It didn’t surprise anyone out Crestview Hills way that the Thomas More women’s basketball team – defending NAIA national champions and finalists the year before – were picked No. 1 in the nation in the first NAIA poll last week.
But the TMU men at No. 2? Sure, they made it to the Final Four in Kansas City last year but after the departure of senior Ryan Batte, the 6-foot-5 do-everything All-American who may well have been the best NAIA player in the nation, did Justin Ray’s guys really deserve to be ranked the second-best team in the country?
Maybe, just maybe they did deserve it. While the TMU women were winning their way through the wilds of Montana on a two-game weekend trip that started with a 62-54 win over NAIA No. 4 Carroll College in Helena, Mont., Friday, the men may have been even more impressive.
They headed off to Marion, Ind., Saturday to face. 5 Indiana Wesleyan in their season opener. Not the way a nation’s No. 2 team would usually choose to start. But the Saints made it pay off big, winning 79-63 with four of Battier’s teammates from a year ago doing most of the damage.
Lead among them was 6-5 redshirt junior Reid Jolly, out of Campbell County High, who double-doubled in his 39 minutes with 27 points and 12 rebounds. It took the Saints 12 minutes to get the lead but once they got it, they didn’t give it up.
You know the names of these Saints like 6-9 junior Noah Pack, from Georgetown, Ohio, who not only scored 14 points but led the Saints with five assists in his 31 minutes. Guard Casey George, out of Pickerington, Ohio, scored 14 points as well for a TMU team that hit on 33 of 62 shots (53.2 percent) from the field while making all eight free throws and outrebounding Indiana Wesleyan 25-22.
Returnee point guard Jacob Jones (Jeffersonville, Ind.) had the assist on a Jolly basket that tied it at 31 and the Saints moved on from there with a pair of threes before halftime. One of those came from transfer Scotty Draud, Northern Kentucky’s all-time leading high school scorer at Beechwood who spent last year redshirting at Kentucky Wesleyan.
UP NEXT: TMU opens at home Tuesday at 7 against Miami-Hamilton.
NO. 1 TMU WOMEN SPRINT OUT TO 3-0
They’re younger and smaller than last year’s national champs but the magic TMU’s women displayed in winning their opener on a 45-footer at the buzzer over No. 11 Indiana Wesleyan stayed with them several thousand miles away in Montana this weekend. Only this time, instead of a fast start and comeback finish, the Saints could not have started more slowly.
Down 9-0 and 19-8 in the first quarter to No. 4 Carroll Friday, the Saints rallied around the shooting of Conner alum Courtney Hurst to get themselves back in the game by halftime on a 20-8 run. Hurst would hit five threes for the evening on her way to a game-high 20 points. Her shooting keyed a 10-0 second half run that saw the Saints grab the lead for good.
The Saints’ leaders were mostly the same as in the opener – and same as last year: Highlands’ alum Zoie Barth fired in 10 of her 12 points in the second half. Emily Simon (Hilliard, Ohio), who hit the game-winning shot Monday, put the Saints ahead at the start of the second half.
One newcomer was Newport Central Catholic alum Rylee Turner, whose five points and three rebounds in the first half including her first-ever college three-pointer, helped keep TMU in the game. Ball-handler Rachel Martin (Summit Country Day) led the Saints with three assists while Kelley Brenner (Cincinnati Roger Bacon) joined Simon Kenton alum Mattison Vickers in Coach Jeff Hans’ deep lineup for the second-half rally.
TMU followed up the Carroll win with a 75-49 romp Saturday over the University of Providence (Mont.) Saturday. Alex Smith led the Saints with 21 points shooting three-for-three from three-point range and four-for-four from the line.
UP NEXT: The Saints get a break in the schedule now, returning to the court Thursday, Nov. 17, to open Mid-South Conference play at home against a University of Cumberlands team that split its season series with TMU a year ago.
SAINTS FOOTBALL RUNS OUT OF GAS AT GEORGETOWN
TMU guaranteed itself a sub-.500 season as it fell to 4-6 overall and 3-4 in the MSC after a 35-0 drubbing Saturday at Georgetown. This Saturday the Saints complete Coach Chris Norwell’s first season by hosting the University of the Cumberlands, a team TMU beat 26-9 last year, at Republic Bank Field at 1:30 p.m.
This was one of those “if only” games that saw TMU drop behind 14-0 only to drive the ball to the Georgetown one-yard line before getting stopped, the first of two drives into Georgetown territory without scoring. It was a theme that would carry over into the second half.
Del Thomas led the TMU defense with 11 tackles while quarterback Blaine Espinosa threw for 108 yards and rushed for 25 more.
SAINTS OPEN WITH A WRESTLING WIN
The NAIA No. 19 TMU wrestling team opened the season Friday with a 30-19 win over Truett-McConnell University.
With the match on the line going into the 285-pound class, TMU’s Daulton Mayer removed all doubt earning a fall just 23 seconds in -– the seventh-fastest in TMU history -– and close to Mayer’s fastest ever — 19 seconds.
TMU’s Ryan Moore would go on to win the 149-pound Open Division at the University of the Cumberlands Patriot Meet Saturday at Corbin while Mayer finished third in the 285-pound class. Moore pinned Division I Bellarmine’s Zac Cowan in 4:33 to win his class.
Sophomore Zavier Campsey (165 pounds) and 197-pounder Zachary Wilson each finished fourth in the freshman-sophomore competition.
UP NEXT: TMU next competes Nov. 20 at the Star City Classic in Salem, Va.
TMU VOLLEYBALL DROPS REGULAR SEASON FINALE
With a 3-0 loss (25-19, 26-24, 27-25) at Cumberland (Tenn.) Saturday, the Saints finished the regular season with a 17-11 record (10-4 in the Mid-South Conference). TMU actually led 19-18 the first set before getting outscored 7-0 down the stretch. That set the tone for the pair of two-point losses that followed.
Sydney Hilderbran, with 11 kills, and Ally Albrinck, with 10, led TMU with double-digit kills. Asia Ferrando and Richie Neu, with 22 and 14 digs respectively, led there. This was Ferrando’s 13th match with 21 or more digs. Sam McClanahan had 34 assists for a total of 1,002 for the season, the 10th Saint in history with a 1,000-plus season.
Friday on their Tennessee trip, TMU swept Tennessee Southern 25-15, 25-23, and 25-20.
NEXT UP: The MSC tournament against an opponent to be determined.
MEN’S SOCCER SEASON ENDS
With a 3-2 double-overtime loss to second-seed Bethel in the Mid-South Conference quarterfinals, the TMU men ended their season with a 10-6-2 record. The match ended in the 104th minute with a Bethel score.
Finn Bettenstein and Nathan Ortiz each had a goal and two shots on goal for TMU. First- year Emilio Benmerqui Rodriguez from Caracas, Venezuela, recorded four saves in goal.