High School Basketball

New London earned their spot in the state tournament after taking down Marquette Catholic in the Class 1A Substate 4 championship game. In a packed gym at Solon High School, the crowd was entertained with a  fast-paced back-and-forth game that needed overtime to decide the 70-69 final. Blaise Porter would finish with a double-double scoring 27 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, while Kade Benjamin would also cash in 27 points for the Tigers. New London will take the 8th seed and go against the #1 seed Grand View Christian on March 6th at 10:30 am. Head Coach Bryant Porter says his team has embraced the underdog mentality.

The Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ team will take on North Linn on March 1st at 6:45 pm. KILJ will be on the call with pregame at 6:30 pm.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The women’s basketball team repeated as Continental Athletic Conference (CAC) Champions after taking down Haskell Indian Nations 64-59. Isabell West played a phenomenal game finishing with a double-double as she scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. In the game before, the Tigers would qualify for the NAIA National Tournament after defeating Arkansas Baptist College 75-49. Kyla Moore knocked down 5 three-pointers on her way to 23 points in the winning effort. Moore and West were both recognized as 1st Team All-Conference before the tournament. West would also take home Newcomer of the Year and Player of the Year. Breanna Wendland was named 2nd Team All-Conference and Brielle Baker was recognized as the Champion of Character for the Tigers. Head Coach Steve Williamson went back-to-back as he was named CAC Coach of the Year after leading the Tigers to an undefeated conference record and 20 wins in one season for the first time in 7 years. The NAIA National Tournament begins play on March 7th.

The 23rd-ranked men’s team accomplished two feats over the weekend. In a 53-49 win over Washington Adventist University, the Tigers qualified for the NAIA National tournament for the first time since 2011 as they were led by Henry Shannon’s and Gacoby Jones’ 17 points apiece. The win also guaranteed them a rematch with Florida College for the CAC championship. The rematch was just what the Tigers needed as they became Conference Champions for the first time since 2011 in a 70-66 win over the 14th ranked Falcons. Joey Brown IV drained 5 three-pointers in the win totaling 19 points with Hakeem Odunsi supplying 17 points off the bench. The team also earned 5 CAC honors as Henry Shannon earned 1st Team All-Conference. Gacoby Jones and Joey Brown IV each nabbed honorable mention All-Conference. First year head coach, Jordan Ashton, took home CAC Coach of the Year after leading them to #23 ranking on the year and a 24-2 regular season record. The National Tournament will begin on March 7th.

The women’s wrestling team had a strong conference championship showcase finishing in 2nd place behind Grand View University. Alaina Sunlin finished in 2nd place for the 101-pound weight class. Faith Cole and Mia Palumbo would square off against one another in the championship match for the 109-pound weight class where Palumbo would defeat Cole by an 8-1 decision. Destiny Campbell and JoAnna Vanderwood would face off against one another in the 3rd place match for the 130-pound weight class with Vanderwood coming up with the win by a 3-1 decision. Adaugo Nwachukwu would repeat as the 136-pound weight class conference champion as she took down Jade Martin by fall. Isabelle Hawley fell in the championship match for the 143-pound weight class to claim 2nd place. America Lopez would take home 3rd place in the 170-pound weight class. The 2023 NAIA Women’s Wrestling National Championship will take place on March 10th.

The men’s wrestling team will have Lane Scorpil represent the Tigers at the NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championship meet on March 3rd.

The Tigers Indoor Track and Field teams will be competing in the NAIA Indoor Track and Field national championship meet on March 2nd.

The Tiger baseball team dropped both games of their doubleheader against Kansas Wesleyan University over the weekend. In game one, the Tigers would lose 11-1 with their one run coming off a Holvin Catala solo home run. Game two had a similar result with Kansas Wesleyan taking it 11-2. Julian Figueroa and Sage Bonner each had an RBI in the contest. Yesterday, Iowa Wesleyan would give up 9 runs in the final two innings to lose 13-5 against Kansas Wesleyan. Riley Rankin would tally 2 RBIs in the game. The Tigers will have a doubleheader against Southeastern University on March 3rd with game one at 3 pm.

The Tiger softball team lost both games to Lyon College Saturday with game one’s final being 10-1. J Morthland hit a triple to tally the lone RBI in the game. Game two was much closer but Lyon College would walk it off in the bottom of the 7th to win 7-6. Kara Krieger and Karoline Stratton would notch 2 RBIs in the effort. The Tigers will face off against Stephens College tomorrow in a doubleheader with game one at 1 pm.

This Day in Sports History

1959 – Boston Celtic Bob Cousy sets a then-NBA record with 28 assists as the Boston Celtics score 173 points against Minneapolis Lakers.

1987 – NCAA cancels SMU’s entire 1987 football schedule for gross violations of NCAA rules regarding athletic corruption.

2007 – Mark Messier’s #11 jersey is retired by the Edmonton Oilers.

Solon, IA- Coach Kent Bennett always talks about how the substate game is the toughest matchup on a team’s journey to Des Moines and this Class 1A Substate 4 championship bout against New London and Marquette Catholic proved to be just that. The Tigers entered the game with an 18-6 record having been on the road for their last two playoff games, the championship game would make three in a row. On the other sideline, Marquette Catholic entered the game with a 23-3 record and had defeated their three playoff opponents by an average of 26 points per game. New London has embraced the underdog role,

“Our mentality has been no one gives us a shot anyway, so we’re playing with house money that’s what I tell them we’re playing with house money so you go all out and we lose everyone expected you to. If we win, then everybody’s getting a bit quiet. Our mentality is house money.”

The Tigers were playing with house money all night as they started the night fast and furious, but so did Marquette as both teams exchanged quick buckets and transition points to start the game off. Kade Benjamin ran the show for New London in the first quarter as he scored 10 of their 14 first quarter points. Evan Scott for Marquette would keep his team ahead at the end of the first quarter with a slim 16-14 lead.

The second quarter was an offensive show case as Benjamin and Scott continued their excellence as Benjamin finished with 15 points and Scott cashed in 13 points. Marquette had one of the largest leads of the game at 5 points in the middle of the quarter and that’s when Rylan Martin hit the two biggest shots of the first half by nailing back-to-back three pointers to get New London back into the game. However, Blaise Porter would foul Eli Scott of Marquette with no time left on the clock to give Scott three free throws with no time on the clock. Scott would make two out of the three free throws and give Marquette the 36-33 lead at the break.

Blaise Porter had a quiet first half, but he got things going in the second half and with a quick run the Tigers had a 5 point lead midway through the third quarter. Evan Scott and Caiden Kettmann managed to mitigate the run and tie the game at the end of three quarters at 53 apiece.

The fourth quarter was a defensive struggle as neither team could pull away or make a shot. It all culminated into a tie at 62 and with thirty seconds remaining each team would get their shot. Firstly, Porter would call for the isolation play and with ten seconds remaining he made his move towards the basket and faced a bit of contact, but with no foul call, the ball bouncing off the side of the rim, and Marquette collecting the rebound and calling a timeout with 7.8 seconds on the clock, they would get one more shot to win it. Marquette quickly moved down the court and gave the ball to the hot hand, Evan Scott, would drove down the lane and put up the runner with no avail; nevertheless, he ball would bounce back right to his hands where he would put up another shot as the buzzer rang out. The ball danced along the rim and ultimately fell out. The game was heading to overtime. After the game when asked about that play coach Porter had a simple answer,

“It worked out great for me and that’s all I got to say.”

Porter and Benjamin would keep up the work with Benjamin controlling the paint and Porter getting to the line and knocking down his free throws. The Tigers had a 70-67 lead with 10 seconds remaining in the game when Isaac Brinker made a lay-up to close the gap to 70-69. New London would inbounds the ball to Brenden Richey, which appeared to had won the Tigers the game. However, the referees determined he had been fouled with three-tenths of a second left in the game and with New London in the bonus Marquette was not out of the game. Richey would miss the free throw and with one last full court heave at the buzzer and gasp of breath the Tigers could now finally celebrate the one-point overtime victory. New London was heading back to the state tournament for the first time since 2017 and the second time in school history thanks to Benjamin’s 27 points and Porter’s 27 points.

“I’m just proud of those guys,” said Bryant Porter. “This year they said we are getting there no matter what and they held firm.”

New London grabbed the 8^th seed for the tournament pitting them against the #1 seed Grand View Christian, who’s looking to avenge their loss to North Linn in last year’s state championship game, on March 6^th at 10:30 am. KILJ will be covering New London’s journey through the tournament.