River States Conference Men's Basketball Update Jan. 29
The River States Conference Men's Basketball Update for Jan. 29, 2020 brings you a look at the divisional races as the calendar hits the last weekend of January. Two teams in each division are keeping a fast pace with their eyes on a division title.
No. 12-ranked IU Kokomo is 18-4 overall, 7-1 RSC to remain in the lead of the RSC West. (RV) IU Southeast is just 1.0 game behind after going 2-0 on back-to-back games in Pittsburgh this past weekend. The Grenadiers are 14-7 overall, 7-3 RSC.
IU East won a big matchup over IU Southeast, 81-73, on Tuesday night to improve to 14-9 overall, 8-1 RSC. That pits a tie in the loss column with fellow RSC East front runner WVU Tech, which is 14-7, 9-1 RSC. The Golden Bears have a half game lead for first place after going 3-0 last week, but the Red Wolves have a head-to-head win over WVU Tech in hand to create somewhat of a virtual tie atop the division.
Those four teams have two within mention in the NAIA Division II Top 25 Poll in the latest rankings. But since that last poll, all four teams have remained hot giving the RSC four teams in the running for national consideration this coming week.
The rest of the conference has many teams battling for the remaining two playoff positions in each division. This weekend's matchups feature five games on Thursday and five more on Saturday that will shake out some separation as the calendar page flips to February.
Many teams had both ups and downs over the last week. That included Point Park beating Brescia on Friday night, 86-69, then losing to (RV) IU Southeast on Sunday, 84-64. Brescia started its weeked in Pittsburgh winning at Carlow, 116-88, before the defeat at Point Park. Although Rio Grande started out with an 83-77 loss to Alice Lloyd last Thursday, it bounced back with a victory over Midway, 79-54. Midway bounced back in its own right with a win over Ohio Christian, 77-71, on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
Here are the 10 games within conference this weekend. Log on to RiverStatesConference.com for links to live coverage, which includes live video streaming and/or live stats for nine of the 10 games:
Thursday, Jan. 30
Brescia at Ohio Christian
Point Park at Asbury
Midway at IU East
Carlow at Alice Lloyd
IU Kokomo at Rio Grande
Saturday, Feb. 1
Point Park at Alice Lloyd
Ohio Christian at IU Southeast
Carlow at Asbury
IU Kokomo at WVU Tech
IU East at Brescia