TERRE HAUTE —
Both Rose-Hulman basketball teams will face first-round opponents that they lost to recently in this weekend’s six-team Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournaments.
At 6 p.m. Friday at Transylvania, located in Lexington, Ky., the No. 3-seeded Rose men will meet No. 6 Defiance, which knocked off the Engineers 62-59 on Feb. 11 in Hulbert Arena. At least the Engineers won at Defiance 87-70 back on Dec. 3.
At 8 p.m. Friday at Franklin, the No. 6-seeded Rose women will take on No. 3 Manchester, which got the best of the Engineers twice — 46-43 Dec. 7 at Manchester and 52-46 Jan. 25 in Hulbert Arena.
Not surprisingly, Rose-Hulman men’s coach Jim Shaw and his players think turning the tables is possible against Defiance, although these student-athletes are likely to be distracted by final exams this week.
“They whipped our butts [Feb. 11],” Shaw said of the Yellow Jackets from Defiance, Ohio. “So if our guys don’t take them seriously, even though they’re a lower seed than us, then we’re not very smart.”
Shaw said Defiance possesses a potent offensive attack led by junior guard Logan Wolfrum, who averages 17.2 points per game and tallied 20 of his 28 points against Rose on Feb. 11 in the first half.
“They’ve improved through the course of the year because they’ve improved defensively,” Shaw pointed out. “This is a game our guys will take very seriously, if for no other reason than they were not pleased with our performance against them recently. But that’s just talk. It has to translate to the floor.”
The Engineers would benefit from a performance similar to what they put forth Saturday in a 75-61 victory over second-place Hanover in Hulbert Arena. Senior Blake Knotts and junior Austin Weatherford paced Rose-Hulman with 18 points apiece.
“We got some momentum going into the tournament, trying to make some noise,” Knotts said after the Engineers dominated Hanover with 55.6-percent shooting from the field and 59.1-percent shooting from 3-point range.
Knotts alone buried six 3-pointers.
“I think we need to keep making shots and be confident with our shots,” Weatherford added, looking ahead to the HCAC tournament. “That really showed against Hanover. We got a little bit of confidence back, hitting some shots and getting the ball to the right people.”
Weatherford believes Rose capturing the conference tournament title to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tourney is not out of the realm of possibility, despite the fact that regular-season champion Transylvania finished 22-3 overall and 16-2 in the HCAC.
“I think we have a real good chance of winning it,” he insisted. “We’re picking up our play lately.”
As for the Rose-Hulman women, coach Jon Prevo hopes his players can regain some focus after losing at home to Hanover 83-57 on Saturday and taking finals this week.
“I think our kids will be excited,” he predicted.
The female Engineers have been a Jekyll-and-Hyde group of late, upsetting nationally ranked Franklin 59-52 on Feb. 8 and losing at last-place Earlham 56-48 on Feb. 15. Franklin and Hanover tied for first in the HCAC at 16-2, but Franklin earned the right to host the conference tourney based on its two regular-season victories over Hanover.
“If we play like we did against Franklin and Defiance [which Rose defeated 60-33 on Feb. 11], we can play with anyone in the league,” Prevo assessed. “We just need for that [Rose-Hulman] team to show up. The girls know we have those capabilities.”
Senior guard Alisa Dickerson poured in 24 points against Hanover, boosting her per-game average to 18.6. In the two games against Manchester, she had 21 and 20 points respectively, but Prevo warned that points probably won’t come easily in the third clash with the Spartans.
“They defend extremely well,” he emphasized. “They switch defenses.”
Prevo also is concerned about the Spartans’ offense.
“They’ve got inside players that we’ll have to do a good job on,” he mentioned. “We’ll have to make sure to not let them get out in transition and get easy scoring opportunities. They’re very disciplined. They play well with each other and they know how to look for each other.”
If either Rose team wins Friday, it will advance to the tournament semifinals Saturday. Both HCAC championship games are 2 p.m. Sunday.
Rose-Hulman
HCAC not all a bed of roses
Conference tourney next up for revenge-seeking Engineers
- Rose-Hulman
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Rose-Hulman swimmers flying to nationals
Rose-Hulman swimmers John Craig Huster and Orion Martin have qualified for the Division III national meet in the 100 butterfly
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Despite four NCAA Division III titles, Rose-Hulman’s Liz Evans remains as driven as ever
Even though Rose-Hulman senior Liz Evans has won four NCAA Division III titles in the women’s high jump, getting motivated is still easy for her.
Ultra-competitive athletes find ways. -
Balsbaugh’s late-season scoring giving Rose-Hulman a lift
If someone were to predict before last weekend that Rose-Hulman would capture its second straight Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship in men’s basketball and that senior Brenton Balsbaugh would be named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, fans probably would believe the first statement but consider the second as wishful thinking.
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Rose-Hulman baseball team kicking off season in Florida
Jeff Jenkins is serious about his baseball.
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Rose-Hulman men clinch conference title
Rose-Hulman will host the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball tournament and claimed the league’s regular-season title with a 59-57 win at Hanover College on Saturday.
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No. 23 Rose-Hulman takes down No. 22 Transylvania on the road
No. 23 ranked Rose-Hulman claimed a two-game lead in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball standings with a 54-49 victory at No. 22 Transylvania University on Saturday.
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Rose-Hulman 18-2 after pulling away from Anderson
Rose-Hulman opened the second half on a 20-3 run to pull away and earn a convincing 71-40 men’s basketball victory at Anderson University on Wednesday night.
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Freshman paces Engineer women to HCAC win
The Rose-Hulman women’s basketball team improved to 10-10 for the season and 6-7 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play with a 52-44 win over Anderson on Wednesday in Hulbert Arena.
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Rose men top Franklin
Rose-Hulman improved to 14-2 overall and kept its Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference lead at 8-1 with a 58-42 men's basketball victory at Franklin College on Wednesday night.
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Rose men run winning steak to 11 games
Anderson arrived in Terre Haute with a 7-6 record and a scoring average of 76.5 points per game.
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Anderson holds off rally by Rose women
Rose-Hulman rallied from an 11-point deficit to close within three points late, but Anderson University held on to earn a 64-57 victory in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference women’s basketball Wednesday night inside O.C. Lewis Gymnasium.
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Rose-Hulman men ranked 26th in Division III
Rose-Hulman’s men’s basketball team is ranked 26th nationally in the d3hoops.com national weekly poll released on Thursday.
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Gerken hits game-winner to put Rose-Hulman at 9-1 on season
Making the game-winning shot, with what turned out to be seven-tenths of a second to go, was probably the easy part for Jon Gerken on Saturday afternoon in Hulbert Arena.
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Rose women struggle from field in loss to Hanover
In the Rose-Hulman women’s college basketball game, frigid shooting undermined good work the Engineers did in other aspects of the game against Hanover.
The Engineers came out on the wrong end, 55-43. -
Efficient Engineers stifle Millikin
The word that probably best describes the Rose-Hulman men’s basketball team is efficiency.
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Rose-Hulman women's basketball regains Clabber Girl Trophy
Rose-Hulman reclaimed the Clabber Girl Trophy for the first time since 2009 with an 80-74 women’s basketball victory over Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College on Tuesday night in Hulbert Arena.
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Balanced Rose tops Fontbonne
Senior forward Nate Gissentanner came off the bench to deliver 14 points for balanced Rose-Hulman in a 72-54 men’s basketball victory over Fontbonne University on Wednesday night in Hulbert Arena.
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Rose-Hulman men's basketball preview: Engineers looking to follow up last year’s success
It’s pretty safe to say that expectations for the Rose-Hulman men’s basketball team have not been this high since the late 1990s when the Engineers reached the NCAA Division III tournament three times within a four-year period.
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Rose-Hulman women's basketball preview: Engineers continuing to improve
The Rose-Hulman women’s basketball team didn’t dominate many opponents last season when it ended up with records of 9-18 overall and 6-12 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.
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Earlham tragedy leads to Rose football cancellation
Little did Rose-Hulman’s football players and coaches know, their 42-8 home victory over Anderson University last Saturday turned out to be their final game of the season.
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This weekend's Rose-Hulman vs. Earlham football game canceled
Due to Friday's tragic events involving three Earlham College students, the football game between Earlham and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology has been canceled.
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Anderson squeaks past Rose-Hulman
Anderson University scored in the 11th minute and held off a Rose-Hulman charge to earn a 1-0 men's soccer victory in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference semifinal match on Wednesday night at the Engineer Intramural Field.
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Rose swimmers near top because of vets, youth
Rose-Hulman swimming depth is at an all-time high, putting the Engineers at No. 15 in the NCAA Division III national rankings.
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A bigger taste?
On the night of Oct. 14, Rose-Hulman basketball fans were treated to something described by a couple of men’s players as “spectacular” and “epic” when they all jammed into Hulbert Arena for the insititute’s first “Midnight Madness” to tip off a season.
The memorable site wasn’t a 360-degree dunk or a no-look, behind-the-back pass.
It was Rose men’s coach Jim Shaw performing the “Bernie Dance,” based on the deceased character from the 1989 movie “Weekend At Bernie’s.”
“For a second, I thought he was having a seizure,” senior starting guard Austin Weatherford said with a straight face later. -
Rose women picked for 6th
The Rose-Hulman women’s basketball team has been picked to finish sixth in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference this season, according to a preseason poll of league coaches released Tuesday.
Hanover and Franklin were selected for first and second respectively, with just two poll points separating the two squads. -
Rose-Hulman no match for Franklin
Franklin showcased its No. 23 NCAA Division III ranking from d3football.com in a 56-0 victory over Rose-Hulman in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football Saturday.
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Rose blanks Woods 3-0 in women’s soccer
Rose-Hulman women’s soccer coach Amy Helliwell is riding a youth movement to what she hopes could produce a strong turnaround in this 2012 season.
It has so far.
Led by freshman Hayley Gilliam, a Zionsville native, the Engineers improved to 5-4-1 for the season with a dominant 3-0 victory against cross-county rival St. Mary-of-the-Woods College on Wednesday at Jim Rendel Field. -
METRO ROUNDUP: Engineers dominate HCAC honors
Rose-Hulman Institute student-athletes earned three Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Week awards, in results released by the league office on Monday.
West Vigo graduate John Burt was named HCAC Defensive Player of the Week and Eric Schaible the Special Teams Player of the Week in football, and B.J. Thompson earned Player of the Week honors in men’s soccer.
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Snyder throws for two early TDs in Rose-Hulman victory
Rose-Hulman scored 33 points in the middle two quarters and held off a Defiance rally to earn a 33-20 victory in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football opener for both schools Saturday.
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Rose’s record setter
Kyle Kovach got off to a great start in Rose-Hulman’s football season opener Saturday night in what turned out to be a heartbreaking 29-28 home loss to Kalamazoo College at Cook Stadium.
- More Rose-Hulman Headlines
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