The 6th-ranked Benedictine men’s basketball team returned to action for the first time in 2015 on Saturday as they hosted their final non-con game of the season against Bethel College.

Benedictine (12-3) won their third straight as they earned a 71-63 win over Bethel (8-8) inside the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium.

The Ravens knocked in their first two 3-pointers of the game and never looked back Saturday as they led wire to wire against the Threshers.

Benedictine built as much as a 16-point lead before Bethel used an 11-3 run to close within six points before the Ravens took a 32-24 lead into the break.

The Ravens used a 20-9 start to the second half to pull ahead by 20 points and were able to extend their lead to as much as 21 before the Threshers started to heat up from the floor late in the game.

Benedictine converted on 12 of 16 from the charity stripe in the second half and finished the game at 70.8 percent.

The Ravens also controlled the glass, outrebounding the Threshers 45-29 which led to a 34-22 advantage in points in the paint.

Benedictine had a balanced scoring attack, led by the 14 points of Jonathan Anaekwe. John Harris Jr., was the only other Raven in double figure with 12 points but the Ravens got nine points each from Jake Schannuth and Jallen Messersmith.

Messersmith led the Ravens in rebounds with 10, which included four offensive rebounds. He also added two blocks defensively.

The Ravens return to Heart of America Athletic Conference play on Thursday as they travel to Baldwin City for a 7:30 p.m. game against Baker University.

— BC Sports Information —

HILLSBORO, Kan. – The Benedictine women’s basketball team returned to action on Friday afternoon with the first of two games at the Tabor College Holiday Classic as they took on Sterling College.

Benedictine (9-5) earned a six-point win and led Sterling (5-9) over the final 22 minutes of the game to earn a 68-62 win.

The Warriors used a 8-2 run to open up the game against the Ravens before Benedictine started to connect offensively.

By the midpoint of the first half, the Ravens had erased their deficit and pulled ahead, 13-12, off a 3-pointer from Jordan Closter.

The lead changed hands two more times while the two team played through one tie before Benedictine took a 28-23 lead into the halftime break.

In the second half, the Ravens connected on 53 percent from the floor while knocking in 4 of 9 from beyond the arc to lead the remainder of the game.

After pushing their lead to as much as eight points, the Ravens converted four straight free throws over the final 40 seconds to earn the win.

Benedictine went perfect from the charity stripe on the day, finishing with a 6-for-6 effort.

Jackie Ziesel led the Ravens with 17 points while Chayla Rutledge added 12 points.

The Ravens finished with a 24-15 advantage off the bench, anchored by Closter’s eight points.

Benedictine wraps up their trip to Hillsboro with a 5 p.m. match up against Tabor on Saturday.

— BC Sports Information —

A day after learning that he was named a 2014 AFCA-NAIA All-American, Benedictine football’s David Stochlin earned another top national honor on Wednesday.

Stochlin was named the 2014 NAIA Rimington Award recipient as he was recognized as the top center at the NAIA level.

The Rimington Trophy is presented annually to the Most Outstanding Center in NCAA Division I-A College Football. Since its inception, the Rimington Trophy has raised over $2.5 million for the cystic fibrosis community. The fifteen-year old award is overseen by the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for cystic fibrosis and has raised over $100 million for CF Research.

Tuesday, Stochlin became the 68th NAIA All-America selection in program history and today he becomes the second Raven to be honored as a Rimington Award Recipient.

He anchored an offensively line that averaged 425.3 total yards per game this season while rushing for 219 yards per game.

Former Raven Truman Ashby was named the 2007 recipient of the NAIA’s Rimington Trophy.

Dave Rimington, the award’s namesake, was a consensus first-team All-America center at the University of Nebraska in 1981 and 1982, during which time he became the John Outland Trophy’s only double winner as the nation’s finest college interior lineman.

Three years after the Boomer Esiason Foundation launched the Rimington Trophy for the outstanding NCAA Division I-A center, it expanded that honor to include Divisions I-AA, II, III, and the NAIA. In 2008, Division I-A was renamed “Football Bowl Subdivision” (FBS), and Division I-AA was renamed “Football Championship Subdivision” (FCS).

Recipients are selected by Jason Dannelly, founder and editor of Victory Sports Network, a leading authority on small college football. Dannelly works with a committee of experts across all smaller divisions to select the winners of the Rimington Award.

The annual Rimington Trophy Presentation will be held January 17, 2015, at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln, Nebraska.

— BC Sports Information —

Off to an 8-2 start, the Benedictine Men’s Basketball team moved to No. 6 this week when the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) released the first regular-season Div. I Men’s Basketball Top 25 Coaches’ Poll.

Benedictine moved down two spots into a tie with Talladega (Ala.) for the No. 6-spot with 198 points.

The Ravens are the highest-rated member of the Heart of America Athletic Conference in the first regular season poll.

Evangel University slipped from No. 20 to No. 24 while Culver-Stockton College fell from No. 24 to No. 25.

Heading into the final weeks of December, the Ravens are ranked fifth in scoring defense per game (59.2) and field goal percent defense (0.362). They are also ranked sixth in free throw percentage at 74.6 percent.

Individually, Jallen Messersmith ranks fourth in NAIA Div. I in blocks (25) and blocks per game (2.5).

The Ravens host NAIA Div. II York (Neb.) College at 7 p.m. Tuesday inside the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium.

— BC Sports Information —

The Benedictine men’s soccer team will start off their 2014 campaign ranked inside the top 15 as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) released the preseason NAIA Top 25 Coaches’ Poll on Tuesday.

Coming off a 11-4-3 campaign a season ago, the Ravens and head coach Rob Herringer earned 351 points in the preseason poll and will start the season off at No. 13 up one spot from their 2013 postseason ranking.

Benedictine is joined in the preseason poll by three other Heart of America Athletic Conference schools as Baker University is ranked No. 8, MNU is ranked No. 11 and Missouri Valley College is ranked No. 15.

Along with the three conference schools ranked in the preseason poll, several other 2014 Raven opponents were either ranked or listed in the others receiving votes category to start of the season.

Grand View (Iowa), who will join the Heart for the 2015 season, is ranked No. 12 and will travel to Atchison and the BC Soccer Complex for a non-con match on Sept. 27.

While Grand View is on the Ravens only non-con opponent to appear inside the Top 25, three more non-con opponents received votes.

Texas at Brownsville, the Ravens Aug. 30 opponent, received 40 points. McPherson College, the Ravens Aug. 28 opponent, received 19 points and Bellevue University, the Ravens Sept. 5 opponent, received 3 points.

The Ravens play three preseason scrimmages before traveling to McPherson to take on the Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m.

While the regular-season home opener is on Sept. 5 against Bellevue, the Ravens do host two of their three scrimmages on Friday against Iowa Western CC at 7 p.m. and the annual Fall Alumni Match at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Benedictine women’s soccer team will start off the 2014 season where they left off 2013 – as the lone ranked representative from the Heart of America Athletic Conference.

Benedictine, who is coming off a 11-6-2 campaign and the 2013 Heart Championship, will start off the season at No. 24 the exact ranking they appeared in the 2013 Postseason National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Top 25 Coaches’ Poll.

While the Ravens might be the lone ranked Heart school to start of the season, the Ravens non-con schedule has several schools who are ranked.

John Brown (Ark.) University, the Ravens Sept. 20 opponent, is ranked No. 22 and Hastings College, the Ravens Sept. 23 opponent, is ranked No. 23.

Missouri Valley College is the only other Heart school mentioned in the poll, listed in the others receiving votes category with 19 points. Additionally, the Ravens Sept. 16 opponent, Ottawa University, was also listed in the others receiving votes category with six points.

The Ravens open the season on the road Sunday with a trip to Fulton, Mo., to take on William Woods University at 6:30 p.m. They host and exhibition with Cowley College at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 25 before taking on Park University at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 2 in their regular-season home opener.

— BC Sports Information —

After adding a little levity to the room on Tuesday, addressing a room full of fellow coaches, administrators, NAIA staff and media, Benedictine football head coach Larry Wilcox took his turn at the podium at the annual Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) Football Media Day held at the NAIA Headquarters in downtown Kansas City.

“Two of my favorite things in life are going to the dentist and media day,” Coach Wilcox stated before getting into his thoughts on the upcoming season.

The Ravens were selected third by the HAAC coaches in the annual HAAC Coaches’ Poll with 65 points. The two programs Benedictine shared the 2013 title with, Missouri Valley College and Baker University, were selected first and second respectively. Missouri Valley garnered six of the 10 first place votes with Baker getting the remaining four.

“The nucleas of our offense is going to be our offensive line,” Wilcox said. “We lost a lot of starters so the offensive line will not only have to be the core of our offense but really our entire team.”

Back for the Ravens on the offensive line are four starters in David Stochlin, Hayden Smith, Rory Mount and Dom Carroli. All four earned All-HAAC honors in 2013 with Stochlin also earning an All-America nomination from the Beyond Sports Network.

Benedictine replaces NAIA All-America selection Cameron Fore at running back, along with three-year starting quarterback Bill Noonan, running back Kevon McGrew and fullback Brad Lorang.

“We’re still not sure who the pieces are going to be but when we do find that out, those guys up front better be prepared,” Wilcox said.

Hayden Smith joined Coach Wilcox at the podium to address the crowd and echoed the same thoughts on the importance of the offensive line being prepared.

“There is a lot of pressure on us,” Smith said. “We’ve got to focus on our fundementals every play. We’re only going to be as good of a team as we are on the offensive line so we’ve got to be prepared.”

Peru State College was selected fourth with 56 points followed by MNU in fifth and Evangel University in sixth. Central Methodist University was selected seventh, followed by Avila University, Culver-Stockton College and Graceland University.

This season will be the final season for a 10-team conference as William Penn and Grandview University are set to join the HAAC for the 2015 season. Grandview recently won the 2013 NAIA National Championship, a fact that Coach Wilcox was honest about.

“I’ll be honest,” Coach Wilcox said. “I’ve got mixed emotions about the expansion. It’s going to make things a little tougher and more difficult and like everything else, we’re preparing for that as a staff.”

Benedictine opens the 2014 season the road Aug. 30 against Briar Cliff University in Vermillion, South Dakota, at the Dakota Dome. They open their home schedule on Sept. 13 against Ottawa University in the final year of the KCAC-HAAC Series.

— BC Sports Information —

The latest chapter in the Benedictine-Baker University football rivalry will be showcased on the largest scale in the storied rivalry this season as the two schools will participate in the NAIA Gridiron Challenge at Arrowhead Stadium on Oct. 11.

The Ravens and Wildcats will kickoff at 7 p.m. as the second game of the Challenge doubleheader that also features a match up of MNU and Missouri Valley College at 3 p.m.

“This is a great opportunity to take the Baker-Benedictine game to an even higher level by playing this rivalry game at Arrowhead Stadium,” said Raven head coach Larry Wilcox.

In 2013, the Ravens and Wildcats squared off on O’Malley Field at Larry Wilcox Stadium with Benedictine earning a 42-28 win that started the Ravens run through HAAC play en route to the program’s sixth conference title under Coach Wilcox.

“We are absolutely thrilled to participate in the NAIA Gridiron Challenge,” said Theresa Yetmar, Director of Athletics at Baker. “It’s not often that you can find four Top 25 NAIA team competing in one venue, let along one with the storied and rich tradition of Arrowhead Stadium. This will be a unique opportunity for our student-athletes, coaches, and fans to showcase our institution and football program.”

Baker holds a 17-13-1 series lead over Benedictine in the annual match up between the long-time rivals.

Three of the four teams involved in the games shared the 2013 Heart of America Athletic Conference championship. Baker, Benedictine and Missouri Valley all finished with a record of 8-1 in league play last season, while each team qualified for the 2013 NAIA Football Championship Series. The four participating teams have combined to win or share a total of 38 conference championships and have totaled 46 NAIA postseason appearances.

Tickets for the game will go on sale on Tuesday, June 24 with Jackson County residents having the first opportunity starting at 10:00 a.m. Chiefs season ticket holders will be given access to tickets on Thursday, June 26 at 10:00 a.m.

Benedictine has been given an allotment of tickets for the game and those tickets will go on sale Thursday at Noon. If you would like to purchase your tickets through the Benedictine Athletics Office, please visit my.benedictine.edu/RavensAtArrowhead – the link for online ticket sales through Benedictine will appear at the top fo the page on Thursday. For more information on Benedictine ticket sales, please contact Kim Fry in the Athletic Office at 913.360.7564.

General admission tickets prior to the game can be purchased for $18 for adults and $8 for students with a valid I.D. or anyone under the age of 18. Tickets can be purchased at Arrowhead on the day of the games for $20 for adults and $10 for students with valid I.D. or anyone under the age of 18. Tickets for suites can also be purchased and are available through Kellen Begnoche of the Chiefs at (816) 920-4894. Parking will be $15 per cars and $25 for RV/bus parking. Tailgate information can be obtained by contacting Ashley Muffitt at (816) 920-4833 or amuffitt@chiefs.nfl.com.

Jackson County pre-sale tickets must be purchased in person at the Arrowhead Stadium Ticket Office. No phone orders will be accepted for this special pre-sale event on June 24. Jackson County taxpayers purchasing tickets must have one form of identification that includes a photo of the purchaser and a 2012 Jackson County, Mo., personal property tax receipt. Spouses residing at the same address will be allowed to purchase tickets, even if the property receipt is in their spouse’s name. The Chiefs will notify Season Ticket Holders via email prior to the sale with instructions on how to participate.

— BC Sports Information —