After a long layoff because of the holidays, the Benedictine University men's basketball team returns home this week. The team will play its second and third games of the 2014 calendar year by taking on two Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opponents: a home contest against Wisconsin Lutheran (Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m.) and a road game at Concordia-Wisconsin (Saturday at 2:00 p.m.).
BenU currently holds a 4-8 overall record and a 2-5 mark in NACC play. The team dropped its last game on Saturday to NACC foe Marian, falling 82-74 on the road. Marian led by as many as 16 in the second half, but the Eagles cut the lead to just one with just over six minutes left to play. However, BenU's offense would stall down the stretch, and Marian handed BenU its third straight conference defeat.
Despite the loss, the Eagles received an ironman-type effort from post player Tim McGinty, as the junior played all 40 minutes and scored a team-high 22 points. He now leads the Eagles in points (16.3) and rebounds (6.5) per game on the season. In addition, the holiday break appeared to help junior guard Michael Woolf, as the captain added 16 points after scoring just eight total points in BenU's two previous contests. Sophomore point guard John Dodson also played well, adding 10 points, five rebounds, and four assists in 25 minutes off the bench.
The Eagles sit tied for eighth in the conference with Wisconsin Lutheran (4-7, 2-5), which is exactly who the Eagles will face at the Dan and Ada Rice Center on Wednesday night. The top eight finishers in conference player qualify for the postseason tournament, so while there are still 11 NACC games left to be played aside from Wednesday night's contest, a win over the Warriors would give the Eagles the upper hand on that final tournament spot for the time being.
While both teams sit below .500, both the Eagles and Warriors have been right in almost every game this season. BenU's been outscored by just one point in NACC play this season (547-548), while Wisconsin Lutheran has been outscored by only five (515-520). Based on those numbers, it may not be that big of a surprise that the Warriors have defeated some of the conference's best teams (defeating third-place Lakeland 62-60) while also falling to teams near the bottom (falling to Dominican 74-71 on Saturday, Dominican's first overall win of the season).
Individually, the Warriors are led by sophomore guard Jake Jarnigo, who is tied for seventh in the NACC in scoring with BenU's Tim McGinty at 16.3 points per game. He also leads the Warriors in assists at 3.4 per contest. BenU and Wisconsin Lutheran split two meetings last year, with the Eagles winning 65-64 in Lisle on February 6. It was part of the Eagles' four-game winning streak at the end of last season to vault the team into the NACC Tournament.
On Saturday, the Eagles will head north to take on Concordia-Wisconsin (6-5, 4-3), who is currently tied with two other teams for fourth place in the conference. It will be the first NACC team Benedictine will see for the second time this season, as the Eagles bested the Falcons 99-94 back on December 7 in Lisle. It was the last time the Eagles won in conference play, as BenU has dropped contests to Lakeland, MSOE, and Marian since.
While the Eagles are scuffling as of late, Concordia-Wisconsin is playing well. The Falcons have won four straight contests overall and two straight conference competitions (Dominican, Rockford). What is even more impressive is all four of CUW's wins have come on the road, with the Falcons averaging 87 points per game in that span. Concordia-Wisconsin has not scored under 80 points since a 72-63 win over Edgewood on December 3. The match-up against Edgewood is also the last time the Falcons played at home, as Saturday's game against BenU will be the team's first home game in over a month.
Back on December 7, Benedictine defeated Concordia-Wisconsin behind a big game from McGinty, as the BenU big man scored 29 points and added 10 rebounds. Benedictine's freshman backcourt tandem of Tahron Harvey and Michael Blaszczyk combined for 38 points, nine rebounds, nine assists, and three steals in that game, and the Eagles shot a season-high 61.7% from the floor. CUW sophomore guard Bradley Prinsen (14.1 ppg) led the Falcons with 26 points.
