March 10, 2020
Hello, Jacket fans. As you already know, our season ended last Tuesday with a 73-71 loss to Malone. It wasn't how we wanted our season to end, and I don't think any of us are over it yet, but I know that everyone returning is already working to make sure next year doesn't end like this. For a quick recap of the game, we started off hot and jumped out to a 12-3 lead. The remainder of the game was very back and forth, as that nine-point lead was the largest of the game. We had a few attempts to tie or win the game in the closing seconds, but none fell. Kollin Van Horn led the way in the loss with 21 points, and Branden Maughmer added 17 of his own.
In the awards category, we had three players earn spots on All-G-MAC Teams. Branden Maughmer was named to the All-G-MAC First Team and the All-G-MAC Defensive Team. Kollin Van Horn and Quinton Green were named to the All-G-MAC Second Team.
I want to thank everyone that has read this blog over the last two seasons. Writing this weekly post has been fun for me, and I hope it has been encouraging and helpful to you. I hope you all continue to read next year, and give your support to whoever decides to write it.
As always, your continued prayers and support are appreciated, especially now as the team will be starting post-season workouts in the coming weeks.
Signing out,
Seth
March 2, 2020
Hello, Jacket fans! It is now officially tournament time! At the end of this post you will be able to find the tournament bracket, and I will give you a tentative schedule for the coming week. But first, let me give you all a recap of our last two regular season games.
Our first game last week was a Wednesday night home game against Findlay. Since it was the last regular season home game of the year, that meant that is was Senior Night! The ceremony was super nice, and all of us seniors felt very loved by you guys and by our families that came to support. As for the game, we found ourselves in yet another 20-point deficit. Like we had multiple times already during the year, we were able to fight back and actually forced a tie game with less than 10 seconds to go. Sadly, a rebound tip-in just tenths of a second before the buzzer gave the Oilers the win, 77-75.
Saturday brought our last regular season game. Played at 3:15 PM, it was just over the border in West Virginia against Ohio Valley. Even though they haven't done well this season, some mistakes on our end allowed them to stay in the game, cutting our lead down to seven at one point during the second half. We managed to hold our lead, and finished the regular season with a final score of 89-78. Kollin Van Horn led the way with 16 points in the win.
Our record of 18-10 is the best regular season record since the 2012-2013 season, and our 13-5 conference record was enough to earn us the #4-seed in the G-MAC Tournament this week! We play Malone in a Tuesday evening home game at 7:45 PM. Please come out and support! We need you more than usual because the students are home for Spring Break! When we win, we play our next game on Friday, and the location depends on the highest seed remaining after Tuesday. Here is a look at the bracket so you can follow along with the tournament.
Your continued prayers and support are appreciated as always. Talk to you next week,
Seth
Feb. 25, 2020
Hello, Jacket fans! First things first, I want to thank everyone who came out on Saturday and supported us against Walsh! The energy was awesome and I hope all of you that came to that game can bring a friend or two to our game against Findlay on Wednesday! Before I get into the details of this coming week, however, I need to give you all a recap.
Our first game of last week was a Thursday evening contest all the way in Michigan against Hillsdale. This was our only meeting with Hillsdale this season, which made this game pretty influential in the realm of seeding for our upcoming conference tournament. Hillsdale had home court advantage, as any G-MAC member will tell you it is hard to play at Hillsdale and get a win. That being said, it was a close game the whole 40 minutes - I don't think either team led by more than somewhere around eight points for the whole game. We had a small lead for a stretch of a few minutes in the second half, but the Chargers were unfortunately able to grab the lead before the end of the game, and we ended up on the losing side of the scoring column for the first time since January 11. Kollin Van Horn and Branden Maughmer led the way for us offensively in the 75-67 loss, with 18 and 16 points respectively.
Our second and final game of the week came in the form of a Saturday evening White Out game in Callan against Walsh. Now, if you've been watching us Yellow Jackets since our last meeting with the Cavaliers, you know that we are a vastly different team than the one that they saw back in January. That didn't mean we thought we had this game in the bag, though, as Walsh is still a good basketball team with a few of the better players in the conference. The energy in Callan was exactly what we were hoping for, and it was a hard-fought game by both squads. Walsh jumped out to an eight-point lead pretty early in the first half, but we fought back and actually had a 38-33 lead at the break. We started the second half pretty much as hot as we could and jumped out to our biggest lead of the game at 14 points. Walsh wasn't going to go quietly, though. They fought back in the last few minutes and actually got it back to a four-point difference, but a couple three-point plays from Isaiah Speelman and Quinton Green, along with some big-time defense, got the lead back to 10 by the final buzzer. Kollin and Branden led the way again, this time with a respective 17 and 16 points in the 74-64 win.
As for this week, it is the final week of the regular season and brings our final two games before the G-MAC Tournament. As you were reminded today (Tuesday) by Dr. White in chapel - Wednesday night, 7:45 PM, in Callan, is our final home game of the season. That makes this game Senior Night, and Findlay is coming to town. The women's team also plays Wednesday night, right before we do, and it is their Senior Night as well. I know they would love it if you all came out to their game. So plan on doing that, grabbing some food from concessions, and staying for our game! The seniors from each team will be honored between the games.
Our final game of the regular season is a road game on Saturday against Ohio Valley.
As always, thank you for your continued prayers and support. Talk to you next week, and make sure to read to find out seeding and other things pertaining to the tournament.
Seth
Feb. 17, 2020
Hello, Jacket fans! I'm not sure if you've heard, but by the grace of God (and a clutch three-pointer from Branden Maughmer) we were able to extend our now eight-game winning streak another week! We have now officially gone more than a month since losing a game, and we're looking to keep that going this week! Before I talk about that, however, I'll give a recap of our past two wins.
Our Thursday night game was against Malone University, who we hadn't played since our second conference game of the year. They were coming off some pretty big wins, so we knew they would be trying to keep their win streak going against us here in Callan. After a defense-filled first half, which led to us leading 28-25, we knew we had to turn up the offense to finish with a win. Branden Maughmer, who will come into play in the recap of our Saturday game, scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half and led us to a 74-58 win. Kollin Van Horn, Isaiah Speelman, and Jacob Drees contributed 15, 12, and 10 points respectively to help keep the streak alive.
Our Saturday game was up at Lake Erie in Painesville, Ohio, a team that we had gone into overtime with earlier in the season. We had the first game of the day at 1 PM, which meant we had to leave Cedarville at 7 AM. There were quite a few of our athletic teams in action last weekend, so we didn't have one of the CU Athletics busses to get us to our game. Usually this would mean that we would have to take a couple of vans for the trip, but Coach Estepp showed us some major love by getting us the best bus any of us had ever seen. (Go to his Twitter: @CoachEstepp - for pictures)
Anyways, our game didn't exactly start out how we wanted it, and we were down 11 at the half, and down 20 with 15 minutes left in the game. In classic Cedarville fashion, at least for this season, we turned up our intensity and made it a game again. It got down to right around six seconds left, our ball on the sideline, and a three-point Lake Erie lead. Remember how I mentioned Branden earlier in the blog? Well, here he is again. Branden hit a huge three-pointer just before time expired to send us to overtime, and the Jackets took over in the extra period. The final score was 98-91 in our favor, Branden led the way with 26 points, and his roommate Isaiah put in 21 points of his own to help lead us to the win.
Our games this week are against Hillsdale and Walsh, two of the top teams in the G-MAC. Thursday night we play at Hillsdale, and 6 PM Saturday night at Callan is our game against Walsh, which is also our second-to-last home game of the season. Both of these games are huge, so your continued prayers and support are appreciated as always, and......
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I need all of you to be at Callan this Saturday. Let's make it standing room only, and show Walsh just how tough it is to win in Callan. Students, if you have homework to do instead, that's too bad, you need to be there. (Just kidding please do your homework - just do it before and/or after the game).
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Talk to you next week,
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Seth
Feb. 10, 2020
Hello Jacket fans! This past week brought us only one game, so there isn't quite as much to write about as usual, but here goes. Our one game last week was Saturday night at home against Wilberforce University. There were a few special things about Saturday night for us...
First, everyone from last year's team was able to be there and we were all presented with championship rings from our NCCAA National Championship win last year! All of last year's seniors came, including Zach (last year's student athletic trainer) and Trey (one of the best student assistants that CU has ever seen). It was really good to see everyone from last year, and it was fun to hang out with them a little before and after the game.
As for the game itself, we had one of our most balanced scoring outputs of the season, as only three Yellow Jackets reached double figures, led by Isaiah Speelman with 20 points. Even though the individual scoring numbers weren't anything outstanding, we combined for our highest point total in regulation this year to reach a final score of 98-51. This was also our largest margin of victory in at least the last five years.
Coming up we have a Thursday night home game against Malone at 7:45 p.m., and a Saturday afternoon game against Lake Erie in Painesville, Ohio. We are looking to keep this win streak going, so let's get loud and proud at Callan on Thursday!
As always, thank you for your continued prayers and support, and I'll talk to you next week.
Seth
Feb. 3, 2020
Hello Jacket fans! Five straight wins! This marks our longest win streak of the season, and we still have two more home games in a row coming up. Before I talk about those, I'll spend a little time recapping our last two games.
Our first game was last Thursday night against Trevecca Nazarene, a team that we had already played earlier in the season at their home gym. That game was one of our larger wins, 91-67, but they were playing some good basketball as of late so we knew we couldn't take them lightly. Thanks to some hot shooting (over 50% from three!) and our fewest turnovers of the season (3), we were able to get a win with almost the exact same score as last time: 93-67. Isaiah Speelman hit four big three-pointers on the way to a game-high 20 points in the win.
The following Saturday we matched up with Alderson Broaddus, in our only meeting of the season. Since this was our only opportunity to play them this year, it made it that much more crucial that we play our best and get a win. We knew that their leading scorer was out with the flu, but sometimes that absence of 16 points per game can cause the rest of the team to try to make up for it by taking shots that they normally wouldn't, which meant we had to be ready for pretty much anything. Unfortunately, our performance in the first half wasn't up to our standards, and we went into halftime tied at 34. However, behind a career-high 26 points from Kollin Van Horn, we managed a huge second half and came away with an 82-63 win.
Our only game this week is 7 PM in Callan on Saturday, February 8th against Wilberforce University, and I hope that you all can come out and enjoy some more Cedarville basketball!
Thanks as always for your continued prayers and support.
Talk to you next week,
Seth
Jan. 28, 2020
Hello, Jacket fans! We had only one game this past week, Saturday against Ohio Valley, but there were no shortages of notable moments from this game. First, we played the first game of the day, before the women's game, which was a weird feeling to say the least. Second, Dan McKeeman scored in double figures (11) for the first time in his collegiate career. Third, Conner TenHove had a monster double-double of 22 points and 14 rebounds, which was his fifth of the season. Fourth, Kollin Van Horn threw down one of the nastiest in-game dunks that anyone on the team has seen in person. Watch the video
here, and check out the reactions of Branden Maughmer and Quinton Green at the end. Finally, last but certainly not least, we came out of the game with a 97-76 victory.
That being said, we have two more home games this week; Thursday, 7:45 PM against Trevecca Nazarene, and Saturday, 3:15 PM against Alderson Broaddus. These are the second and third games of our five-game home stand, and I hope to see you all there!
As always, your continued prayers and support are greatly appreciated.
Talk to you next week,
Seth
Jan. 21, 2020
Hello Jacket fans! As you may remember from last week, I said that we needed to be better, and that we were taking the steps to do so. Well, those steps paid off with two big conference wins against Tiffin and Ohio Dominican! Granted, we still have room to improve, but I think that this past week of basketball showed that we are and will continue to be one of the best teams in the G-MAC. Anyways, on to the recaps.
Our first game of the week was Thursday evening at home against Tiffin. Even though their conference record isn't the best this season, we knew we couldn't underestimate them, as they have a few players that can score like crazy. That being said, our main focus was defensive intensity and dictating the pace of the game. In the first half, we managed to hold the Dragons to just 22 points while scoring 37 of our own. There were multiple times where we got more than one stop in a row, and we finished the half on a 14-3 run. There was a bit more scoring on both sides in the second half, but we managed to keep control of the game and won 86-63. Eleven different Yellow Jackets saw action, and Quinton Green led the way with 25 points in the victory.
Our next game of the week came on Saturday against the Panthers at Ohio Dominican. Our last game against ODU was a home loss just a few weeks ago on January 2nd, so this was a revenge game. In that game, we let them shoot over 50% from the floor and 40% from behind the three-point line, which was something that we could simply not allow to happen again. Needless to say, our defense in the second match up was far better than it was in our loss earlier in the month. We were able to hold ODU to just 30% from the floor and 29% from behind the arc. This defense, along with 18 points from Isaiah Speelman, helped us win 62-53.
Our next game starts a five-game home stand, and is at 3:15 p.m. this Saturday, January 25th against Ohio Valley. Thank you as always for your continued prayers and support, and I hope to see you at the game!
Talk to you next week,
Seth
Jan. 14, 2020
Hello Jacket fans, this blog post will be shorter than you may be used to and will not contain an overview of each game. If that's what you are looking for, they can be found on the Cedarville Athletics page. I'll be back to the usual post style next week, but something needed to be said to you all as our supporters.
This last week of basketball has seen some sub par basketball being played, with losses to Findlay and Walsh. Our performances in these games were not on the level that many have come to expect from Cedarville Men's Basketball, and we need to be better. We will be making steps in the coming days to get back to the level of competitiveness, effort, and fight that is associated with the Yellow Jackets.
Thursday, January 16th, at 7:45 p.m. in the Callan Athletic Center, expect to see the same team members, but with more fight, grit, heart, and competitiveness than we have shown in the last few games.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support, and I ask that you hold us, as a team, accountable to the standards of Cedarville Basketball. We will be better, and you will see this on Thursday against Tiffin.
Talk to you next week.
Seth
Jan. 6, 2020
Hello, Jacket fans! I hope the holidays treated you all well! We have had two games since coming back from break, so you will hear about those, as well as what you can look forward to this coming week on the schedule. As for our break, we have been back on campus since December 30th, and have been practicing and lifting since then while we're pretty much the only people here. Besides basketball, we have been to Coach Estepp's house for a Christmas party and white elephant gift exchange, played hide-and-seek in Brock, had dinner with season ticket holders, and watched more Netflix than is probably good for us.
As for our two games, our first was a conference game against Ohio Dominican on January 2nd to start off 2020. ODU has always been a tough opponent, and they returned pretty much all of their main players, so we knew that they would come out guns blazing, even though their record wasn't the best. In the first half, our defense was pretty good, and we were able to hold them to only 27 points. However, our offense was not where it needed to be, and we were only able to score 21 of our own. The second half was essentially the opposite of the first, being pretty much completely offense for both sides. Kollin Van Horn put in a career-high 24 to lead us, but we were unable to pull out the win, losing 78-71.
On January 4th we played Ohio Christian in a non-conference match up, which was a game that we needed to win for momentum going into a week with two big conference games coming up. We also knew that we needed to focus more on our execution than the outcome, as there were some things in the ODU game that we could have executed better. Our execution on the offensive and defensive ends was much better this game, and we were able to play everyone available and secure our largest win of the season: 96-68. Notable accomplishments in the game include Nick Mantis scoring a season-high 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three, Matt Gillis and Adam Standley scoring their first collegiate points, and Conner TenHove becoming the 55th men's basketball player to eclipse 1,000 points for his Yellow Jacket career!
As for this coming week, we start classes on Tuesday, so prayers are appreciated for us and the other students starting classes as well. We also have two very big conference games against Findlay and Walsh. Both are away games, Findlay is Thursday, and Walsh is Saturday. For those interested, our game against Walsh will be streamed on ESPN3, as part of a showcase of D2 basketball games done by ESPN.
As always, continued prayers and support are appreciated, and I'll talk to you next week.
Seth
Dec. 24, 2019
Hello everyone! Forgive me for the length of this post, but a lot has happened since the last one and I want to keep you all up to date. Just for a quick overview before I write out all of the details, since my last post we have completed finals, gone 2-0 in conference games, traveled to Florida and split two games down there, and gone home for break. Now for the longer version.
Our first game after finals was a road game on December 14th against Trevecca Nazarene in Nashville, Tennessee. They haven't been very good in the recent past, but they actually gave D1 Lipscomb a run for their money earlier in the season, so we knew they were better than past years. However, we were coming off a couple of solid conference wins, so we were able to use that momentum to earn a 12 point lead at the break, which grew to 24 by the final buzzer. Final score: 91-67. Conner TenHove led the way with 19 points on the night.
After playing in Nashville we made the trip to Owensboro, Kentucky for our match up with Kentucky Wesleyan. We knew KWC would be a tougher opponent than Trevecca, especially since they were undefeated in conference play up to that point in the season. Although the game was much closer throughout, we never gave up the lead at any point during the game and pulled out the 80-69 win. Branden Maughmer put in 22 and Quinton Green scored 20 to lead us.
After our game in Kentucky, we hopped on a plane and headed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to play Nova Southeastern, the 5th-ranked team in the country. Our game was on a Thursday, and since we got down there a few days early, we were able to hit the beach for a bit, which was actually really fun! This was a business trip, however, so we got right back to basketball afterwards. We were coming off a four game win streak, and even though Nova was ranked highly, we had played some ranked D1 opponents earlier in the season, so we knew we could get the win if we played solid basketball and stuck to our strengths. Unfortunately, Nova's fast-paced, full-court-pressing, aggressive style of play caused us to commit 31 turnovers in a seven point loss: 91-84. Conner TenHove led the way once again with 24 points.
Even though it was a tough loss, we knew we had to bounce back and go into Christmas break on a win, and our last game before going home was two days later against Lynn University in Boca Raton. Lynn is in the same conference as Nova, so we knew we had another tough match up coming our way. What we didn't know was that Lynn would shoot their way to a 19-2 lead to start the game, and a few 20 point leads throughout. With some stellar defense and execution on offense, we managed to force overtime and earn a three-point win, 87-84, after trailing by 16 at the half. Quinton Green led the way with 30 points, and Branden Maughmer chipped in 23 of his own.
As for how break is going, I am currently sitting at home, writing this, and enjoying time with my family. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support, and I hope you all have a great Christmas, New Years, and break from school.
Talk to you next time,
Seth
Dec. 9, 2019
Hello Jacket fans! Welcome back to the blog! This week's post is a little more positive than last week's with two wins in two games played!
This last week of games opened up our G-MAC schedule, and we had two opponents that we knew were going to be a challenge. Our first game was a home game on Thursday against Lake Erie, who returned most of their best players from last season. Now, if any of you were at the game and witnessed our play in the first half, I want to apologize for our only scoring 24 points. On the plus side, we held Lake Erie to only 34, which isn't too bad itself. If you weren't at the game and are thinking of
re-watching it, I would suggest starting with around 10 seconds left in the second half. It was right around this mark that Quinton Green hit a game-tying three-pointer to send the game into overtime. In the five minute overtime period, we took control and ended up winning by eight: 77-69. To go with his game-tying shot, Green scored 24 total points to lead us in scoring.
For our next game, which was on Saturday, we traveled up to Malone University for an afternoon contest in their gym. We were able to share the ball very well in this game, recording a season-high 26 assists! This, to go along with career highs from Kollin Van Horn (21 points) and Demond Parker (19 points), helped us secure our largest win of the season with a final score of 80-66. To go along with Parker and Van Horn's efforts, Conner TenHove and Branden Maughmer each chipped in 13 points.
As many of you know, this upcoming week is finals week, and we could all use your thoughts and prayers. After we get through finals, we travel to Tennessee, Kentucky, and then Florida! We play Trevecca Saturday afternoon in Nashville, and then head to Kentucky Wesleyan to play Monday evening. After those two games, we travel to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and I'll let you all know more details when it gets closer.
Thanks for all of your continued prayers and support!
Talk to you next week,
Seth
Dec. 2, 2019
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and were able to spend some quality time with your families. I have three games to recap in this post, so I'll do my best to keep you informed without writing yet another essay for finals.
Unfortunately, our last three games have all seen us end up on the losing side of the scoreboard, with the first loss coming to Grand Valley State in our home opener on Friday, Nov. 22nd. Before I get to the game itself, I want to thank everyone for coming and supporting! From what I heard we had around 1,000 fans there, which was awesome! Anyways, Grand Valley was a team that made the regional tournament last year and came into the season fairly high in the rankings, so we knew we'd have our work cut out for us. The game was pretty close most of the way, but Grand Valley shot Callan's lights out and hit 14 threes out of 30 attempts on the game. Branden Maughmer put in 16 points for us in the loss, and we were once again perfect from the free-throw line - connecting on all eight of our tries. Final score: 86-75 in Grand Valley's favor.
Our next game was against Indianapolis (UIndy), who at the time was ranked #22 in the nation. Undefeated up to this point, and better shooters than Grand Valley, this was going to be a true test for our defense along the three-point line. Our offense from there was outstanding, as we shot 15-of-30 for the game, but we allowed UIndy to shoot 14-of-30 - the same percentage as Grand Valley. Like the night before, it was a fairly close game the entire way, with the largest margin at nine points for UIndy. Conner TenHove and Branden Maughmer combined for 50 points, and freshman Dan McKeeman scored his first collegiate points, scoring nine on three shots from behind the arc. Final score: 94-88 in UIndy's favor.
Our next game was two days before Thanksgiving against Northwood University. It was a home game for them, so we made the five-hour trip to Midland, Michigan on Monday evening. After a quick practice at their gym, we headed to the hotel to get some rest before our shoot around the next morning. Northwood had just recently beaten Findlay, so we knew they were coming off a high from that game and it was going to be a physical game as well. We played fairly well in the first half and had a two-point lead at the break, but came out flat to start the second half. Northwood scored the first seven points, and we never got our edge back for the rest of the game. Conner TenHove put in 20 points to lead us in scoring. Final score: 75-71 in Northwood's favor.
For games this week, we play Lake Erie at Callan at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 5th. On Saturday, Dec. 7th we play at 2:00 p.m. at Malone, and then we have finals the week after.
Prayers for the games, practices, and exams are all greatly appreciated.
Talk to you next week,
Seth
Nov. 19, 2019
Hello, Jackets Fans! Welcome back to another weekly blog, and although this week only had one game, it was nothing short of busy and exciting. Our game last week was against Central State, which is just 10 minutes down the road. I've always heard about how hard it is to play there, and I'm guessing you have, too. Let me tell you, the rumors are true. Their fans are crazy, the atmosphere is electric, and if you make even the smallest mistake, the fans will yell at you about it for the rest of the game trying to get into your head. Let me tell you something else though. If you make a great play, I'm talking about a play that anyone will recognize no matter who they cheer for, their fans will go crazy for you as well. There was a lot of both of these things in Thursday's game...
We were losing at the half, and even went down by 20 at one point in the second half. Their fans were going wild, and their point guard was being loud and trying to get them more involved. However, we were able to make up that 20 point deficit one play at a time. We were down by 9 with a little over two minutes left, and the gym was the loudest it had been all night. Kollin was scoring left and right, Quinton had one of the nastiest oops I've seen in a while, and we had some of the fans on our side to go along with all of you that came out and supported. Branden hit a three, Quinton hit a three, and we were down by three with almost no time left. We got a defensive stop, and Isaiah Speelman hit a cold-blooded three-pointer that made the gym rock. We were able to close out regulation with another stop and forced overtime. Once we got there, we didn't look back, even prompting about half of their fans to get up and leave with time still on the clock! Final score, 83-75, Cedarville win. This win brought us to 2-1, we had all five starters in double figures, and Coach Estepp gave us Saturday off, which never happens in November.
Thank you all for the continued prayers and support, and I hope that you can all make it out to Callan for the Callan Classic this Friday and Saturday. We play Grand Valley State at 7:45 p.m. on Friday, and Indianapolis at 6:15 p.m. on Saturday. Let's get Callan rocking this weekend and make our home opener one of the most electric atmospheres you've ever been a part of. (I have also heard that there might be a pretty cool hype video shown in Friday's chapel service and before the game, so don't miss it).
As always, I'll talk to you next week.
Seth
Nov. 12, 2019
Hi everyone! It hasn't been very long since my last post, but we've had two games, so I figured you all deserved an update.
This last weekend were our first two regular season games, as well as our first games against NCAA Division II opponents. If you remember from last year, we started off the season with an appearance at the G-MAC/GLVC Crossover Tournament. This season was the same tournament, with the same teams, but instead of driving all the way to Missouri we only had to make the short trek to Findlay. We had the exact same opponents, in the exact same order, which means that we played Quincy on Friday and Truman State on Saturday.
Since the drive to Findlay is relatively short, we left Friday morning after watching some film on their plays and personnel. Last year we lost to them to start off our season and we were hoping that this year would be a different outcome. We started very well and went up early, but got a little complacent and let off the gas, allowing them to get back in the game. It stayed close for the entire game, and we actually went into three overtimes! Freshman Jacob Drees hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer at the end of regulation to force the first, and that one turned into three. Unfortunately, four of our men fouled out, and we lost the game 112-104. Roommates Quinton Green and Conner TenHove combined for a whopping 54 points and 16 rebounds.
We knew we had to bounce back against Truman State, especially since they were able to beat Findlay in front of their home crowd. We'd beaten them last year, so we knew it was possible, but we were playing a better team than they had last year. We had the first game of the day once again, and we took advantage of the extra time to get stretched out and warmed up. Our starting point guard, Branden Maughmer, was back for this game, so that was a big morale boost. We played a lot better defense this game, and we were able to get their top scorer out of the game early with foul trouble. Like I said before Branden was back for this game, and he wasted no time making his presence felt, scoring 31 points! We were able to pull out the 77-65 win, and shot 100% from the foul line. Over the entire weekend, we shot an impressive 45 for 49 from the stripe, which is over 90%!
Thanks for the prayer support, and I ask that you continue them as we play at Central State this coming Thursday. This is our only game of the week and it's right down the road, so if you're free at 7:00 PM this Thursday, come on out and cheer us on!
Talk to you next week,
Seth
Nov. 5, 2019
Hi everyone! It's good to be back! I'll start by introducing the newest members of the team, and then I'll give a quick recap of the preseason and our exhibition games.
We have three new freshmen this year, and the members of the Towel Gang will officially be joining us as full-time varsity players! The first freshman is Dan McKeeman. Dan is a point guard from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and holds the record for three-pointers made in a game at his high school (9)! Jacob Drees, our second freshman, is from Hilliard, Ohio, who can play nearly any position on the court. He also played four years of varsity golf in high school. Our final freshman, Matt Gillis, comes to us all the way from Oviedo, Florida. Matt was a four-year varsity football player, and graduated as the all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns.
Now for the Towel Gang. The three juniors came to us last year as JV players and worked their way onto the practice squad, even earning a few minutes toward the end of the season! Andrew Stein is a point guard from Woodbine, Maryland, and he has been raining threes so far this year, so look for a few of those when he gets some tick. Adam Standley is a forward from Plain City, Ohio, and he has the meanest pump fake you have ever seen. Andy Spurr is a wing from Litchfield, New Hampshire, and he has been giving us some buckets this year in practice. Look forward to seeing each of them possibly getting some playing time this year!
Now for a recap of the preseason. As with last year, it began with the mile test, which everyone passed! There were a few people that were worried, but we all made our times and got the preseason off to a good start! Coach Estepp managed to get us three exhibition games against NCAA Division I opponents this year, which have all been super helpful to get us ready for the season. In Coach's words, we've been battle tested. We had games at Valparaiso, Ohio State, and the University of Dayton. There were a lot of lessons learned in these match-ups that will be great for us this season, and I know we're all really thankful for the opportunity.
I want to give a huge shout-out to all the fans that came out and supported at Ohio State! I heard that it was a number somewhere around 2,500! If even half of you could come to our home games, that would be great! We'll make sure to give you a good game and get Callan rocking this year.
We start regular season games this weekend with games played at Findlay against Quincy University (Fri., 3 PM) and Truman State University (Sat., 4 PM).
Prayers and thoughts are appreciated, and I'm looking forward to this year. We're gonna be special, so pay attention.
Talk to you next week,
Seth
S
eth Dittmer is a 6-foot-9 senior center from Pewaukee, Wisconsin. He is in his second year with the Yellow Jackets after transferring from NCAA I Milwaukee and is majoring in journalism.
