Box Score Facing their toughest test of the season, the Madison College men's basketball team proved they can play with anybody in an 89-77 road loss against top-ranked Rock Valley College in Rockford, Illinois, Wednesday night. The setback drops the WolfPack to 7-10 overall and 1-2 in the North Central Community College Conference, while the Golden Eagles are now 19-0 on the year and 3-0 in the N4C.
The game opened with a 21-9 burst for Rock Valley before Madison College answered with a 12-0 run to tie the game midway through the first half. The Golden Eagles closed the half with an 11-4 scoring stretch to take a 50-39 lead at the break. The 'Pack hung tough thanks to a 6-for-12 shooting effort beyond the arc in the game's first 20 minutes. The three-point barrage continued in the second half as
Tyler Meier drilled back-to-back long range bombs to close within 62-59 with 11:10 to play. That's as close as Madison College would get as RVC pushed their lead to as much as 20 at 86-66 with 2:22 remaining.
Overall, the 'Pack hit 13-of-23 (56.5%) tries from distance, with
Ethan Lurquin (6-for-9), Meier (5-for-11), and
Kristian Zimmerman (2-for-3) hoisting all the three-point attempts. The Golden Eagles responded with a 12-for-30 effort of their own as both team were hitting shots all night. Madison College finished 28-of-55 (50.9%) overall, while the opposition buried 31-of-59 (52.5%) shots. Rock Valley also owned advantages in points off turnovers (20-13), second chance points (12-6), points in the paint (36-28), and bench points (32-22). Once again ball movement was paramount in the WolfPack's offensive success, tallying 16 assists on 28 made baskets; however, 17 turnovers would prove too much to overcome.
Ethan Lurquin established a new season-high in just his sixth game, scoring 25 points and grabbing seven rebounds. The forward from Poynette leads the team at 20.8 points per game and has surpassed 20 points in three of the last four games.
Tyler Meier scored all 15 of his points on shots outside the arc, and matched Lurquin for team honors with seven boards.
Kristian Zimmerman tallied 14 points, four rebounds, and four assists.
Cortez McCree rounded out the double-digit scoring with ten points.
Joel O'Donnell and
Markus Tobias were the only other players in the scoring column, netting seven and six points, respectively.
The challenging N4C slate continues Saturday, January 16 at Redsten Gym when #5 (NJCAA DII) Triton College (17-2, 3-0) comes to Madison. The Trojans have had the better of the WolfPack all-time, winning 11 straight games and all nine played in the capital city. Gametime is at 3:00 p.m.
