Tribune-Star staff report
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NORTH MANCHESTER —
Rose-Hulman improved to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball with a 70-52 win at Manchester University on Wednesday night.
Junior Julian Strickland led three Engineers in double figures with 19 points. Senior Austin Weatherford added 18 points and five assists. Both players tied for team-high honors with four steals.
Senior Brenton Balsbaugh pitched in with 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field and seven rebounds. Junior Jon Gerken scored seven points with 10 rebounds, and senior Nate Gissentanner also had seven points.
Rose turned a 25-25 halftime tie into an 18-point victory with a 45-point outburst in the second half. The Engineers shot 61 percent from the field and hit 7 of 12 shots from 3-point range in the final 20 minutes.
Rose-Hulman jumped out to a 39-30 lead with a 14-5 out of the second half locker room on three-pointers by Weatherford, junior James Pillischafske, Strickland and another by Weatherford. Manchester rallied to close within four points at 44-40 on a trey by Jon Thompson.
The Engineers answered with an 11-4 run to gain a 55-44 lead at the 8:32 mark on five straight points from Gissentanner. Rose pushed the margin to a game-high 19 at 66-47 with another 11-3 run to secure the victory.
The Engineers will return to action Saturday afternoon at league rival Bluffton.
ROSE-HULMAN (70) — Strickland 7-12 1-2 19, Weatherford 7-14 1-1 18, Balsbaugh 5-6 2-2 12, Gissentanner 3-4 1-1 7, Gerken 2-6 3-4 7, Pillischafske 1-5 0-0 3, Miller 1-2 0-0 2, Martin 1-3 0-0 2, Houpt 0-0 0-0 0, Dodd 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-53 FG, 8-10 FT, 70 TP.
MANCHESTER (52) — Thompson 6-8 1-2 16, Flores 5-8 0-0 11, Schrock 4-4 0-0 10, Jackson 3-6 2-2 8, Dolezal 2-5 2-2 6, Newlin 0-6 1-2 1, Feitshans 0-0 0-0 0, Odle 0-0 0-0 0, Aguirre 0-1 0-0 0, Sims 0-0 0-0 0, House 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 20-42 FG, 6-8 FT, 52 TP.
Halftime score — RH 25, MU 25. 3-point goals — RH 8-23 (Strickland 4-6, Weatherford 3-7, Pillischafske 1-5, Miller 0-1, Martin 0-2, Dodd 0-1, Gissentanner 0-1), MU 6-10 (Thompson 3-5, Schrock 2-2, Flores 1-1, Newlin 0-1, Jackson 0-1). Total fouls — RH 8, MU 9. Fouled out — none. Rebounds — RH 30 (Gerken 10), MU 19 (Thompson and Flores 4). Assists — RH 16 (Weatherford 5), MU 13 (Dolezal and Jackson 3). Att. — 176.
Women’s basketball
• Manchester University 53, Rose-Hulman 40 — At Hulbert Arena, Manchester held Rose to 34 percent from the field with a strong defensive effort to earn a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory.
Katie Artberburn came off the bench to lead all scorers with 15 points for Manchester. Janelle Moss added 14 points for the Saprtans.
Junior Lauren Meadows paced the Rose offensive attack with 14 points on 7-for-14 shooting from the field. Junior Kelsey Ploof added a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Sophomore Sheree Williams joined freshman Addie Johnson with five points each. Junior Andi Evers provided support with 12 rebounds.
The tight first half battle featured four ties and 10 lead changes in the early going. The teams battled to tied scores at 7, 10 and 14, before Manchester closed the first half on a 9-2 run to take a seven-point edge into the break.
In the second half, Manchester pushed the lead to 15 points at 35-20 before Rose-Hulman chipped away with seven straight points to close within 35-27 on a layup by Williams at the 8:03 mark.
Manchester answered with five straight points to hold off the rally and secure the victory.
Rose-Hulman (2-3 overall, 0-2 HCAC) will return to action Saturday afternoon at Bluffton. The Spartans improved to 2-4 and 2-0 respectively.
MANCHESTER (53) — Arterburn 4-9 4-4 15, Moss 7-13 0-1 14, Lang 2-8 3-4 7, Ailor 1-1 2-2 4, Meiklejohn 1-9 1-4 3, Field 0-3 2-2 2, Kruger 0-0 2-2 2, Reneau 1-2 0-0 2, Hamilton 1-3 0-0 2, Rettig 0-2 2-2 2, Childress 0-2 0-0 0, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Daugherty 0-1 0-0 0, Hammond 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 17-55 FG, 16-21 FT, 53 TP.
ROSE-HULMAN (40) — Meadows 7-14 0-1 14, Ploof 3-9 6-8 12, Johnson 2-6 1-2 5, Williams 2-4 1-4 5, Morris 0-3 2-2 2, Evers 1-6 0-0 2, Gibbs 0-0 0-0 0, Barnes 0-0 0-0 0, Fuhs 0-0 0-0 0, Dalton 0-0 0-0 0, Ottone 0-0 0-0 0, Cain 0-2 0-0 0, Gilliam 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-44 FG, 10-17 FT, 40 TP.
Halftime score — MU 23, RH 16. 3-point goals — MU 3-15 (Arterburn 3-7, Meiklejohn 0-1, Field 0-1, Childress 0-1, Daugherty 0-1, Lang 0-2, Rettig 0-2), RH 0-9 (Morris 0-1, Cain 0-1, Evers 0-3, Meadows 0-4). Total fouls — MU 19, RH 15. Fouled out — none. Rebounds — MU 35 (Lang 6), RH 39 (Evers 12). Assists — MU13 (Meiklejohn 4), RH 6 (Ploof 3). Att. — 250.
Soccer
• Engineers named — Two Rose-Hulman players have been picked for the National Soccer Coaches Association of America all-Great Lakes Region women’s team for the first time in school history, according to results released this week.
Freshman goalkeeper Lucinda Combs captured second-team all-region honors and Nicky Wheeler was a third-team all-region selection.
Combs and Wheeler mark the fourth and fifth Rose-Hulman women’s soccer players to earn all-region accolades and the first since Jennifer Gordon captured all-region and third-team All-America honors in 2007.
Combs was named Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and to the first-team all-conference squad. She set a school record with eight shutouts; her save percentage of .875 led the HCAC and her goals-against average of 0.78 ranked third in the league.
Wheeler joined Combs as a first-team all-HCAC selection. She finished third on the Engineers in scoring with four goals, including two game-winning goals.
Rose finished 9-7-3 overall and 4-3-2 in HCAC play for the team’s first winning season since 2008.
Football
• Rose tackle an academic honoree — Sophomore Nick Buchta of Rose-Hulman has earned Capital One NCAA Division III Academic All-America honors, it was announced Tuesday.
Buchta becomes the 98th Academic All-American in Rose history, the 31st football award. Thomas Reives was the most recent football honoree following the 2009 season, and 12 Engineer football players have earned Academic All-American honors since 2002.
Buchta appeared in nine games with six starts at left tackle. His freshman year’s grade-point average was 4.00 in mechanical engineering.
