The following “Starting Five” points offer a quick look inside GLVC men’s basketball action this week:
GLVC SPORTS NETWORK (GLVCSN): All GLVC home games are available for free on GLVCSN.com, the GLVCSN iOS and Android mobile apps, and GLVCSN OTT apps on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV.
[1 // thankful for lots of hoops]
Despite taking a break for Thanksgiving on Thursday, GLVC men’s basketball programs will be quite active this week, competing in five of the seven days. Action opened Monday night with Southern Indiana defeating Fisk 72-65, while William Jewell netted an 80-65 victory over Baker. Three in-region road contests highlight Tuesday’s action as Bellarmine is at Wayne State, Indianapolis plays at Ashland, and Lewis battles Hillsdale. Another three in-region games are on the docket for Wednesday as Tiffin and UIndy square off in Ashland, Ohio, Lewis plays Ohio Dominican in Hillsdale, Michigan, and McKendree heads south to Trevecca Nazarene. Six games are on the slate for Friday, while 11 programs are in action on Saturday. For a complete look at this week’s action,
click here.
[2 // bellarmine remains third in national poll ]
Bellarmine continues to represent the GLVC in the season's first installment of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Poll,
it was announced Tuesday. After earning a preseason ranking of No. 3 by the NABC, Bellarmine (3-0, 0-0 GLVC) held to form in the top 25 poll. The third-ranked Knights will compete this evening at Wayne State (Mich.) and then do battle at the Cesar Odio Thanksgiving Classic in Miami Shores, Florida over the weekend. Bellarmine will play No. 8 Barry on Friday and Lynn on Saturday.
[3 // longmeyer ends long player of the week streak for uis]
Illinois Springfield senior guard Eddie Longmeyer
was named Monday as the GLVC Player of the Week, after averaging 24.5 points on 17-of-25 shooting (.680), 8.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals in two wins last week. He is the first UIS standout to earn the league’s weekly honor since Chigozie Umeadi was recognized on Nov. 15, 2010. Longmeyer tied his career high with 24 points on 7-of-12 (.583) shooting with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals in a 92-85 win over Harris-Stowe. He then posted a new career high with 25 points on 10-of-13 (.769) shooting with 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks in a 100-80 victory over Robert Morris-Peoria. Also of note last week, he recorded a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds in a 69-64 exhibition loss at NCAA Division I SIU-Carbondale.
[4 // a shining jewell]
William Jewell has opened the season 5-0 for the time since the 1987-88 season for longtime head coach Larry Holley. The Cardinals, who opened the week with an 80-65 victory over Baker on Monday, are currently second in the GLVC in scoring offense with 91.2 points per game and boast the league’s third-best scoring margin of 19.2 points. Individually, Jewell’s Keith Hayes sits atop the GLVC scoring charts at 21.4 points per game. Both Hayes (107 points) and Southern Indiana’s Alex Stein (112) are the only two league standouts to eclipse 100 points thus far. Hayes is joined in the scoring charts by Patrick Whelan, who sits sixth overall at 18.6 points per game, and Byron Harp in 20th at 13.4 points each time out. In fact, Whelan netted a GLVC season-high 34 points last week against Missouri Western, just one week after Hayes had poured in the league’s previous season high of 28 points against Purdue Northwest.
[5 // down goes umsl’s dish record]
Missouri-St. Louis senior Elijah Watson dished out 14 assists in last Tuesday’s 78-56 victory over Webster, which bettered the previous school record of 13, set by Bob Bone in 1975. The 14 assists are the fifth-most in NCAA Division II competition this season and the most by a GLVC standout since Maryville’s Jimmy Barton dished 15 dimes against Saint Joseph’s on Jan. 5, 2017. Watson currently boasts 30 assists over four games, good for a league-leading average of 7.5 assists per game.