on the basket and held the Engineers scoreless the rest of the period. Gamble scored in the paint to tie the score, and Gillespie sank a three-pointer with 1:14 remaining which wound up sending the Cardinals into halftime with a 37-34 advantage.North Central extended its advantage to 46-39 after the first four minutes of the second half, but Rose-Hulman bounced back once again with threes from Weatherford and Julian Strickland to narrow the gap to a single poin. Gamble scored twice down low and Aaron Tiknis added a layup as well, building the Cardinals#146; edge back up to 52-45 with 13:33 left.The Engineers (20-9) narrowed the gap to two points on a pair of occasions midway through the period, the second of which came at 60-58 with 8:24 left. Gamble provided North Central some breathing room by converting a three-point play and feeding Vince Kmiec for a layup with 6:04 on the clock.The Cardinals owned a 71-65 edge with less than 30 seconds remaining, but Rose-Hulman still had rounds in the chamber, as Weatherford canned a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left to make it a one-possession game. Gillespie beat the Engineers#146; full-court press and found CJ Goldthree for a layup, but Strickland stepped up and knocked down another triple with just two seconds left. Tiknis was fouled on the inbounds pass and made one of two shots with 0.8 seconds left, and the Cardinals successfully defended Rose-Hulman#146;s final possession.#147;Every time they made a run back at us, we seemed to whether that storm and someone made a play,#148; Raridon said. #147;These guys haven#146;t quit all year, and they found a way to get it done. We don#146;t have a lot of time, but we#146;ve got some work to do for tomorrow.#148;Gamble made 12 of 14 shots in the game and led the Cardinals with 8 rebounds, while also contributing 4 assists and 2 blocked shots. Tiknis and Gillespie each finished with 11 points and 7 assists, while Derek Raridon put up 10 points.