Western Illinois, on the other hand, continues to struggle anywhere, especially at home. They made a late run, but Chicago State was too much for them, winning 87-73.
Centenary hung with Oakland the entire game, but as Doug Grunewald - owner of the most thankless job in the Mid-Con - said too often tonight, "Once AGAIN, the Gents DON'T rebound! Oakland gets to EVERY loose ball!" The Gents would get close, and then something would go wrong somewhere. In the final minutes, Oakland pulled away a bit to win, 88-76.
In the BracketBuster event, 2 Mid-Con teams took part. Valpo hosted Niagra of the MAAC, a team that only dressed 7 players (talk about short handed). Other than the obligatory "Valpo comes out very flat in the beginning of the 2nd half", Valpo took care of business. The Purple Eagles' Brown burned the nets for 30 points, but Valpo won 88-82.
Oral Roberts did not fair nearly as well in Missoula against the Montana Grizzlies of the Big Sky conference. They made a furious run to pull within 2 at the half, but pretty much fell apart in the 2nd half and lost, 88-74.
Men's Updated Standings after tonight's games:
Conf. Overall Remaining Conf. Games
School W L Pct W L Pct Home Away
IUPUI 13 1 0.929 18 7 0.729 CSU,SUU #1 seed
ORU 11 3 0.786 16 11 0.593 VU CC #2 seed
UMKC 9 5 0.643 12 13 0.480 VU WIU
Valpo 8 6 0.571 16 9 0.640 UMKC,ORU
SUU 7 7 0.500 9 18 0.333 OU,IUPUI
CSU 6 8 0.429 7 18 0.280 IUPUI,OU
Oakland 5 9 0.357 10 16 0.385 SUU,CSU
WIU 3 12 0.200 7 19 0.269 UMKC #8 seed
CC 2 13 0.133 4 22 0.154 ORU
The Westerwinds came out relaxed and shooting very well from the field. Really, the T-Birds had no chance. Maybe the new Leslie Crane relaxation program (still gotta see it to believe it) is paying off for the players. Western Illinois wins their 4th straight title and #1 seed, 80-55.
As against Oakland, VU struggled against Chicago State in the ARC this afternoon, but this time the Crusaders fought back from an 11-point deficit in the 2nd half to tie the score with 30 seconds to go in regulation, followed by stellar defense as the Cougars took the last shot, sent the game into overtime. VU took its first lead since the first half, scoring the opening basket of the overtime, but the lead changed back and forth throughout the overtime, ending with another tie forcing a second overtime. VU moved out to a 5 point lead, but Chicago STate almost erased that lead before Valpo finally put the game away, winning 75-67.
ORU broke their game open in the 2nd half at UMKC and won, 60-50. ORU seems to be one of those teams that does better on the road than at home.
The Oakland Lady Grizzlies are peaking just in time for the tournament. They might just make a lot of noise in Tulsa this year. They thoroughly handled the Ladies of Centenary - who remarkably enough are still not out of the urnning for the 8 seed - 78-53.
Women's Updated Standings after today's games:
Conf. Overall Remaining Conf. Games
School W L Pct W L Pct Home Away
1x WIU 12 2 0.857 20 4 0.833 CSU,UMKC
2. Valpo 9 4 0.667 15 9 0.625 IUPUI,UMKC,ORU
3. IUPUI 9 4 0.692 14 9 0.609 VU,CSU SUU
4. Oakland 8 5 0.615 11 13 0.458 ORU CSU,SUU
5. ORU 7 6 0.538 13 11 0.542 CC,VU OU
6. CSU 6 7 0.462 11 13 0.458 OU WIU,IUPUI
7. UMKC 5 8 0.385 7 17 0.292 SUU,VU WIU
8. SUU 2 11 0.153 9 15 0.375 IUPUI,OU UMKC
9. CC 2 13 0.133 3 23 0.115 ORU
The Westerwinds have clinched both the title and the #1 seed.
The #8 seed is between SUU and CC unless SUU ties with UMKC, in which case a win over IUPUI next Saturday would break the tie and give them the #7 seed, giving UMKC the #8 seed.
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