Patrick Mollo, Staff Writer
Titan’s hoops reached 80 points for the tenth time this season, but fall short in an 85-83 nail biter against North Park on Saturday in Chicago.
With the loss to the Vikings, the Titans record drops to 17-7 overall and 9-4 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.
The Titans dominated the first half and at one point they opened the lead to nine points. The fault came in the second half, where the Titans allowed North Park to come into control the whole half. Turnovers seemed to be the hitch in the Titan offense with 11 total.
Junior guard Bryce Dolan led the team with a career-high 23 points, 21 of which were hit home from beyond the arc.
Dolan far surpassed his season average of 8.5 points per game with his three-point eruption in a vital CCIW matchup. His effort turned out to be in vain.
The other go-to guard from three-point land is Jordan Nelson. Nelson and Dolan hitting threes is imperative to the success of the Titans. 153 of Nelson’s points this season have come from three-pointers.
“Sometimes we live and die by the three, but when Jordan and I are feeling good with our shots, we are a hard team to defend” said Dolan.
Senior guards Dylan Overstreet and Pat Sodemann went to the line a total of eight times combined, going 4-4 and 3-4 respectively. The importance of high percentages from the charity strike is something Coach Ron Rose emphasizes on the players every year.
“We’re such a good free-throw shooting team, that if each guy could get to the line a couple more times a game, those are just easy buckets the opponent is giving us. That’s when we’re a dangerous team” said first-year Kevin Connelly.
Both free throws and three-point scoring proved to be a bright spot for the Titans not only against North Park, but the whole season. Although the Titans did not pull off a win against the Vikings of North Park on Saturday, there certainly is a silver lining.
With the postseason right around the corner, the Titans have made the strides that they needed to get the post season going on the right foot.
They have shown to be a good three-point-shooting team, they make shots from the charity stripe and they have proven able to bounce back from losses. They haven’t lost more than two games in a row all season.
“The game didn’t turn out how we had liked but we are heading right in the perfect direction to make an exciting run” said Connelly.
The Titans will play their first game in the CCIW Tournament the weekend of Friday the 27 at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. The Titans will play Elmhurst College in the CCIW Semi-Final.
Fortunately for the Titans, they have played well on the road at Augustana, beating them 89-84 on Jan. 21 in Rock Island. Seeing that the Titans play crisp basketball that Ron Rose emphasizes, all signs point north for Titans to excel in the post season.
The Titans will close their regular season on Wednesday, Feb. 21 in Bloomington against Elmhurst College.
Key Ballers:
Dylan Overstreet- 26.5 MPG, 11.4 PPG, 4.4 APG
Pat Sodemann- 20.8 MPG, 8.3 PPG, 2.0 APG
Jordan Nelson- 22.9 MPG, 10.8 PPG, 4.3 3FG%
Bryce Dolan- 21.1 MPG, 8.5 PPG, 2.5 APG,
Mike Marietti- 17.6 MPG, 7.3 PPG, 1.5 BPG, 4 RPG