In a tale of two halves, CNU earns a Top 10 win
No. 9 Christopher Newport pulled out a big 59-54 win over No. 6 Johns Hopkins yesterday at the N.C. Wesleyan Tournament
We got a Top 10 matchup yesterday in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and it started in peculiar fashion. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find another Top 10 matchup within the last 5 seasons that had a more different first quarter and second quarter than what was witnessed in the start between No. 6 Johns Hopkins and No. 9 Christopher Newport. Seriously.
The opening quarter saw JHU race out to a 20-4 lead. It was 20-2 nine minutes in, as CNU struggled possession after possession. The Captains’ four total points came on two layups, and they were 2-for-18 from the field. Even their two free throw attempts in the quarter were off the mark. Everything seemed to go JHU’s way as the Blue Jays controlled the first 10 minutes of the anticipated Top 10 clash.
Then came the second quarter. And everything suddenly reversed course. CNU’s offensive surge came quickly and continued until halftime, with the Captains turning things around behind a 10-of-16 shooting performance. The 16-point deficit was cut to 14, then 12, then 11, then 9.
The overwhelming lead JHU held late in the first quarter began slipping away. By the 1:39 mark of the second quarter, it was completely gone, erased when Hannah Orloff’s layup knotted the score at 24 apiece. When Camille Malagar’s layup fell through the net with 47 seconds until the intermission, CNU gained a four-point lead, closing a 19-0 run. 19-0 runs don’t happen often in college basketball, period. Much less in a Top 10 matchup on a neutral court.
CNU led 28-26 at the half, setting the stage for a much more balanced second half. Truly a tale of two halves. Entering the fourth, it was 44-44….either team’s game in a contest that would significantly boost the resume for the winner. CNU scored the first four points, then JHU took the lead with a 5-0 run. The lead switched hands five times after the tie, with Malagar scoring at the 2:13 mark and putting the Captains in front for good. JHU was held scoreless for the final 3:34, as CNU came away with a win that initially seemed improbable in the game’s early minutes.
In terms of the impact of the win, it’s a huge one for the Captains, who hadn’t been tested in that way yet this season. They were forced to battle back from a sizable deficit in the first half, and go toe-to-toe with one of the nation’s top programs in a back-and-forth second half. They certainly answered the challenge, and I think that speaks to the poise and confidence of Bill Broderick’s team. CNU still has several challenges ahead before the end of December, notably playing at Southern Virginia on Dec. 4.
From a Top 25 voting perspective, I’m not sure this result changes a lot for me. I already had CNU higher than JHU in my preseason ballot, so that won’t change. And in terms of the actual result, it ended up being very competitive down the stretch, which I expected from two teams I already valued pretty highly. I certainly didn’t expect the first half to go how it did, though. For transparency’s sake, I was unable to watch the game live due to it being broadcasted on FloSports (I’m currently working on that, though, and will be able to watch the replay of yesterday’s game prior to next week when we vote again), so I can’t really comment on the schematic aspects of the game itself. But the stats ended up fairly balanced — JHU +2 reb margin, 18 TOs for JHU to 16 TOs for CNU, 14 fast break points for JHU and 12 for CNU — and it seems pretty clear that the gap between these two teams isn’t very wide.
Last note: credit to JHU for its performance at the free throw line….a perfect 13-of-13. You love to see that, as they earned every possible point they could from the charity stripe and over the last two games, the Blue Jays are 25-of-27 at the line. Impressive.
No. 17 Transylvania surges late in 59-40 win over No. 24 DePauw
» Head coach Hannah Varel earned her first win over a Top 25 opponent as Transy’s head coach. It also marked the Pioneers’ first home win of the season and their 29th consecutive victory at the Clive M. Beck Center, a streak that dates back to the beginning of the 2022-23 season.
» Sadie Wurth had 27 points for Transy in the win, setting a new career-high. She was the Pioneers’ lone double-digit scorer in the victory. Riley Flinn tallied 15 rebounds, just two shy of tying for the 11th-most in a single game in program history.
» Transy led by eight, 40-32, entering the fourth quarter, but DePauw pulled within three after a 6-0 run by the 7:50 mark. The Pioneers answered with five straight points at the FT line as part of a 13-0 spurt that all but sealed the victory.
30-point performances from Thayne, May, lift Cobleskill to OT win
» In the highest-scoring game of the day, SUNY-Cobleskill had not one, but two players finish with at least 30 points as the Fighting Tigers took down RPI, 92-88, in OT. Logan Thayne put up an exceptional 33-point, 14-rebound performance and Antonia May scored 30, highlighted by an 11-of-12 mark at the FT line.
» May gave Cobleskill its first lead of the overtime period, 83-82, on a free throw, and made four straight free throws in the final 21 seconds to ice the four-point win.
» Thayne is now averaging 27.3 PPG for the Fighting Tigers, who are 3-0. Her scoring average is currently tied for the ninth-best in Division III.
Chicago starts 4-0 for the third-straight season
» In a fairly high-profile matchup at the Midway Classic yesterday, Chicago’s defense showed up in a big way, holding Middlebury to just 41 points in a 66-41 victory. While neither team is nationally-ranked, both are very much in the national conversation, especially as both play in top-tier leagues (Chicago in the UAA and Middlebury in the NESCAC).
» Middlebury’s go-to scorer and Preseason All-American, Alexa Mustafaj, who had 29 points in the win over Millikin on Saturday, had just five points. That was a testament to Chicago’s defensive performance, as the Maroons challenged nearly every shot she took and really limited the overall effectiveness of the Middlebury offense. It marked Mustafaj’s lowest-scoring performance in her four season at Middlebury.
» Chicago also shot the ball well, going 21-of-51 (41.2%) from the field and 18-of-22 at the FT line (81.8%). Sophia North had 24 points to lead the Maroons.
Today’s Games to Watch (all times ET)
Centre at Asbury, 6:00 p.m. — It’s a very light slate tonight, but this is the one game that really stands out. Centre is playing really well, with a 4-0 record, but Asbury should be the toughest opponent they’ve faced up to this point, a 1-1 team whose lone loss is to Hanover, 77-73.
Linfield at Occidental, 10 p.m. — This one should be worth the watch as well. We haven’t seen Occidental against a D3 opponent yet, and Linfield is 2-0 with wins over Pomona-Pitzer and Chapman.