Men: Back with a bang

Feb 24, 2021
Anders Nelson went 10-for-16 from the floor for St. Thomas on Wednesday night. More photos from this game.
Photo by Caleb Williams, d3photography.com
 

It was a night for ending long layoffs as No. 1 Randolph-Macon shook off the rust easily against Bridgewater and No. 7 St. Thomas did the same in defeating its archrival, No. 5 St. John's, in Wednesday's NCAA Division III men's basketball action.

Who needs to play, really? The 22 days off didn't seem to have any impact on the top-ranked Yellow Jackets, as Randolph-Macon roared out to a 31-9 lead and cruised to a 99-68 win against Bridgewater. Josh Talbert scored a team-high 19 points, while Ian Robertson had 16, Buzz Anthony added 13, Anthony Woods scored 11 and David Funderburg finished with 10. The Yellow Jackets (6-0, 3-0 ODAC) made 12 of 25 from 3-point range and outrebounded Bridgewater (2-4, 2-3), 36-25.

Anders Nelson scored a game-high 23 points, Riley Miller added 15 and Parker Bjorklund added 14 as No. 7 St. Thomas defeated No. 5 St. John's 76-64 at UST. The game was the first for the Tommies (3-0, 2-0 MIAC) since a 90-61 rout at Concordia-Moorhead on Feb. 6, while St. John's had played just once in that span, a win against Gustavus Adolphus three days ago. St. Thomas led for the final 34:50 of the game. After a 3-pointer by Ryan Thissen hit a 3-pointer to cut the Tommies' lead to 24-22 at the 8-minute mark of the first half, Riley Miller hit a layup and Bjorklund followed with a dunk in traffic to push the lead back out. Bjorklund, who is a junior who walked on for the Tommies this season and had never attended a Tommie-Johnnie game, much less played in one, finished 5-for-5 from the floor. 

"I had an opportunity, I had an open lane, and I just went as much power as I could," Bjorklund said after the game. "And I can tell you that was definitely my best basketball highlight ever. Despite there being no fans, I've never been so amped up after a play."

Mitchell Plombon led the Johnnies with 19 on 8-for-11 shooting. Zach Hanson, limited to 28 minutes by foul trouble, was held to seven.

Heck, even Greenville, which hadn't played in 32 days, got back on the floor and picked up its first win of the season, defeating Webster 140-129 in the teams' SLIAC opener. Greenville started the season 0-7 against a steady diet of scholarship programs plus DePauw, currently ranked No. 15. Eight scorers reached double figures for the Panthers in the win, led by 24 from Phillip Curtis, who went 11-for-16 from the floor. Greenville went 14-for-40 from 3-point range and 16-for-18 from the line.

No. 6 Yeshiva shook off a slow first half and went on to defeat Merchant Marine 77-58. It was the Mariners' first game of the season and the win was Yeshiva's 33rd consecutive win -- the longest streak in years, although about a season behind Postdam's record 60 consecutive wins from 1985-86 into 1986-87. Ryan Turell scored a game-high 30 points and Gabriel Leifer scored 14 of his 20 in the second half after the teams went into the halftime locker room tied at 31. Leifer added 16 rebounds.

No. 14 UW-La Crosse landed the first blow in its two-game series with UW-Platteville, defeating the No. 10 Pioneers 65-57. The Eagles (6-1) broke a tie on a jumper by Wyatt Cook, taking a 57-55 lead, and held on the rest of the way. The Pioneers (5-2) missed their final five shots from the field. Seth Anderson matched his career high with 19 points, while Quentin Shields scored a game-high 25 for Platteville. 

Westminster (Pa.) and Washington & Jefferson remained tied in the loss column at the top of the Presidents' Athletic Conference, as the Titans defeated Geneva and W&J topped Bethany. The Titans got 20 points and 15 rebounds from Isaac Stamatiades in edging Geneva 79-78, dropping the Golden Tornadoes to 5-1. W&J led wire to wire in defeating the winless Bison by a 71-60 count.