College – Page 461 – St. Joseph Post Archive

Pitt State & Northwest earn NCAA Division II Football Playoff bids

Posted on November 16, 2014November 16, 2014

Pittsburg State and Northwest Missouri have both earned spots in the NCAA Division II Football Championship announced on Sunday.

Pittsburg State will face off with Harding at 1 p.m. in the opening round on Nov. 22 from Pittsburg, Kan. Northwest Missouri will go on the road to Minnesota Duluth where they will face off with the Bulldogs on Nov. 22 from Duluth, Minn. at a time to be announced later.

The Pittsburg State/Harding winner will face off with second seed Minnesota State and the Northwest Missouri/Duluth winner will travel to Ouachita Baptist in the second round.

Super Region 3 Field
1. Ouachita Baptist (Bye)
2. Minnesota State (Bye)
3. Pittsburg State
4. Minnesota Duluth
5. Northwest Missouri
6. Harding

— MIAA Press Release —

No. 21 Huskers open season with easy win over Northern Kentucky

Posted on November 16, 2014November 16, 2014

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s Terran Petteway missed everything with an ill-advised shot from the wing but, thanks to an errant outlet pass, the ball ended up right back in his hands.

With no hesitation he launched a 3-pointer that swished through the hoop and left coach Tim Miles shaking his head. Assistant coach Chris Harriman remarked to Miles, “Well, he doesn’t lack confidence.”

No, he sure doesn’t.

Petteway scored 25 points, making six 3s, to lead the 21st-ranked Cornhuskers to an 80-61 victory over Northern Kentucky on Sunday.

Petteway took nearly twice as many shots as any of his teammates, making 7 of 15. That bad shot-good shot sequence in the second half summed up his afternoon.

“You take a bad shot like that and get the ball right back? That’s a good day,” he said.

Shavon Shields had 11 of his 18 points in the second half and made all 10 of his free throws. David Rivers added 12 points.

Freshman Tayler Persons led the Norse with 13 points. Anthony Monaco, averaging 2.5 points in 51 career games, matched his career high with 12, all on 3-pointers.

The Atlantic Sun’s Northern Kentucky (0-2) lost its opener 62-31 at third-ranked Wisconsin on Friday and was outscored by a combined 50 points by the Big Ten opponents.

“Those two teams are both real good, but they’re really different,” Norse coach Dave Bezold said. “Wisconsin, they want to slow you down with defense. You’re playing and you think you’re close and you look up and you’re down by 20 points.

“Nebraska, they get after you. They’re quick off the ball, they come at you hard on both ends. They’ve got guys that are skilled and they don’t quit. They hit us in bunches, and when they got going, they’re hard to deal with.”

Nebraska, ranked for the first time since January 1995, trailed by six points in the first four minutes. The Huskers used a 25-7 run to take a double-digit lead that grew to 22 in the second half.

—

TIP-INS

Nebraska: The Huskers have won 14 straight openers and 21 of their past 23. Petteway’s first dunk came on a fast-break alley-oop pass from Benny Parker late in the first half. Nebraska held a 22-6 advantage in points off turnovers.

Northern Kentucky: The Norse scored 30 points in the first half, one fewer than their program record-low game total against Wisconsin. They outrebounded Nebraska 36-33, including 15-6 on the offensive end. The Norse were 11 of 21 on free throws after going 1 of 5 from the line against Wisconsin.

FINE FRESHMAN

Nebraska freshman point guard Tarin Smith was impressive in his debut. He played 16 minutes off the bench, scoring six points and making a nice pass to Petteway on the wing for a 3-pointer. “He’s fitting in pretty good,” Petteway said. “He got a lot of minutes today, which is going to help him build his confidence for these games we’ve got coming up. I’m excited to see him in the rotation a little bit more.”

UP NEXT

Nebraska hosts Central Arkansas on Tuesday.

Northern Kentucky hosts North Carolina A&T on Wednesday.

— Associated Press —

Three MIAA volleyball teams qualify for NCAA Tournament

Posted on November 16, 2014November 16, 2014

Three MIAA squads will make their way to the NCAA Division II Central Volleyball Regional hosted by Minnesota Duluth beginning next week.

Central Missouri is the highest seeded MIAA team earning the fourth spot and facing fifth seed Wayne State in the opening round. Nebraska-Kearney, who was league co-champion with UCM, will be the sixth seed and face third seed Southwest Minnesota State.

Washburn has earned the seventh seed and will face off with defending National Champion Concordia St. Paul to open the tournament.

All first round games will be played on Thursday, Nov. 20 from Romano Gymnasium in Duluth, Minn.

Central Regional First Round Match-Ups
1. Minnesota Duluth
8. Arkansas Tech

5. Wayne State (Neb.)
4. Central Missouri

2. Concordia St. Paul
7. Washburn

6. Nebraska-Kearney
3. Southwest Minnesota State

— MIAA Press Release —

Griffons rally at Missouri Southern to win final game of 2014

Posted on November 15, 2014

The Missouri Western football team put an exclamation point on the 2014 season with a 22-21 come from behind win at Missouri Southern on Saturday.

Trailing 16-7 in the fourth quarter, Missouri Southern scored two touchdowns in two minutes to take their first lead since the first quarter, 21-16.

Missouri Western took the lead back on a 10-play, 91-yard drive capped off by a 14-yard touchdown reception by Daylon Harper. With 1:49 left, the Griffon defense stopped the Lions short on a fourth and four from the Missouri Western 42 when senior linebacker Stephen Juergens drug the Southern ball carrier down at the line of scrimmage.

It was the first time Missouri Western overcame a fourth quarter deficit since the opening game of the season at home against Central Missouri.

Missouri Western gave the Lions a dose of their own medicine, controlling time of possession, by 13 minutes. Aiding the team in that statistic were two second half scoring drives over 90 yards.

Missouri Western outgained Missouri Southern 390 yards to 277 and held the MIAA’s top rushing team to just 160 yards on the ground.

Skyler Windmiller finished 15-29 for 222 yards passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Raphael Spencer rushed 31 times for 145 yards and one TD to move into third on the all-time rushing list at Missouri Western.

Juergens led the defense once again with 13 tackles, three tackles for loss and one sack. Yomi Alli added 11 tackles.

The win capped off Griffon Football’s 12th straight winning season in the MIAA as Missouri Western finished the 2014 season 7-4.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Mizzou hangs on to win at No. 24 Texas A&M 34-27

Posted on November 15, 2014November 15, 2014

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Russell Hansbrough ran for a career-high 199 yards and two touchdowns to help Missouri to a 34-27 win over Texas A&M on Saturday night.

Missouri (8-2, 5-1 SEC) scored 28 points in the third quarter to erase a seven-point halftime deficit and take a 34-20 lead.

The Aggies got within a touchdown early in the fourth quarter and had a chance to tie it with less than three minutes remaining, but lost a yard on fourth down from the Missouri 1.

The Tigers then ran out the clock to secure their fourth straight win and remain in first place in the SEC East.

Hansbrough ran for touchdowns of 49 and 45 yards in his fifth career 100-yard game in front of a crowd of more than 100,000 which included former President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara.

Kyle Allen threw for 237 yards with three touchdowns and an interception for Texas A&M (7-4, 3-4).

He tossed a 4-yard pass over the head of safety Duron Singleton to Malcome Kennedy for a touchdown to cut Missouri’s lead to 34-27 early in the fourth quarter.

Andrew Baggett’s 49-yard field-goal attempt bounced off the right upright, giving the Aggies the ball back with 5 1/2 minutes remaining, but they came away empty after the fourth-down stop.

Missouri’s Shane Ray had a sack to give him 13 this season, extending his school record. Maty Mauk threw for 252 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

The Tigers tied it at 13-13 when Mauk found Darius White in the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown reception early in the third quarter.

A&M responded quickly with Allen finding Josh Reynolds for a 56-yard touchdown catch three plays later to put the Aggies back up 20-13. The score gave Reynolds 12 touchdown receptions this season to tie a school record. He finished with five receptions for 125 yards.

Hansbrough knotted the score once again when he burst up the middle 49 yards for a touchdown less than two minutes later.

Missouri forced a punt and Hansbrough did it again on the next drive, this time evading three tacklers on his way to a 45-yard touchdown run to make it 27-20. A 16-yard touchdown run by freshman Ish Witter pushed the lead to 34-20 with about a minute left in the quarter.

Texas A&M’s defense gave up 587 yards playing without linemen Myles Garrett and Ivan Robinson who missed the game with injuries.

Josh Reynolds grabbed a short pass from Allen, slipped from one defender and flipped over another and into the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown to give A&M a 10-3 lead about 10 minutes before halftime.

That score came after the Aggies got a fresh set of downs when Missouri was penalized for roughing the punter.

Bud Sasser had a 2-yard touchdown catch wiped out when he was called for pass interference and the Tigers settled for a 35-yard field goal to cut the lead to 10-6. Sasser finished with 83 yards receiving.

The Tigers were driving late in the second quarter when Armani Watts intercepted a pass and returned it 36 yards. Reynolds had a 32-yard reception to set up a 31-yard field goal to leave A&M up 13-6 at halftime.

— Associated Press —

MWSU women let eight-point lead slip away in loss at Quincy

Posted on November 15, 2014November 15, 2014

LaQuinta Jefferson and the rest of the Missouri Western women’s basketball team made the last two minutes interesting Saturday night at Quincy, but the Griffons came up short against the Hawks, 77-70, in the QU Subway Tip-Off Classic.

With 2:39 left in the game, Quincy led by 11, but a 7-0 run by the Griffons brought them within four. Jefferson scored eight straight points, including two straight three pointers to keep the Quincy lead at four with :43 seconds left.

Jefferson’s fifth foul sent the Lady Hawks to the line as they made both free throws, stretched the lead back to six and never looked back. The Griffons held their largest lead of the game — eight points — with 14:37 left in the game but Quincy used a 13-3 run to go back on top with 9:26 left and never trailed again.

Jefferson finished with 24 points and was 7-11 from the field. Missouri Western shot 40 percent from the field, 39 percent from behind the arch and 71 percent from the charity stripe. They pulled down 41 rebounds to Quincy’s 43. The Lady Hawks scored 18 second chance points to the Griffons eight. Sarafina Handy was the only other Griffon in double figures, scoring 15 points.

The Griffons bring their 1-1 record back to St. Joseph next week when the open at home against Rockhurst on Thursday.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Northwest men defeat Upper Iowa for first win of season

Posted on November 15, 2014November 15, 2014

Northwest Missouri State kept its composure and relied on teamwork to withstand the barrage of three-pointers unleashed by Upper Iowa midway through the second half.

The Peacocks, who were ice cold in the first half on three-pointers, started knocking down one trey after another. They closed to six points.

Undaunted, Northwest stayed with its offense. The Bearcats made a few three-pointers, scored a few more field goals inside the arc and stayed aggressive and that led to free throws.

The lead grew back to double digits and ended with Northwest capturing its first victory of the season, beating the Peacocks 91-83 Saturday evening at Bearcat Arena.

“It is definitely a relief to get the first win,” said sophomore forward Zach Schneider. “We had a shot at it last night. We didn’t pull it out.

“Our guards did a really good job of getting everyone open looks. Tonight we knocked them done a lot better and that was good.”

Northwest, 1-1, returns to action at 5 p.m. on Friday against William Jewell at Missouri Western.

Northwest appeared in complete control when Grant Cozad made a field goal, giving the Bearcats a 65-50 lead with 8:47 left.

“I thought defensively we executed, especially early in the game,” Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. “Offensively, the first half we were a little rough, missing layups and missing wide-open threes. I think that is more of an inexperienced thing than anything else. We are starting to gain some experience and confidence. We are a work in progress.”

Northwest showed they can handle a run late in the second half.

Back-to-back treys by Upper Iowa sliced Northwest’s lead to 65-56. After a basket by Cozad, the Peacocks made another three-pointer. Upper Iowa closed to 70-64 on another three-pointer.

“I feel like they hit seven or eight in a row there,” Schneider said. “We made a few mistakes. We didn’t get out their shooters. But we built enough of a lead that we could afford to make a few mistakes.”

Northwest junior Conner Crooker hit a three-pointer, putting the Bearcats up nine at 73-64, and Upper Iowa quickly answered with a three-pointer.

The Bearcats finally regained control when Matt Wallace drilled a three-pointer and followed that several seconds later with two free throws that gave Northwest a 78-67 lead.

The Peacocks never threatened again.

“I thought we responded well, especially for a young team,” McCollum said. “Throughout the game we didn’t respond as well as I would like. If we missed a layup, we were frustrated all the way down to the other end rather than turn around and figure it out and get the stop.”

Offensively, it was a team effort for Northwest. Led by 20 from Crooker, all five starters scored in double figures. Schneider tied his career-high with 19, freshman point guard Justin Pitts scored 16, Wallace had 12 and Cozad finished with 11.

Northwest went into halftime with a 40-33 lead because of one statistic. The Bearcats went 6-for-12 from behind the three-point arc while Upper Iowa hit just one of its 12 three-point attempts.

It was near the end of the first half that Northwest found its form on the long-range shots. A three-pointer by Crooker gave the Bearcats a 29-28 lead.

Schneider, who was 4-for-7 on three-points in the opening 20 minutes, solidified Northwest’s lead with a three-pointer that made it 32-28.

“I think our jitters carried over a little from last night,” Schneider said. “Once we got settled in, we are pretty tough to stop, especially with Pitts. He is pretty quick. He finds everyone who is open.”

Northwest concluded the first half with Schneider and Crooker each making a three-pointer.

Freshman forward Brett Dougherty came off the bench and provided a spark inside the paint during the midway point in the first when Northwest was struggling on offense.

Dougherty made three buckets in the paint and added a free throw for seven points in only 8 minutes of action.

— Northwest Sports Information —

Kansas comes up short in upset bid against No. 4 TCU

Posted on November 15, 2014November 15, 2014

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — TCU coach Gary Patterson spent most of Saturday watching every bounce, blooper and bizarre play go against his team on a frigid afternoon at Kansas.

In the end, the Horned Frogs (No. 4 CFP, No. 5 AP) did just enough to turn back a spirited upset bid by the Jayhawks and remain in contention for the inaugural College Football Playoff.

“A lot of people would have lost that ballgame,” Patterson said after the 34-30 win. “There wasn’t any style points here other than the fact that we fought back and won the game.”

Aaron Green ran for 128 yards and two touchdowns, and Cameron Echols-Luper returned a punt 69 yards for another score to pace the comeback from a 27-17 third-quarter deficit. Trevone Boykin added 330 yards passing and a touchdown as TCU (9-1, 6-1 Big 12) avoided what would have been a catastrophic blow to its national title hopes.

The Horned Frogs won their fifth straight, even without top running back B.J. Catalon. And with a trip to Texas followed by a home game against lowly Iowa State, they may have the easiest road standing between them and the four-team playoff for the national title.

Still, even after Chris Hackett’s interception with 3:26 left sealed the victory, the underwhelming performance could cost TCU its spot in the playoff committee’s top four.

“We’re not too worried about it,” Boykin said. “It’s not up to us. It’s up to the committee.”

Michael Cummings had 332 yards and two touchdowns passing for the Jayhawks (3-7, 1-6), who were trying for their first regular-season win over a top-5 team since beating Colorado in 1995. Jimmay Mundine had 137 yards receiving and a touchdown, and Nigel King had 128 yards and a score as the Jayhawks nearly gave a sparse crowd of about 10,000 fans a reason to celebrate.

Still, Kansas made another strong statement in support of interim coach Clint Bowen, who has steadied the program after Charlie Weis was fired and become a strong pick for the full-time job.

“We were a play or two away from probably a better day,” Bowen said.

TCU did what most expected on the game’s opening drive, going 67 yards in just over 2 minutes for a touchdown. But after that, nothing went as expected for quite some time.

After holding Kansas, TCU was flagged for roughing the punter. Later in the drive, the Jayhawks attempted a field goal and holder T.J. Millweard dropped the snap, scrambled to his left and threw a pass for a first down instead. Then, a TCU player batted a third-down pass and it was caught by the Jayhawks’ Nick Harwell for another first down.

Finally, Corey Avery capped the bizarre 17-play drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.

“We didn’t get a lot of breaks,” Hackett said with a smile.

Kansas held on fourth-and-1 at its 11 to get the ball back, and the Jayhawks promptly headed 89 yards the other way, with Mundine hauling in a 13-yard touchdown pass to give Kansas the lead.

By that point, the few thousand fans in Memorial Stadium were awaking from stunned silence.

Not everything went perfectly for Kansas. A 22-yard interception return for a TD was wiped away by an illegal substitution penalty, and a 16-yard pass into the red zone for a first down was taken away by a review that showed the ball had skipped off the turf. The Jayhawks wound up punting.

Still, they headed into the locker room with a 13-10 lead.

Kansas pushed the lead to 20-10 with an 82-yard drive to start the second half, and the Horned Frogs answered with a 72-yard drive that Green capped with a short touchdown run.

That set up one of the game’s highlights: Cummings threw a pass to King down the sideline, and the big wide receiver caught the ball after three bobbles and ran 78 yards for the score.

There was still plenty of time, and the Horned Frogs showed plenty of poise.

After a quick drive downfield, Green’s 24-yard touchdown run pulled TCU to 27-24. And after the Horned Frogs’ defense forced a punt, Echols-Luper sliced through the coverage for his big return that gave them their first lead since the game’s opening minutes.

TCU held on through a tense fourth quarter to avoid the upset bid.

“We knew it was going to be tough,” Boykin said. “Everybody is going to be out for us because we’re one of the teams at the top right now.”

— Associated Press —

No. 16 Nebraska gets run over by Gordon, Wisconsin

Posted on November 15, 2014November 15, 2014

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Melvin Gordon had one magnificent day.

Wisconsin’s star running back rushed for a major college-record 408 yards and four touchdowns, and the Badgers (No. 20 CFP, No. 22 AP) overcame three early turnovers to take control of the Big Ten West division with a 59-24 win Saturday over Nebraska (No. 16 CFP, No 11 AP).

Gordon eclipsed the single-game mark held since 1999 by TCU’s LaDainian Tomlinson by 2 yards, setting the new standard on a 26-yard touchdown run on the final play of the third quarter and his last carry of the game.

“Yeah, I didn’t even know I was close to the record,” Gordon said. “I was kind of just running away.”

Outdueling Nebraska’s Ameer Abdullah in a matchup of star running backs, Gordon had two fumbles before helping the Badgers (8-2, 5-1) roar past the Cornhuskers (8-2, 4-2) with 49 straight points.

The star junior torched what had been a staunch Nebraska defense on 25 carries and delivered an emphatic statement in the Heisman Trophy race.

Abdullah finished with 69 yards on 18 attempts.

The game had been billed in part as a footrace between Gordon and Abdullah for Heisman votes.

It ended up being Gordon by a landslide.

Gordon’s most entertaining carry might have been the 62-yarder down the sideline, completed after hurdling over lunging safety Corey Cooper around the 35 to get into the clear.

Gordon never played a down in the fourth quarter with his team leading by five scores. About the most action he got was when he danced on the field in the snow with his teammates while the song “Jump Around” echoed through the stadium, a Wisconsin tradition before the fourth quarter.

“Melvin Gordon! Melvin Gordon,” the crowd roared in the second half.

The single-game rushing record had stood since Nov. 20, 1999, when Tomlinson had 406 for TCU against UTEP.

As a comparison, Wake Forest has played 10 games this season and has rushed 317 times for 341 yards.

The all-time NCAA Division I record is 437 yards, which was set by North Carolina A&T’s Maurice Hicks in 2001 against Morgan State.

The NCAA all-division record is 441 yards by Marietta’s Dante Brown against Baldwin Wallace in 1996.

Gordon thanked his coaches for sticking with him after his two fumbles.

“It’s a luxury that I’ve never had before as a coach,” Wisconsin’s Gary Andersen said. “To see a performance like that was amazing.”

It was hard to believe that Nebraska actually led 17-3 with 14:12 left in the second quarter on quarterback Tommy Armstrong’s 5-yard touchdown run. The Cornhuskers’ early scores came on short fields because of Wisconsin turnovers.

Nebraska fell apart from there. Gordon powered the offense, while the Wisconsin defense applied nonstop pressure.

The win, coupled with Minnesota’s 31-24 loss earlier Saturday to Ohio State, gave the Badgers’ sole possession of first place in the West.

Wisconsin finally surged ahead 24-17 on Saturday night on Joel Stave’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Sam Arneson with 3:31 left the second quarter.

The rushing attack then left the Cornhuskers in the dust. Gordon scored three times in the third quarter, while dual-threat quarterback Tanner McEvoy, who alternated with Stave, added an 11-yard touchdown run.

It was 52-17 by the start of the fourth, with backups littering both lineups the rest of the way.

Armstrong finished with 17 yards on 20 carries, but was just 6-of-18 passing for 62 yards with an interception. He connected with Kenny Bell for a 12-yard touchdown pass early in the first quarter.

But what had been a promising start for Nebraska turned into an embarrassing loss in the snow.

Gordon stole the show.

— Associated Press —

Missouri Western women defeat Robert Morris by 61 in season opener

Posted on November 15, 2014November 15, 2014

The 2014-15 version of the Missouri Western women’s basketball team showed something Friday night, rarely shown a season ago – scoring. Missouri Western downed Robert Morris-Springfield, 110-49, in their season opener at the Quincy University Subway Tip-off Classic.

The Griffons led 24-23 with 10 minutes remaining in the first half, then went on to outscore the Eagles 37-13 through the rest of the half.

Missouri Western came out of the halftime locker room hot as well, opening the second frame on a 13-0 run. They went on to outscore the Eagles 49-13 in the second half and fall five points short of tying the school scoring record.

It’s the Griffons first time scoring 104 against Avila last year. It’s the team’s first 50-point win since that same game against Avila.

Missouri Western shot 53.5 percent from the field and 30 percent from behind the arch. They were 66.7 percent from the free throw line and dominated the boards, 57-25. The Griffons pressure defense also gave Robert Morris trouble. Missouri Western claimed 11 steals and 23 Eagle turnovers.

Five Griffons scored in double figures, led by LaQuinta Jefferson’s 17 points. Freshman Oliva Hanson added 14 points and seven rebounds. Tiara Hall and Mili Koyamainavure each scored 13 and Alex Saxen had 10.

Missouri Western continue sthe QU Subway Tip-Off Classic Saturday at 4 p.m. when they take on host, Quincy University.

— MWSU Sports Information —