| Bridgewater State had no answer for Kenney Rogers, who burned up the nets on the way to 52 points. Westfield State athletics photo by Cole Grady/@cdgphoto_ |
This is the early recap of Division III men’s basketball action on Saturday, Feb. 14.
More updates to come.
Occidental jumped out to a 20-3 lead on No. 10 Redlands and was able to weather the storm, holding off the Bulldogs, 86-82. Redlands was able to bounce back and cut the lead to two before going into the halftime locker room down 47-43, and rallied to lead early in the second half as Derek Sangster hit a three-pointer to give his team a 54-51 lead. Redlands pushed that lead out to nine at 60-51 before the Tigers (17-6, 10-4 SCIAC) pushed back out in front, with Peter Noble hitting a three with 5:06 left to put Oxy back on top 69-68. Cam Brown hit a layup as Redlands (19-4, 11-3) momentarily regained the lead for 20 seconds before Occidental took it back with a jumper by Nasir Luna. That jumper would be the last lead change as the Tigers led for the final 4:31. Luna sealed the game by going 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final 21 seconds. Alex McCleery Brown led all scorers with 28 points, while adding game-highs of 17 rebounds and four steals.
Westfield State sophomore Kenney Rogers broke a 57-year-old school record and tied Zevi Samet’s mark for the most points by a Division III men’s basketball player this season as he poured in 52 to help the Owls defeat Bridgewater State, 106-88. Rogers started the day just 3-for-10, but finished it 20-for-37 from the floor, 4-for-11 from three-point range, and 8-for-14 from the foul line. He grabbed 12 rebounds and handed out five assists as well. “I didn’t realize Kenney had as many as he had at the time, because he had been so efficient driving the ball hard at the basket,” Westfield State coach Rich Sutter said. “He was very dynamic, hit a couple from outside, and was a whirling dervish around the basket. When he got to 40 with about four minutes left, we called time out and informed everybody what we were doing, and we weren’t going to come out of the game without Kenney getting a shot at the record.” Westfield is one game up on the rest of the MASCAC at 18-5, 10-2 in conference play, with two conference games remaining.
Junior Elijah Farrington came off the bench, but only because it was senior day at Mount Union, and he poured in 32 points in 33 minutes to help the No. 9-ranked Purple Raiders survive at home against Wilmington, 90-87 in overtime. The Quakers (9-14, 5-9 OAC) held the lead for most of the second half, including going up 68-60 with just over six minutes to go on a Carson Miles layup. Farrington answered with a three-point play, however, and eventually tied the game at 69 with 4:07 to play with a layup. It was Mount Union’s turn to take the lead, as the Purple Raiders extended that run to 16-1, going up 76-69 with 1:52 left before Wilmington scored the last seven of the half to tie the game. Mount Union (22-2, 13-2) made nine consecutive free throws to take a three-point lead late in the extra session and held on as Wilmington had two looks from beyond the arc in the closing seconds but could not get either to fall. Farrington finished with the 32 points and added 13 rebounds, while Kevin Hamilton scored 25 for UMU. Domenic Farley scored a team-high 20 for Wilmington.
Hosting an NJAC doubleheader for the last time ever, New Jersey City got the sweep against TCNJ, and the men’s game saw it end in dramatic fashion as Marc Brown Jr., the son of head coach Marc Brown, came off the bench and lobbed an inbounds pass over the top of everyone, finding big man Donovan Crawford all alone for the layup with one second left, lifting the Gothic Knights to a 70-69 win. The Lions (18-6, 13-4 NJAC) had taken a one-point lead with eight seconds left on a three-pointer by Nick Koch before NJCU got into the frontcourt, got the timeout, and got the play call and result it wanted. Bakhi Rogers-Robinson started slowly, making just four of his first 11 shots, but finished 7-for-his-last-8 to wind up with a game-high 29 points. NCJU is now 14-10 overall, 10-7 in the NJAC, and will absolutely get a chance to extend its last season of Division III men’s basketball in the NJAC tournament.
Grinnell remained tied for first place in the Midwest Conference and improved its conference mark to a school-record 13-1 as the Pioneers got past Lake Forest on the road, 104-99. At 18-3 overall, Grinnell is off to its best start to a season since the 1961-62 campaign. They have won 16 of their last 17 games, with only one loss since mid-November. Zach Rosen got his team the lead for good with a layup for a 99-98 Pioneer edge. Grinnell then forced a missed shot by the hosts and, following a timeout, Gabe Garcia converted a layup with 17 seconds left for a 101-98 lead. Lake Forest missed again and was forced to foul as Grinnell secured the victory from the line. Rosen scored a game-high 28 points in the win. Monmouth was idle on Saturday.