2018 MWC Men’s Basketball Tournament Preview
Contact: Heather Benning, Executive Director, 920-430-0934
GRINNELL, Iowa - The 2018 Midwest Conference (MWC) Men’s Basketball Tournament will take place this Friday and Saturday on the campus of Monmouth College.
The Fighting Scots (18-7) earned the right to host the Tournament after posting a 15-3 league record en route to their first league championships since 1990. The No. 1 seed swept St. Norbert and split with Ripon and Lake Forest during regular-season Conference play.
Semi-final action is set to begin at 5 p.m. Friday with the 2-3 match-up between Ripon College and St. Norbert College.
The MWC Tournament defending champion, Ripon College, is participating in the event for the sixth time in as many years. The Red Hawks (17-6, 14-4 MWC) swept St. Norbert during the regular season, edging the Green Knights (69-61) on the road January 17 before a getting a definitive home victory (76-61) just two weeks later. Starting 113 of 115 games on the season, the quintet of Tyler Semenas (Sr.), Isaac Masters (Sr.), Cal Schultz (Jr.), Trent Jones (So.) and Kyle Rutkowski (So.) will bring a consistent look to Friday’s first semi-final. Semenas enters the tournament after scoring a career-high 28 points in the final regular season game of the year. Semenas is among the league’s Top 10 in four categories: scoring (6th), FG% (2nd), steals per game (3rd), and FT% (8th), while Masters’ name appears in five: FT% (1st), assists per game (5th), scoring (7th), three-point field goals per game (8th) and FG% (10th).
No. 3 St. Norbert College (19-6, 14-4 MWC) enters the tournament for the eleventh consecutive time. Playing without impact player D.J. DeValk who is reported to be out for the remainder of the season with a broken hand, the Green Knights will need to rely on senior Mitchell Reinthaler and juniors Riley Haas, Brian Luteyn and Taylor Penn to lead the relatively young team. The lone Green Knight to start and play in every game this season, Reinthaler ranks among the league’s top ten in scoring (9th), rebounding (4th), field goal percentage (4th), free throw percentage (3rd), and blocked shots (5th).
In the second semi-final of Friday night, Monmouth will face No. 4 seed Lake Forest College. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Monmouth suffered a narrow road defeat (70-72) to Lake Forest back on January 3, then turned the tables at home on January 20 with a 76-69 victory.
Seniors Justin Aluya - a forward - and Will Jones - a guard - lead the Fighting Scots. Both were 2017 Second Team All-Conference honorees, while Aluya twice garnered Performer of the Week accolades this season. They rank eighth and tenth, respectively, among conference scoring leaders. Aluya leads the league in rebounding and blocked shots and is fifth in field goal percentage, while Jones also ranks among the MWCs top ten in rebounding (6th), blocked shots (4th), free throw percentage (2nd), assists (7th) and steals (6th).
Returning to the tournament for the third year in a row, the Foresters (17-8, 13-5 MWC) are seeking their first tournament title in school history. Senior Eric Porter, junior Danny Sotos and first-year Sean Espinosa started all 25 games this season. Porter leads the MWC in three-point field goals per game, ranks second in three-point field goal percentage and ranks third among MWC scoring leaders, while teammate Sotos is among the league’s top performers on the glass, ranking seventh in rebounding. With an average of 5.1 assists per game, Espinosa ranks third in the MWC.
The winners of the Friday night semi-finals will advance to Saturday’s MWC Tournament final. Tip-off for Saturday’s game is 3:00 p.m. in Glennie Gymnasium of the Monmouth College Huff Athletic Center. The winner of the tournament final receives the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.
Admission to the MWC tournament is $5 for adults and $3 for students and youth. Children under 3 are free. MWC students, faculty and staff with valid campus identification will be admitted free of charge.