Back from its trip to Puerto Rico, the Benedictine University men's basketball team resumes Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play on Saturday. Benedictine will hosts the Marian University Sabres on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. at the Dan and Ada Rice Center.
Saturday's contest could prove to be significant in deciding the top seeds in the NACC Tournament in February, as both the Sabres and Eagles are near the top. Marian comes into the matchup in third place with a 5-1 NACC record, while BenU sits in fourth with a 4-2 record. Both teams have a 6-5 record overall and are chasing Aurora University (7-1) and Lakeland College (6-1) in the standings.
Benedictine returns home from a 1-1 trip in San Juan, Puerto Rico, defeating Wesley College 96-75 on Sunday and falling to Ramapo College 83-76 on Monday. Six different Eagles scored in double figures in the victory over Wesley, as the Eagles outscored the Wolverines 49-17 in the first half. On Monday, 21 points from
Tim McGinty and 18 from
John Dodson were not enough to overcome 26 Eagle turnovers and 30 Ramapo free throw attempts, 12 more than BenU.
McGinty scored a total of 43 points in the two games and now leads BenU with 12.9 points per game.
Tahron Harvey put together some impressive lines over the two games as well, tallying 29 points, 12 rebounds, and 13 assists.
Marian, last season's NACC Regular Season and Tournament champion, has dropped its last three contests after piecing together a six-game winning streak from November 22-December 13. The Sabres fell at home to conference-leading Aurora 65-62 on December 17 before dropping games in the state of Washington to Whitworth University (78-64) and Whitman College (103-71) on December 21 and 22. The Sabres have not played a game since returning from Washington.
Despite losing two starters and key sixth-man Jeff Harris from last season's NACC champions, the Sabres have managed to be in the conversation for another conference title. The success is in large part due to sophomore forward Josh Creed, as after coming off the bench in 2013-2014, the Brother Rice product has emerged as Marian's leading scorer (15.4 points per game, seventh in the NACC). Creed is the team's only player averaging double digits, as the Sabres are the conference's 10th-ranked scoring offense at 68.4 points per game. However, the team boasts the NACC's top scoring defense at 63.7 points allowed per game, with the Eagles next at 67.2.
The Sabres defeated the Eagles twice last season, winning 82-74 in Fon du Lac and 81-75 in Lisle. The Eagles cut a 20 point deficit down to two late in the second half in Wisconsin before Marian pulled away at the end, and 70% three-point shooting propelled the Sabres at Benedictine. Since the NACC was formed in 2006, the Eagles are 7-5 against the Sabres and are 6-2 at home in the series.
