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 // conference season continues]
Conference action continues this Thursday with select games on tap to start the week. McKendree routed Central Christian on Monday, 116-50, while UW-Parkside hits the road for an exhibition contest at Illinois-Chicago on Wednesday. On tap Thursday is Truman State 3-4, 0-1 GLVC) at McKendree (5-1, 1-0), Missouri S&T (1-5, 0-1) visiting Maryville (4-2, 1-1), Quincy (1-6, 0-2) hosting Drury (5-2, 1-1), William Jewell (9-0, 2-0) at Missouri-St. Louis (4-3, 1-1), Illinois Springfield (6-2, 1-0) welcoming Rockhurst (4-4, 1-1), Lewis (2-6, 0-2) entertaining Indianapolis (5-2, 1-1), and UW-Parkside (1-6, 0-1) traveling south to Bellarmine (7-0, 1-0). For a complete look at this week’s action,
click here.
[2 // the week that was]
GLVC action
tipped off last week with Bellarmine, Illinois Springfield, McKendree, Southern Indiana and William Jewell opening the season unbeaten. USI and Jewell swept both of their conference contests, while the Knights, Prairie Stars and Bearcats picked up the “W” in their lone league battle. Among the highlights on Thursday, William Jewell drained 18 three pointers to defeat Maryville, 107-86, while in the battle of the Hawks, three standouts scored in double figures to help Rockhurst defend its home court with an 82-66 win over Quincy. In Evansville, Southern Indiana rallied from an 11-point second half deficit to defeat Lewis 85-74 in overtime. Drury hit nine of its first 10 shots and went on to shoot 68 percent from the field in a 102-69 win over Missouri-St. Louis. Jesse Kempson led all scorers with 22 points, while CJ Hardaway Jr. tallied 16 points and nine rebounds to lead Indianapolis to its fifth straight win in a 62-52 road victory at UW-Parkside. On Saturday, McKendree rallied on the road from 17 points down and a nine-point deficit at halftime to stun Drury, 100-91. Illinois Springfield scored seven of the game's final nine points to win at Missouri S&T, 82-78, which gave the Prairie Stars their sixth straight victory. Forrester Sims poured in 26 points and helped Maryville shoot 51.8 percent from the field in the Saints' 80-66 win at Rockhurst. In Kirksville, Elijah Watson scored 23 points and dished out 12 assists to help Missouri-St. Louis to an 88-83 win at Truman State. Five William Jewell standouts scored in double figures, led by Patrick Whelan's 27 points, to push the Cardinals to a 92-81 win over Quincy -- Jewell's ninth straight, marking its best start (9-0) since the 1987-88 season. No. 3 Bellarmine led wire-to-wire and by as many as 27 in the second half to get past Lewis, 78-59. Southern Indiana's Julius Rajala scored a season-high 24 points and rallied the Screaming Eagles to a 73-67 victory at Indianapolis. Outside of conference play, UW-Parkside shot 64.5 percent from the floor and 56 percent from beyond the arc to score its first win of the season in a 106-71 result against Trinity International.
[3 // two teams ranked inside nabc top 25 poll; one receiving votes outside]
Two GLVC programs are ranked inside this week's edition of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) NCAA Division II Poll,
it was announced Tuesday. Bellarmine (7-0, 1-0 GLVC) maintained its position at No. 3, while once again picking one of the 16 first-place votes just as it did last week. The Knights were victorious in their only game last week, defeating Lewis 78-59 in their GLVC season opener. William Jewell (9-0, 2-0 GLVC) moves into the national rankings for the first time ever as a Division II program. The Cardinals vaulted into the top 25 to land at No. 20, following a pair of GLVC wins last week against Maryville (107-86) and Quincy (92-81). Picking up votes outside the top 25 this week is Southern Indiana (7-2, 2-0 GLVC), which opened league action last week with wins over Lewis (84-75) and Indianapolis (73-67).
[4 // mckendree’s gerling unleashed]
McKendree sophomore center Nolan Gerling was
named GLVC Player of the Week on Monday, after scoring 20 of his game- and season-high 32 points in second half against Drury in GLVC season-opening win, just one point shy of his career-high. He helped McKendree overcome 17-point deficit with just over 17 minutes remaining, by shooting 14-for-17 (.820) in 34 minutes of action, including 8-for-9 (.888) in the final 20 minutes. The first-time weekly honoree also added seven rebounds in McKendree’s first-ever win against Drury since joining GLVC in 2012-13, and also first time winning a GLVC opener as league members.
[5 // among the nation’s best]
In the recent statistical report published by the NCAA, several GLVC teams and individuals rank among the nation’s top 10 in select categories. Bellarmine (53.1) is third and Drury is fifth (53.0) in field goal percentage, while UIndy is sixth in three-point field goal percentage (44.6). Drury is also fourth in three-pointers per game (13.3) and three-point field goal percentage (45.8), and ninth in scoring offense (93.1). McKendree is eighth in scoring margin (22.0) and Southern Indiana is ninth in rebounding margin (11.4). William Jewell ranks eighth in three-point field-goal defense (27.9), ninth in three-point field goal attempts (250), and 10th in free throws made (177). Individually, UIndy’s Eric Davidson is first in the country in free-throw percentage (100.0), while UW-Parkside’s Adam Bonk is sixth in three-point field-goal percentage (59.0). McKendree’s Gianni Otto (9.67) and USI’s Marcellous Washington (6.60) are second and third, respectively, in assist-turnover ratio. In defensive rebounds per game, William Jewell’s Pharroh Gordon ranks second (9.78), fifth in total rebounds (97), and seventh overall with five double-doubles. Truman’s Zach Fischer (69.2) is ninth in field-goal percentage.