Posting Up - Scoreboard - Top 25 - Features - Notables - Team of the Week - Live Audio

Notebook

Greg Chandler's
Great Lakes Notebook
Posted Nov. 25, 1999

The first weekend of the Division III men's basketball season produced some surprising results in the Great Lakes Region, including losses by two of the Top 15 teams in the D3hoops.com preseason poll.

The Little Giants of Wabash came up huge in their own season-opening tournament, knocking off No. 10 Ohio Northern 65-51 in the championship game Sunday. Tournament MVP Brian Latham had 18 points and seven rebounds for Wabash, giving him 34 points and 19 boards for the weekend. Meanwhile, Latham's high school teammate, preseason All-American candidate Josh Estelle, fired in 22 more points.

How good was the Wabash defense? The Little Giants limited Ohio Northern to five points over the game's final nine minutes and harassed 1998 OAC player of the year Jeremy Thompson into a 4-for-17 shooting performance, holding him to 10 points.

Ohio Northern wasn't the only OAC powerhouse to stumble out of the gate. No. 14 John Carroll fell in its season opener, losing to the Philadelphia University of the Sciences 65-61 in the Dickinson Pizza Hut Classic. The Blue Streaks shot just 39 percent from the field in going down to defeat. John Carroll bounced back to defeat FDU-Madison 79-58 in the consolation contest.

The probable game of the weekend occurred Saturday in the finals of the Lee Pfund Classic at Wheaton (Ill.), where the Knights of Calvin topped the host Crusaders in the championship game 73-69 in overtime. Calvin, which came into the game ranked 22nd in the D3hoops.com preseason poll, got 24 points, 11 rebounds and six assists from freshman Jeremy Veenstra and 21 points and 14 boards from reigning MIAA MVP Aaron Winkle in toppling the 20th-ranked Crusaders. It was the 20th double-double of Winkle's career, and earned him both tournament MVP and MIAA player of the week honors.

Making a splash: Alma's Sean Dick and Aaron Kanitz made an instant impact in their first game for the Scots. Dick, a transfer from Henry Ford Community College in suburban Detroit, scored 31 points, including 5-of-7 from 3-point land, and grabbed nine rebounds Friday as Alma rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat to defeat Messiah 91-77 in a tournament at Mount St. Joseph College in Cincinnati. Kanitz, who transferred from Division II powerhouse California (Pa.) University, had 18 points in just 16 minutes off the bench. The Scots lost to MSJ in the championship game of the tournament 82-67, but Kanitz had 14 points and seven rebounds and Dick added 11 points.

Contact Us
About us
Feedback
Privacy Policy
Send Game Scores
Send Press Releases
Team of Week Nominations
User Survey