JALC women open season with 97-52 win over Lindenwood-Belleville (JV)

CARTERVILLE, IL – Eleven different players scored as Shaniya Whitsell paced the John A. Logan College Lady Vols with 18 points in a 97-52 season-opening win over Lindenwood-Belleville (JV) Saturday afternoon.

Alicia Hornbuckle added 16 points while Morgan Griffith scored 14. Destiny Cozart dropped in 11 points and added seven rebounds. Miriah Donelson racked up 10 points and seven boards.

JALC led 25-9 after the first quarter and enjoyed a 49-16 edge at intermission.

The Lady Vols (1-0) will welcome Missouri Baptist (JV) Nov. 8 at 5 p.m.

 

By Tom Weber   siusalukis.com

CARBONDALE,  IL — With 10 upper-classmen, the Salukis boast one of the oldest and most experienced rosters in the Missouri Valley Conference. SIU has seven players who have a combined 178 games of starting experience at the Division I level. Tyler Smithpeters (63), Thik Bol (33), Armon Fletcher (30), Sean Lloyd (20) and Jonathan Wiley (1) have all made starts at SIU. Transfer Marcus Bartley made 18 starts at Saint Louis and Eric McGill started 13 times at SEMO.

The Salukis do have several notable holes to fill. Power forward Sean O’Brien was a four-year starter, who finished his career at SIU No. 25 in scoring, No. 8 in rebounds, No. 12 in blocked shots and No. 20 in assists. Also gone is dynamic point guard Mike Rodriguez, who started every game the last two seasons and led last year’s team in scoring, assists, free throws and steals.

FRONT COURT

Headlining the front court is shot-blocking specialist Thik Bol (6-8, 203, Sr.). Last year, in his first season at SIU, he blocked 76 shots, the third-most in a season in school history. He was also a factor on offense, where he chipped in 9.1 points per game. Bol led the team in offensive rebounds per game (2.42) and was second overall in rebounding (6.8 rebounds).

The Salukis return a pair of veteran bigs in Austin Weiher (6-8, 206, Jr.) and 6-foot-9 Rudy Stradnieks (6-9, 229, Jr.). Both players displayed a smooth shooting touch from 3-point range, combining to make 17-of-43 (.395) shots.
Look for a pair of stretch forwards to give SIU a different look at O’Brien’s power forward spot. Jonathan Wiley (6-7, 201, Sr.) and Brendon Gooch (6-5, 204, RFr.) could both present match-up problems with their ability to shoot from distance.
The Salukis add some size to the front-court mix this season with the addition of juco transfer Kavion Pippen (6-10, 240, Jr.). If the name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the nephew of NBA legend Scottie Pippen.

BACK COURT

The coaching staff feels it has one of the deepest back courts in recent memory. The most accomplished player in the group is athletic wing Armon Fletcher (6-5, 207, Jr.), who has scored 496 points in his first two seasons and is still developing a versatile skill set that includes a feathery 3-point stroke.

A pleasant surprise last season was the development of Sean Lloyd (6-5, 210, Jr.), who earned a starting job in mid-December and became the team’s defensive stopper. He averaged 7.6 points and 2.8 rebounds. The back court becomes even more competitive with the return of fifth-year guard Tyler Smithpeters (6-4, 203, Sr.), who took a medical redshirt last year. He ranks seventh in school history in 3-point shooting (.395 percent) and leads the roster in career starts (63).

Three players will compete for minutes at point guard. The early front-runner is Saint Louis transfer Marcus Bartley (6-5, 193, Jr.). Two years ago, he led the Billikens in 3-point shooting (.397). During his freshman year, he led SLU in assists (55). Aaron Cook (6-2, 185, So.) served as the team’s backup point guard last year and averaged 3.0 points and 0.9 assists. He was also one of the team’s top defenders with 31 steals. Juco transfer Eric McGill (6-2, 175, Jr.) can play point guard or off the ball. Two years ago, he averaged 7.0 points at SEMO and made 13 starts as a true freshman. Last year at Panola College, he averaged 11.6 points and 5.6 assists.

The Salukis will have their depth tested early in the season due to injuries to Bartley, Bol and Weiher.

MVC PRESEASON POLL
School (1st-Place Votes) Total
1. Missouri State (30) 381
2. Northern Iowa (8) 337
3. Loyola (1) 321
4. Illinois State (1) 256
5. Southern Illinois 226
6. Valparaiso 214
7. Bradley 182
8. Indiana State 216
9. Evansville 88
10. Drake 79

http://www.siusalukis.com/news/2017/10/23/mens-basketball-picked-to-finish-fifth-in-mvc-preseason-poll.aspx?path=mbball

CARBONDALE, IL-   It is a few days old, and I did not get the press release on this.  Click on the link above for the Missouri Valley pre-season poll.

WXLT, 103.5 ESPN is reporting that Saluki Center Thik Bol will be our six weeks with a knee injury.

HARRISBURG, IL – A familiar face will be returning to this basketball season at Southeastern Illinois College. Former coaching standout Mark Motsinger has taken the position as head coach of the men’s basketball team.

Motsinger returns to SIC after a tenure as the women’s basketball coach from 1986 to 2002. This span included 396 wins and 115 losses for the lady Falcons. But Motsinger’s connections to SIC began long before his coaching career.

“I was born in Mt. Vernon but moved to Harrisburg in 1962 when my father became the men’s basketball and baseball coach and Athletic Director at SIC,” Motsinger said.

Motsinger’s father, Virgil, coached the men’s basketball team for 35 years. Motsinger played on the team from 1979 to 1981, with his father as the coach. Motsinger graduated from Murray State University in 1983. After which, his coaching career began.

“I was a Graduate Assistant at Murray State from 1983 to 1984,” Motsinger said. He then coached basketball, cross country, and track at Thompsonville. Then was the head girls’ basketball coach and boys’ track coach at Henderson County High School before coming to SIC.”

All of Motsinger’s experience lead to a successful run at SIC. Motsinger’s career with the Lady Falcons ended with 396 wins and 115 losses. This record makes him the 16^th most winning coach in NJCAA women’s basketball among inactive coaches. In 1990, Motsinger lead SIC to their first NJCAA National Tournament. And in 2009, Motsinger was names to the IBCS Basketball Hall of Fame. Motsinger is hoping his presence will continue to benefit SIC.

“I returned because of the opportunity to help get SIC Basketball back on track,” Motsinger said. “I believe in the philosophy, ‘a program should be better because you were there, not fall apart because you left.’”

One of Motsinger’s hopes for leading the program down a new path is to bolster the team with local talent. He believes that using hometown athletes will only benefit a small town school.

“I realize that we have a small district population wise, and I can’t build an entire team out of local players,” Motsinger acknowledged. “But if there is local talent, it should be utilized. This is a community college.”

Adding to the benefits of a local roster, Motsinger believes that personal connections to the team will foster support for SIC from the surrounding communities.

“Having local players helps bring community ownership back to the program, it helps local communities feel a connection to the institution, something that has been missing for the past several years,” Motsinger stated. “A college basketball program, like it or not is kind of like the front porch of a house, in this case the school, it is often the first thing people see and even though it may not be the foundation of the house it often gives off the first impression”

SIC’s athletic director, Jeremy Irlbeck is hopeful for what this season could bring.

“Mark will be a true asset to Southeastern, said Irlbeck. “We look forward to seeing him succeed this season, and continuing to bring local talent to SIC in the future.”

Motsinger and the basketball Falcons will have their season opener in Joseph Deaton Gym on Wednesday, November 15 as they take on Shawnee Community College at 7:30 p.m.

by John Lock  siusalukis.com

by Tom Weber siusalukis.com

CARBONDALE, IL-Entering his sixth season at the helm of Southern Illinois, men’s basketball head coach Barry Hinson met with the media on Tuesday to preview the 2017-18 season at the team’s annual Media Day in the Cook Club of SIU Arena.

PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to our 2017-18 season. I am as excited today as I am when I first started coaching junior high basketball at the age of 20. I’m starting my 36th season of basketball coaching. I always said that the year that I’m not excited is the year that I get out. I couldn’t be anymore excited to start a season than this year.  

What excites you about this team?

What excites me is that we have a group of young men that just had the best finish that we’ve had in eight years. The majority of those guys are back. We have four great additions to this program that I don’t think people outside of Carbondale and even some people inside of Carbondale remember that they’re a part of the program. Tyler Smithpeters hurt his knee in the first game of last year. He is absolutely one of our best perimeter shooters. As evident, last year we were the worst 3-point shooting team in the league. We wouldn’t have been had Tyler been healthy. We’ve added a point guard in Marcus Bartley, who started at the University of St. Louis. He’s a 6’4” point guard. We’ve added a man named Kavion Pippen who gives us size and depth in a center positon. We’ve added Eric McGill from Panola Junior College but he also played Division I basketball at Southeast Missouri State. Those are four people that I don’t think people remember. Then you also throw in Brendon Gooch who was a redshirt freshman last year. There’s five people who people don’t really know about. With the guys that we have coming back, I think that’s one of the reasons we’re so excited.

What will be different about this team compared to last year?

I think there’s going to be some different things that we do offensively. I’m not going to go into those specifically at this time. When you see our team walk out on the floor or walk through the airport, no one’s going to ask us at the airport anymore if we’re the SIU soccer team. We actually look like a basketball team. We have length and size also coming off the bench. If we were to throw out a starting lineup, we have an opportunity right now to throw out 6’4″, 6’4″, 6’6″, 6’8″, and 6’9″. That’s a pretty good line up. As I’ve looked over the years past, specifically with Wichita State and Illinois State, when you look at their size on the floor, that was such a dominant factor. Mike asked me, as a matter of fact, after every game with Illinois State and Wichita State, ‘was length the factor?‘ My answer was always, yes. I think someone else’s radio broadcast can ask that question about our guys and hopefully it will be.

What excites you about Marcus Bartley?

I was excited about Marcus when he was a sophomore in high school because we recruited him. We had just gotten beaten by SLU when we started recruiting this man. I think the first thing that excites me is that we have a point guard that can see over ball screens. Aaron Cook can see over ball screens. That is no disrespect to Michael (Rodriguez). Michael could do things that those guys couldn’t do, he could get to the paint. The problem was that he was 5’8″. I know that, I understand the 5’8” struggles that we have in life. I can relate to those things. But now we’ve got Aaron Cook, Marcus Bartley and even Eric McGill — those guys can finish inside. I think the athleticism and the size, that makes me really really excited. I think the thing is that I challenged Marcus on is I’ve told him, ‘you’ve got to get 30 points a game’. Now, don’t go crazy on me, I’m not asking him to do that, but he’s got to get a collection of 30 points with assists and points. All of our point guards can go out and get assists for us. There’s no question in my mind. I make a bold statement every year, I made one last year about Tyler and then he got hurt so I’m not going to make bold statements about individuals. We will shoot the 3-point ball a lot better than we have in the past. We will probably take more threes than we have in the past. I think for the first time in a long time, we don’t have just shooters, we have makers. I think there’s a big difference. 

What does McGill bring to the table?

I just think he’s a good player, I think he’s a really good player. I’m excited about him. He’s got length, he’s athletic, he can shoot. This is the kid, I think you’ll have to correct me if I’m wrong, who had seven 3’s and 23 points against Murray State as a freshman when he was a guard at SEMO. I think this kid can help us and he can adapt to what we’re doing. There’s been a change, a switch-over, from junior college to Division I. I think it’s a little bit more difficult that what he thought, which is a good thing. I think he’ll adapt. I think Kavion Pippen is another good example. You’re just going to see this man grow and grow and get better as we go. Somebody watched practice the other day after coming to the first practice and said ‘by gosh, how much better has he gotten’. I think he’s just a sponge. He’s a kid who comes in our office everyday, he wants to watch film, same goes for Eric. These guys just want to learn. You’re talking about adding guys two our program who make a difference and I think we’ve added two guys who will help make a difference for us.

Talk about your depth.

That’s a good problem to have. Now you have a guy who gets in foul trouble or hurt, you have a guy who can help. That was our number one priority. We kept telling Kavion, every time we went to Three Rivers, ‘you’re our number one priority’. We have to have another big guy, you guys reminded me of that all the time, asking me if I was going to sign a big guy. The little lady in Schnucks would be remind me, asking if I was going to sign a big guy. Yes! We did! We got one and we’re excited about him. WEelove him! That’s not even to say the improvement that Thik Bol‘s made. That guy’s gained 18 pounds, he’s not been hanging out out at the Golden Corral, he’s been eating and lifting. I think you can tell in my voice that I’m a little giddy.  We’ve played those two in practice together and we saw some great things but we also saw some things that we need to work on. If we really wanted to go big we could go big. When you have a guy who is 6’8” out there and a guy on the wing who is 6’7”, that’s pretty good length right there. The problem that that gives us right now is defensively. In the Valley, almost everyone you run into has a 4-man. You don’t see that many teams who play two big guys like that. One thing that Thik’s done that he’s improved on is his defense. We feel that he can get out there and guard some guys.

How has Thik Bol‘s offensive game expanded?

Right now, we’re telling Thik, when you get the ball on the perimeter, go score. I think our fans were pleasantly surprised last year at shooting the ball from the short corner and shooting free throws. I remember vividly Loyola trying to foul him, put him on the line, and he just steps up there and makes them, right there with the crowd all over him. The one thing we’ve added to Thik’s arsenal, and you can talk to him about this later, is that he can put the ball on the floor. He’s got a two-dribble rule, but he can put the ball on the floor, away from the basket. Matter of fact, we would rather him put the ball on the floor right now and attack the basket because he’s a lot better at going right or left.

Armon has continued to improve the past few years and now he comes in as your leading scorer from last year. What do you expect to see from him this year?

I expect to see Armon a completely different player this year. I have never held back on my expectations on Armon Fletcher, never have and never will. I think he has a high ceiling. Armon needs to do a better job defensively; he’s got to get a little bit of Dennis Rodman in his blood. I’m not talking about off the floor, I’m talking about on the floor. He’s got to become that type of rebounder that every time that shot goes up, you’ve got to worry about him getting on that offense glass. He’s got to eat glass for us to be successful. He also needs to shoot the ball better. I mean he was our leading scorer last year, he was one of our worst 3-point shooters. He’s got to shoot the ball a lot better and he has so far. I think Armon was on his way to a really phenomenal sophomore year last year, until he got hurt. And when he got hurt, I think that took him out of sync. I think he’s going to have a really good year for us. I think another guy that’s gonna be good for us is Sean Lloyd. Ray Giacolleti came in the other day and watched this practice and pointed at that guy and said ‘He is one tough sucker.’ Sean Lloyd, if you want to get right down to it, instilled the past of Floorburn U. I don’t mind telling you, in the first five years that we were here, I didn’t feel like we had the right to call this program Floorburn U. Bruce (Weber), Matt (Painter) and Chris (Lowery) established that and sustained it for the most part and I didn’t think we had a right to do that until the very end of the season last year. Much to do with Sean Lloyd, we were able to get that back. I wish you could see, in fact I’ll get Coach Clancy and you guys can take a picture of it, on the back of our practice gear, inside our locker room, and outside our locker room we put the logo of Floorburn U. This program is going back to the old days of Floorburn U. I feel confident about that. Our guys have shown it in practice and we expect to show it in games.

In the past you’ve said you can’t play that way any more. With what the rules are, can you really play that way?

We are going to try. We’ve got depth now, Todd. We are going to play that way and Floorburn U does not have anything to do with fouling. Floorburn U in our interpretation means we’re going to dive on the floor and we’re going to take charges.

You said you’re going to shoot more threes and make more threes. Is that where a majority of your points are going to be coming from?

No, this program is going to play inside-outside like it always has been. Our leading shot takers are Kavion, Thik, and Marcus. As long as our big guys are taking a majority of our shots, that means that we’re gonna do good. Let me rephrase that, I said we’re going to do that. I want to shoot more threes and make more threes. I won’t be so bold to say we will do that, I want to do that and I think we can. Statistically, right now we’ve gone 11 practices and as a team we are shooting 48 percent from the three. If we shoot 48 percent from the three, we will be in here in April talking about where we’re going in the NCAA Tournament and I’d like to be able to do that.

Do you see breaking up Aaron (Cook) and Marcus (Bartley)?

No question. I want to have Aaron Cook on the floor as much as possible because he is so athletic and he has slowed down now and is much more mature. He’s playing within a speed he can play, he’s making smart decisions, and he’s definitely not a freshman anymore. You can have him imitate me today; he can imitate me as well as anyone about getting onto him. He’ll tell you about that, but he’s gotten a lot better.

From watching you the other day, it looks like it starts with you bring the ball in first to Kaivon. Then onto passing, shooting, or throwing it out to a three. Is that about it?

Yeah, I think you’ve given our offensive scouting report, but we like to play inside-outside. The best part of what you said is that they have the ability to throw the ball out. Thik and Kavion have been great passers. I think that the most improved player from throughout the spring and summer is Jonathon Wiley. Everyone has been asking me ‘What are we gonna do with the absence of Sean O’Brien?’ Jonathon is a different player than Sean and he can do things that Sean couldn’t do and Sean did things that he couldn’t do. He’s improved tremendously. I’m excited about Rudy Stradnieks. Rudy’s coming of age and he’s in his junior year. I expect the same thing of him and Austin (Weiher); the bottle of wine has been marinating for two years, let’s pop the cork, let’s drink, and let’s be merry and happy. I think Rudy and Austin have an opportunity to do that for us.

How close do you think Aaron has been to what you expected?

I don’t think he’s been close to; I think he’s been exactly what we think and what we expected of him. He’s a great kid. He’s just a good person. All our guys are. I am so fired up about our guys. Knock on wood, we’ve had no issues and our guys come ready. We’ve had 11 practices and we’ve had one bad practice. It was number 8 and last year we were at number 5 before our first bad practice. Our guys have done a pretty good job.

Brendon is a redshirt freshman, do you expect him to get a lot of time?

No, I don’t. Not a lot, but I think he is going to get time. He is going to play. That’s what I tell all our guys. We’ve got 12 guys, you’re all gonna play. It’s like telling your kids at Christmas, even if you get coal, everyone is going to get a gift. Everybody’s happy right now; everybody gets to play. We’ve got 12 guys. We’ve got 10 right now, two are out hurt, we don’t have any subs in practice. We’re running around like a Labrador Retriever chasing geese all day. Our tongue is out, we’re worn out, but I think it will pay off. I really do. It’s a pretty good analogy.

How long do you think Austin is going to be out?

Well, let’s ask Austin. What do you got? One and a half more weeks? I like the way Austin thinks. I like that he’s optimistic. Austin’s injury is not something that is going to keep him out for the rest of the season. He’s going to be okay.

You’re a guard-heavy team, do you think that’s reflective of the Valley in general?

Well yeah, but I don’t think we’re guard heavy now. You’re looking in the past buddy. Come on, look in the crystal ball and to the future. We’ve got some size now. I don’t consider Austin, Rudy, Kavion, and Thik guards. There’s four out of our twelve and that’s not bad. 33% of our team is not guards. In the past, it’s been 90% of our team is guards, so we feel like we’ve got some size.

This FBI investigation that came out a couple weeks ago, what do you make of that and what effect do you think it will have on mid-major basketball?

I don’t know the effect it will have on mid-major basketball. I mean, I really don’t. I think what has the most effect on mid-major basketball that we need to get taken care of is the transfer, until those guys have to sit out a year. 351 Division I coaching staffs had a conference call yesterday, and that’s the first thing they said. Change is coming. Reggie did a great job and he said I understand change is coming. Tell us what change is coming. We’re sitting here talking about all the stuff that has gone on with the FBI and that hasn’t affected us. There have been no shoe companies that have come to me and asked me about doing that stuff. Not even a barbecue company has come to me asking about that stuff. But we do have our guys being plucked by the power 5 all the time, coming in and actively recruiting our guys.

What’s your take on the Valley race?

I think it’s the Wild Wild West. As soon as Wichita said they were leaving, all 10 head coaches got their teams together and said we got a chance to win the Missouri Valley Conference. All 10 teams are working every day to be Missouri Valley champions. I have no idea where we’ll be picked, I don’t care where we’re picked. Our goal is to win a Missouri Valley championship. That’s what we start off every day of practice. That’s our expectation. We expect to win a Valley championship. That’s what we’re training to do every single day.

 

Link to Press Conferences around the Valley

http://valley-football.org/sports/2017/8/16/FB_0816174413.aspx 

Link to Valley Football Weekly Notebook

http://valley-football.org/news/2017/10/16/valley-football-weekly-notebook-oct-16.aspx

Link to Nick Hill’s Weekly Press Conference

https://youtu.be/qVA1GluUTR0

OPENING STATEMENT: 

After watching the film from the weekend, obviously it was a good game for us. Anytime you win, you have to enjoy it. That was no different on Saturday. It was good to see how the guys responded, coming off a tough week.

These were two totally different games two weeks in a row. We got beat by 35 points, and then we were able to win by 35 points. That says a lot about the guys in the room and their commitment to each other to figure out a way to come and flip the script and play their best football game.

Now the challenge is keeping it going. Confidence-wise, they see what type of team they can be, but we also know what type of league this is. If you don’t prepare and come to work and execute and do the things necessary to win a football game, the next team on your schedule will beat you, and this week is no different.

We’re ready for a tough Indiana State team. I have a ton of respect for those guys. They’ve had a few really tough games. They could have a few wins. They’ve played a lot of teams really close. They went to Liberty and had a short field goal blocked to win on the road in front of 20,000 people.

This is a good football team that’s looking for their first win, and it’s their Homecoming. It’s on the road, and our focus won’t be any different than what it has been.

Link To FCS Top 25 Polls

http://valley-football.org/news/2017/10/16/football-six-mvfc-teams-ranked-4-in-the-top-10.aspx

Valley Players of the Week

This week’s Missouri Valley Football Conference honorees include QB Sam Straub of Southern Illinois; QB Chris Streveler of South Dakota; LB Brett Taylor of Western Illinois; PK Cam Pedersen of North Dakota State; and LB Jabril Cox of North Dakota State.

Co-Offense
QB Sam Straub, Southern Illinois
6-4, 240, Jr., Ames (Iowa) High
Straub threw for 368 yards and four touchdowns in SIU’s 42-7 win over No. 15 Illinois State on Saturday. Straub went 22-for-34 (65 percent) in the game without turning the ball over. His 368 yards were 10th-most in school history, and he became the first player in program history with three career games of 4+ touchdown passes.

QB Chris Streveler, South Dakota
6-3, 215, Sr., Crystal Lake (Ill.) Univ. of Minnesota
Streveler accounted for five touchdowns and was near flawless in South Dakota’s big win against Indiana State. In three quarters of work, he completed 27 of 32 passes for 337 yards, and ran eight times for 82 yards. Streveler threw two touchdowns each to wide outs Brandt Van Roekel (10, 55) and Kody Case (35, 22), and scored on a 46-yard touchdown run just before halftime. The Coyotes scored touchdowns on six of Streveler’s eight possessions.

Defense
LB Brett Taylor, Western Illinois
6-2, 230, Sr., Macomb (Ill.) High
Taylor registered a game-high 16 tackles in addition to 2.0 tackles for a loss, one sack and two pass breakups in Western Illinois’ 49-30 win over Missouri State. The Macomb native has now at least tied for the team lead in stops in each of the last 11 contests, including all six games this season. During the game, Taylor moved into fourth place all-time in school history in total tackles with 394.

Special Teams
K Cam Pedersen, North Dakota State
6-2, 199, Jr., Eau Claire (Wis.) Regis High
Pedersen’s 36-yard field goal in overtime lifted North Dakota State to a 27-24 win at Youngstown State.  It was Pedersen’s second career game-winning kick.  He also converted a 19-yard field goal at the end of the second quarter to tie the game 10-10 and converted 3 of 3 extra-point kicks.  Pedersen has converted his last six consecutive field goal attempts.

Newcomer
LB Jabril Cox, North Dakota State
6-3, 227, RFr., Kansas City (Mo.) Raytown South High
Cox had two solo sacks and made a key tackle for loss in overtime that set up a third-and-13 and led to a missed field goal in North Dakota State’s 27-24 victory at Youngstown State.  He tied a season-high with eight tackles and had six of those stops after replacing injured starter Chris Board.

OTHERS NOMINATED
Offense
QB Nathan Mays, Youngstown State — Mays ran for 81 yards and threw for 188 in the Penguins’ 27-24 overtime loss to North Dakota State. He rushed 21 times in the contest. He completed 11-of-15 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns.

RB Marcus Weymiller, UNI — Led the Panthers to a road upset of No. 7 South Dakota State on Saturday, after rushing for 170 yards on 42 carries and two touchdowns. Before Saturday’s game, Weymiller had not run the ball since Nov. 19, 2016 (also against SDSU).

QB Easton Stick, North Dakota State — Rushed 11 times for a career-high 172 yards and a touchdown in North Dakota State’s 27-24 overtime win at Youngstown State.  Stick’s career-long 80-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter gave NDSU its first lead of the game, 24-17.  He went 11 of 20 passing for 113 yards and two TDs, and he extended his streak to 149 pass attempts without an interception, passing the NDSU record of 143 set by Carson Wentz.

RB Steve McShane, Western Illinois — Recorded his fourth career 100-yard rushing game, totaling a season-high 143 yards on the ground on 23 carries (6.2 yards per carry). He also scored a 39-yard touchdown in Western Illinois’ 49-30 victory over Missouri State. The Freeport, Ill., native also caught two passes for two yards.

WR Malik Earl, Missouri State — Set a program record with his 14 receptions against the Leathernecks. Earl, who also rushed for a 30-yard touchdown to help stake the Bears to a halftime lead, finished his day with 145 receiving yards and moved up to sixth on MSU’s all-time receptions list (128).

Defense
LB Jabril Cox, North Dakota State — earned Newcomer of the Week honors

DL Colby Isbell, Missouri State — Had four total tackles at Western Illinois, including a pair of sacks. The Rogers, Ark., product made three stops for losses totaling 30 yards Saturday, in addition to forcing a fumble and breaking up a pass.

LB Jim Litrenta, South Dakota — Leader of a defense that limited Indiana State to two field goals and not much else. After totaling six points on two possessions, the Sycamores were limited to 94 yards on 37 plays the rest of the way. Litrenta finished with a game-high eight tackles and had one of nine USD tackles-for-loss. Indiana State ran 22 plays in the second half earned two first downs.

DT Donald Mesier, Youngstown State — Had seven tackles, including four solo stops in the Penguins’ 27-24 overtime loss to North Dakota State. He had a sack for a seven-yard loss in the game.

Special Teams
PR Craig James, Southern Illinois — Had two punt returns and both went for 30+ yards in SIU’s 42-7 win over No. 15 Illinois State on Saturday. James had a 33-yard return and a 30-yard return in the win, the longest two punt returns for SIU this year. His first punt return set up a short field for the offense, which took advantage with a 31-yard touchdown drive to give SIU a 21-0 lead at halftime. James also had an interception and two pass breakups in the win.

K/P JT Bohlken, Illinois State — Bohlken was home for the weekend, but got a call on Friday when regular ISU punter Zach Breen fell ill. Bohlken got in his car and traveled to Carbondale, Illinois, from his home in Jefferson City, Missouri, to serve as the team’s punter for the first time in his career at ISU. Despite the short notice, Bohlken rose to occasion punting seven times for an average of 44.6 yards per punt against the Salukis. He pinned SIU inside the 20 yard line once and booted a long punt of 56 yards to lead the way for the Redbirds on special teams.

KO Specialist Nathan Erickson, Western Illinois — Kicked off eight times, compiling six touchbacks and helping to hold all-conference returner Deion Holliman to just 25 total yards on his two returns, with a long of just 15. Erickson averaged 59.0 yards per kickoff (one kickoff came from the Missouri State 35-yard line, not the Western Illinois 35-yard line due to a pair of penalties).

 

by John Lock  siusalukis.com

https://www.rlc.edu/athletics/athletics-news/13388-2017-bball-preview

INA, IL –  Click on the link above for the full preview, schedule, and roster from Reece Rutland, Sports Information Director of Rend Lake College.  The text part of the preview is below.

In his first season since transiting from Rend Lake College assistant coach to head coach, Tommy Holder is anticipating the Warriors will be highly competitive in a very strong Great Rivers Athletic Conference and an even stronger NJCAA Region XXIV.

Holder has brought in a wide-array of fresh faces to give the team a new look and address some of the issues he observed with last year’s team.

“The first thing we addressed this year was something I felt like we lacked last year. I really wanted to see us elevate our point guard play. We have a few guys that can handle the ball for us this year; Trevyon Williams (Springfield), Jason Towers (Maywood) and Juwan Moore (Morrilton, Ark.). Then, we have one of our returning players, Kenny Berry (Granite City) that can handle the ball as well,” said Holder.

“I feel like they are all going to bring different things to the table, but they are all very capable ball handlers that will be able to adequately get us in our offense.”

In addition to new point guards, Holder has also brought in a recruitment class full of shooters to help spread the floor on the offensive side of the ball.

 

“Austin Swalls (Carterville), David Hunt (Chicago) and Jordan Doss (Chicago) are all pretty good shooters with size. This team has got a lot of length. We’ve got quite a few on the roster this year in that 6’6 to 6’8 range. There’s just a lot of versatility we have. I’m pretty excited about the group.”

Holder went on to say that he sees more spirit in this group. He described last year’s team as more reserved, and said he is looking for this team to have a stronger competitive fire on the court and at practice.

While the new head coach sees several improvements to the offense, the team is still built on a bedrock of defensive focus. He anticipates the team picking up opposing ball handlers further up the court than they did last year.

“The defense is going to feed our offense. But, we should be a lot of fun to watch. There are some really athletic players on the team this year. I know the fans like to see the dunks and things. There will probably be plenty of that. I just want to see productivity, and I anticipate getting that from this group,” he said.

In addition to taking over as head coach, Holder also serves as the academic adviser for all the RLC student athletes, and the position has afforded him the opportunity to be more active in visiting local high schools to see and support in-district programs at that level.

With community building in mind, Holder anticipates new initiatives to foster a stronger partnership between his roundball Warriors and the district.

“We want to actively get the community involved in what we do. I want each of our high schools to know that we would love to see them come watch a game at Waugh Gym. We invited many of the high school teams to come to campus over the summer and work out with us,” Holder said.

“We’d love to have people come out and support these young men. RLC is a great place to watch a game, and I think we are going to have a team people can be proud of this season.”

 

In addition to being Holder’s first season as head coach, he has also brought in a crop of new and talented assistant coaches to help maintain the team.

De’Marius Dabney was a coach who Holder had worked with in the past when they spent time coaching a summer club.
“What stands out to me about De’Marius is that he is mature beyond his age. He’s just got such a wealth of knowledge. He’s also very good with strength and conditioning, so that will help a lot going forward.”

Sam Ficker comes into the Warrior program with coaching experience at the college level. Ficker is bringing in a couple years of experience when he served for two years as a grad assistant at Lincoln University. Holder also said that he brought Ficker on because of his poise, something the often-fiery new head coach knows will help balance him out.

“There’s a lot of responsibility molding these young men. We want to be focused doing our best job of helping facilitate them both athletically and academically. When you have the ability to divvy things out to assistant coaches you trust, it becomes less strenuous and everyone gets the attention they and support that they need,” Holder explained.

The Warriors kick off their season with a home opener against Danville Area community College at 3 p.m. on Nov. 4.