All Four Top Seeds Advance In Men's Basketball Tournament
CHICAGO --- Unlike the opening round of the women's tournament one day earlier, there were no surprises in quarterfinal-round action of the 2024 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament on Wednesday night with all four higher seeds winning.
The matchup between No. 4 Indiana University South Bend and No. 5 Saint Xavier University was the only close matchup between the four contests played with IUSB edging out the Cougars 76-74. Each of the other three contests were decided by no less than 13 points.
Top-seeded Roosevelt University scored an 80-58 victory over Judson University, No. 2 Indiana University Northwest got by University of St. Francis 78-65 and No. 3 seed Olivet Nazarene University outscored St. Ambrose University 104-77.
That sets up Friday's semifinal-round matchups with Roosevelt (25-3) hosting defending tournament champion Indiana South Bend (21-8) and Olivet Nazarene (22-7) heading to Indiana Northwest (19-10). Both contests are 7 pm tipoffs.
The winners advance to next Monday's championship game.
Recapping Wednesday:
Roosevelt 80, Judson 58
Roosevelt doubled-up on Judson in the first half, outscoring the Eagles 43-21 to cruise to the victory. The Lakers put four players in the double-figure scoring column topped by Sangolay Njie's 19 points off the bench. Forte Prater added another 16 markers for Roosevelt, which totaled seven blocked shots on the night. Judson, which shot just 27.9 percent from the field (19-of-68), was led by Kae Anderson's 11 points off the bench.
Indiana Northwest 78, St. Francis 65
Four of five starters scored in double figures for Indiana Northwest, which got all but eight of its points from its starting lineup. Trace Williams paced the group with 23 points. Te Jones led St. Francis with 21 points.
Olivet Nazarene 104, St. Ambrose 77
Olivet Nazarene hit the century mark for the seventh time this season with three Tigers totaling at least 20 points. Griffin Andricks led the effort with his 10-for-13 shooting mark en route to a game-high 25 points. Tyler Schmidt, meanwhile, supplied a double-double (21 points, 11 rebounds), while Sam Emich registered 22 points. As a team, ONU shot .683 from the field (41-of-60), .667 from three-point range (8-of-12) and only missed one free throw in 15 attempts. Will Spriggs led St. Ambrose with 21 points.
Indiana South Bend 76, Saint Xavier 74
Indiana South Bend survived Saint Xavier and its last-second, game-winning three-point attempt, not to mention red-hot shooting by the Cougars: .600 from the field (27-of-45) and .700 from three-point range (14-of-20). Indiana South Bend offset that by having five players score in double figures, while shooting 50 percent itself (26-of-52). The Titans were led by Micah Poole (18 points), Dejon Barney (17) and Jylen Petty (16). Andre Brandon (20 points) was tops for SXU, followed by Cedric Johnson with 19 and Trey Ward contributing 18 points off the bench. IUSB opened a 17-7 lead at the start. Saint Xavier took its first lead with 12 minutes remaining before 11 more lead changes ensued to end the contest.
The complete results and updated schedule follow:
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Game #1: No. 1 seed Roosevelt 80, No. 8 seed Judson 58
Game #2: No. 4 seed Indiana South Bend 76, No. 5 seed Saint Xavier 74
Game #3: No. 2 seed Indiana Northwest 78, No. 7 seed St. Francis 65
Game #4: No. 3 seed Olivet Nazarene 104, No. 6 seed St. Ambrose 77
Friday, March 1, 2024 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #5: No. 4 seed Indiana South Bend (21-8) at No. 1 seed Roosevelt (25-3) --- 7 pm CT
Game #6: No. 3 seed Olivet Nazarene (22-7) at No. 2 seed Indiana Northwest (19-10) --- 7 pm CT
Monday, March 4, 2024 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #7: Winner-Game #5 vs. Winner-Game #6 --- TBA