Benedictine University's men's basketball team is in the home stretch of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference schedule, as just three regular season contests remain. Two of those games will take place this week, as the Eagles host Dominican University on Tuesday night and travel to Lakeland College on Saturday night.
The Eagles currently hold second place in the NACC standings with a 14-8 overall and 12-5 conference record. With Benedictine's two wins this past week over Aurora University and Milwaukee School of Engineering, the Eagles and Aurora Spartans are now the only two teams in the conference with a chance at earning the NACC Tournament's top seed. Aurora currently occupies the top spot in the standings with a 14-4 record and has road games remaining at Concordia University Chicago (February 10) and Edgewood College (February 14) to round out the conference schedule.
Tuesday: vs. Dominican (2-20, 2-15), 7:00 p.m.
It has been a trying season for the Stars, who come into Tuesday night's matchup as the NACC's last-place team. Two seasons ago, Dominican was the third seed in the NACC Tournament and fell to eventual champion Aurora University by just four points in the tournament's semifinal round. Since, however, the Stars have compiled a 6-41 overall and 5-32 conference record, possessing one of the youngest rosters in the NACC with just one senior and one junior. The Stars have lost three straight matchups, as the team's last win came against Edgewood College at home on January 24.
The Eagles and Stars met in River Forest on January 15, with Benedictine prevailing 84-61. BenU outscored the Stars 48-26 in the first half and led by as many as 31 points in the contest, shooting a season-high 63% from the field.
Tahron Harvey led BenU in scoring with 16 points, while
Tim McGinty (14),
Adam Reynolds (12), and
Tim Reamer (11) all scored in double figures. Benedictine also shot 91.7% from the free throw line (22-for-24), the team's second-highest percentage on the season.
Saturday: at Lakeland (14-8, 10-7), 8:00 p.m.
The traditionally strong Lakeland Muskies find themselves in the thick of the NACC Tournament picture this season, currently sitting in a tie for fourth place in the conference standings. At 10-7 in NACC play, the Muskies are just 1.5 games behind Concordia-Wisconsin for third place, but are also tied with Edgewood and lead MSOE and Marian University (both 9-8) by just one game. Lakeland has a chance to finish as high as third place and host a First Round NACC Tournament matchup, but could also slip as far as seventh place by the time NACC play wraps up on Wednesday. With NACC Tournament qualifiers Marian, Benedictine, and Edgewood remaining on Lakeland's schedule, the Muskies may be the team to watch the last week and a half of the regular season.
One of BenU's five NACC losses this season came at the hands of Lakeland, as the Muskies won in the Dan and Ada Rice Center 64-61 back on December 13. The Muskies held BenU to just 37.9% shooting in the tight contest. Benedictine holds a 4-7 record against Lakeland since the conference was formed in 2006.
