Moge's Musings - February 5, 2014
No question that winter is still here. This has been one miserable week with games being rescheduled.
Fortunately, the roads should be clear for the Swedes to make it to Winfield Thursday night and Saturday Bethany will be in the friendly confines of Hahn Gym with Saint Mary.
The trip to Winfield could be a nasty trap game as the Builders are tough at home and boast the 1-2 punch of Cameron Clark and William Tisdale.
Clark scores the ball at a 20.3 ppg clip while Tisdale is good for 12.7 and remember Swede fans, Bethany had to go overtime to beat the Builders in Lindsborg before Christmas.
Albeit Clark's last second tip did force the extra period and Bethany set an NAIA record for the widest margin of victory in an overtime game—17 points, 108-91.
There is no question how the Swedes want to play and win games. Get the ball up and down the floor and score points. Right now that is nearly 90 per game.
When the Spires invade on what is to be another snowy night, they will bring Grant Greenburg to town to lead their charge.
Greenburg has been in the rarified air of the top five in the NAIA in scoring averaging 27.05 per game. In fact he was second behind Friends' Joe Mitchell and ahead of Idris Ibn Idris until recently when he was held to nine points in a conference game.
But with the Spires throwing 3-balls up most of the night or getting Greenburg on plays to the hoop where he can get to the foul line (86.1 percent—198 of 230), Saint Mary will be a tough out.
The Swedes were fortunate to have taken a one-point win home from Leavenworth and Saint Mary has wins over Sterling and Friends this season. That should be enough to make help fill the stands this weekend, snow or no snow.
As for the stats, Ibn Idris is still scoring at better than 28 points a game and is sixth in assists at 3.44 per game.
With the Swedes pouring in the points from all over the court, it's no surprise that Kirby Hawkins is 8th in the conference at 17.86 per game and Jordan Bieberle is in at 25th at 10.39. On a lesser team, Bieberle's numbers would be higher, but he doesn't force the issue and gets what is there.
(Photo by Jim Turner.)
On the girl's side of the ledger, the trip to 11th ranked Southwestern means they will have faced three of the best four teams in the conference in a row. Both Tabor and Ottawa had the horses inside to run away from Bethany.
Now Saturday night's game with Saint Mary is another story.
The Spire women are just a game ahead of the Swedes in the standings and if the Bethany gals come out with fire in their eyes for 40, play the kind of defense they are capable of; they have a better than 50-50 chance of grabbing another KCAC win.