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| Jackson Meshanic scored 24 points including the game-winning basket in Hobart’s win over No. 11 Rochester. File photo by Hobart athletics |
The last full day of Division III basketball before the Thanksgiving break brought upset wins by Nazareth, Rowan and Hobart on the men’s side and a victory for the Trinity women that could shape the future postseason picture.
Nazareth rallied past No. 5 Oswego State, 80-77, thanks to big games from Jonathan Park and Jaylen Savage. Park’s layup put the Golden Flyers in front of Oswego State 76-75 with 1:33 left in the second half and Savage followed that with two free throws that pushed the lead to three. After Cartier Bowman sank two free throws to pull the Lakers within one, Park responded with another layup to push Nazareth’s lead to the eventual final score. Full recap
Savage scored 24 points and Park had a double-double (16 points, 13 rebounds) for Nazareth (4-1). Jordan Haggard scored 20 points off the bench for the Golden Flyers, who had a 26-2 bench scoring advantage.
That wasn’t the only upset in Upstate New York as Hobart edged No. 11 Rochester, 73–72. The Statesmen held a 71-67 lead in the closing minutes until Ross Gang scored five straight points for Rochester. His three-point play briefly put the Yellowjackets in front, 72-71, but Jackson Meshanic answered with the game-winning layup for Hobart (4-2). Meshanic finished with 24 points and nine rebounds.
Opening night in the NJAC featured a rematch of last March’s conference title game. This time Rowan prevailed over Stockton, beating the ninth-ranked Ospreys, 109-98. Ja’Zere Noel scored 26 points and 14 rebounds for the Profs (2-2, 1-0 NJAC). Rowan’s win snaps a four-game losing streak to Stockton.
Griffin Barker scored 20 points and pulled down 22 rebounds, and Kean defeated William Paterson, 85-76. The Cougars started the season 6-0 for the second year in a row.
The Van Zelst twins’ showdown went Ryan’s way, with Penn State-Abington defeating Arcadia, 84-77. Ryan was named head coach of Penn State-Abington during the offseason and brother Adam is the head coach for Arcadia.
Ursinus opened conference play in the Centennial by beating Franklin and Marshall, 88-87. Omar Nichols’ three-point play briefly gave the Diplomats the lead with nine seconds left, but Trevor Wall immediately answered with the game-winning shot for the Bears. Wall scored 31 points and was a perfect 10-for-10 from the foul line for Ursinus (5-0).
Macalester stayed topped St. Mary’s (Minn.) 77-76 and kept its perfect record intact. Noah Shannon led four Scots in double figures with 17 points. Macalester is 5-0, 2-0 in the MIAC.
On the women’s side, No. 5 Trinity (Texas) topped No. 18 Hardin-Simmons, 76-69, in a matchup between two teams that could eventually appear in the NCAA’s regional rankings. After the teams battled to a 57-all tie, Trinity began to pull away midway through the fourth quarter. Ashlyn Milton hit a three-pointer that put the Tigers in front, 60-57, and then hit two more over the next three minutes. Trinity converted six of its eight free throw attempts in the final minute to secure the win.
Milton scored 17 points in 23 minutes before fouling out for Trinity (5-0). Paris Kiser paced Hardin-Simmons (3-1) with 16 points.
No. 13 UW-Eau Claire rebounded from its loss to top-ranked Hope with a 78-56 victory over St. Norbert. Jessie Ruden led all scorers with 26 points and Tyra Boettcher had a double-double (16 points, 13 rebounds) off the bench for the Blugolds, who won easily despite attempting just one free throw.
After two losses to Division I schools to start the season, New Jersey City opened NJAC play with a 66-48 win over Montclair State. Laney Fox led three Gothic Knights in double figures with 21 points. Nickie Carter had 29 points on 8 for 29 shooting for Montclair State, but the rest of the Redhawks had just eight combined field goals.
The first meeting between preseason favorites in the PAC was no contest, as Washington and Jefferson routed Westminster (Pa.), 75-37. The Presidents converted 24 Westminster turnovers into 36 points.
In the ARC, Loras, Luther and Wartburg won their conference openers by a combined 10 points. Luther edged Coe, 50-48, and Wartburg held off Dubuque in overtime, 78-72. Loras took care of Simpson, 45-41.