#1 Rock Valley men take 21-2 record into nightcap of Saturday's

#1 Rock Valley men take 21-2 record into nightcap of Saturday's "Rumble in the Rock" event

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Upcoming Date
Jan. 30 "Rumble in the Rock," All games to be played in the Physical Education Center on the campus of Rock Valley College
10:00 AM - East vs. Guilford (varsity girls)
12:00 PM - Jefferson vs. Auburn (varsity girls)
2:00 PM - East vs. Guilford (varsity boys)
4:00 PM - Rock Valley College vs. Harper College (women's basketball)
6:00 PM - Jefferson vs. Auburn (varsity boys)
8:00 PM - Rock Valley College vs. Harper College (men's basketball)

Probable Starters
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(Mo Jackson, LT Davis, Dalton Payton, Jontrell Robinson, Elijah Williams - RVC Athletics)

Rock Valley College (21-2, 5-2 in N4C)
PG- Mo Jackson, 5-10, So., Belvidere, IL; 8.0 ppg, 2.4 apg
SG- LT Davis, 5-11, So., Rockford, IL; 17.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg
SF- Dalton Payton, 6-6, So., Byron, IL; 9.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg
PF- Jontrell Robinson, 6-5, So., Rockford, IL; 1.2 ppg, 1.8 rpg
C- Elijah Williams, 6-7, So., Chicago, IL; 16.3 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 66.0% FG
Sub- Kooper Glick, 6-3, Fr., Columbus, IN; 12.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg
Sub- Dalton Menke, 6-3, Fr., Winnebago, IL; 8.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg

Harper College (10-13, 1-6 in N4C)
G- Marcus Gatlin, 5-9, So., Chicago, IL; 17.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 5.5 apg
G- Christian Poulsen, 5-9, Fr., Schaumburg, IL; 0.7 ppg, 1.1 rpg
G- Allias Burnett, 6-3, So., Joliet, IL; 18.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg
G/F- Abdul Mushtag, 6-2, So., Wheeling, IL; 8.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg
F- Marcus Dover, 6-3, Fr., Hoffman Estates, IL; 8.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg
6th – Corey Cross, 5-9, Fr., Lansing, IL; 0.5 ppg, 0.7 rpg

Harper College Notes
Harper College is an NJCAA DIII member of the North Central Community College Conference (N4C) located in Palatine, IL… Head coach of the Hawks is Dr. Justin Welke… Back on January 6th, 2016, Rock Valley opened the conference season with a 97-78 win over Harper in Palatine, IL… Dalton Menke led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 19 points on 7-11 from the field (4-8 3PT)… Elijah Williams posted a double-double with 17 points (8-10 FG) and 10 rebounds while Dalton Payton was a perfect 5 of 5 from the field (3-3 3PT) scoring 16 points… Menke and LT Davis had 6 assists each as the Golden Eagles had a season-high 29 assists on the evening… RVC also shot 56.9% from the field as a team for the game… Rock Valley hit 14 of their 28 3PT attempts for 50%... Harper College enters Saturday's game on a four-game losing streak.

Rock Valley College Notes
Rock Valley is an NJCAA Division III member of the North Central Community College Conference (N4C)… RVC is the #1 ranked team in the country at the NJCAA DIII level… The Golden Eagles have been ranked #1 for the last 20 national polls dating back to 10-27-2014... Rock Valley is currently 21-2, including a 14-1 mark against NJCAA DI and NJCAA DII schools… In the Craig Doty era, which started in the fall of 2012, the Golden Eagles have a 101-27 record which includes the 2014 NJCAA DIII National Championship and the 2015 NJCAA DIII National Runner-up… In their last contest out, Rock Valley beat NJCAA DII member Wilbur Wright College 99-65… The Golden Eagles dominated the game from start to finish, marked with a 40-25 rebounding advantage and holding Wright College to 40% shooting in the first half allowing them to build a 52-24 halftime advantage… RVC shot 33-62 (.532) from the field including 10-21 (.476) from behind the 3-point line… Six Golden Eagles scored in double-figures, led by LT Davis (Rockford, IL) scoring 23 points on 7-12 from the field in 26 minutes of play… Elijah Williams (Chicago, IL) scored 19 points (8-9 FG)… Williams, who is averaging 16.3 points per game this season, is currently ranked 2nd in NJCAA DIII in field goal percentage hitting 66% of his shots… Kooper Glick (Columbus, IN) scored 16 points while Dalton Payton (Byron, IL) filled up the box score with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals on the night… Jace Kitchen (DeKalb, IL) scored 11 points on 4-5 from the field while Mo Jackson (Belvidere) chipped in with 10 points and had a game-high 5 assists to go along with 0 turnovers… Rock Valley's game with Harper marks the beginning of the second go-around in N4C play.

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NJCAA DIII National Rankings
The Golden Eagles have been ranked #1 in the country for an unprecendented 20 straight NJCAA National Polls dating back to October 27th, 2014.  Here is the national poll released on Tuesday, January 26th, 2016 (Note: Records on the National Poll are reflective as of last Sunday).
 


NJCAA DIII Region 4/District 2 Standings
1. Rock Valley College, IL: 21-2 (.913)
2. Milwaukee Area Technical College, WI: 18-4 (.818)
3. Joliet Junior College, IL: 16-6 (.727)
4. College of DuPage, IL: 15-6 (.714)
5. Mid Michigan College, MI: 9-10 (.474)
6. Lorain County Community College, OH: 10-12 (.455)
7 Harper College, IL: 10-13 (.434)
8. Madison College, WI: 8-13 (.380)
 
Individual and Team Stats
*Note: The NJCAA DIII level is represented by approximately 120 men's basketball programs from Texas to Minnesota, from Illinois to New York and throughout the United States.
-The Golden Eagles are led by LT Davis who is averaging 17.4 PPG.  LT ranks 5th in the country in 3PT field goals made with 75. LT has scored a total of 400 points this year which is 7th best in the country… LT Davis redshirted last season after being named MVP of the 2014 NJCAA DIII National Tournament.  In the 2013-14 season Davis averaged 15.5 points per game, second on the team to Jared Mayes who averaged 19.0 PPG that season and earned National Player of the Year.
-Elijah Williams is second in scoring (16.3 PPG) and leads RVC in rebounding (7.9 RPG) this season.  Williams is 2nd in the country in FG% shooting 134-203 for a sizzling 66%.
-Kooper Glick is the third leading scorer for the Golden Eagles scoring 12.3 PPG.  Glick's 612 minutes played this season ranks him 23rd in the country.
-As a team, Rock Valley currently ranks 4th in 3PT made per game (10.5).  Last season the Golden Eagles ranked 6th at 9.2 3PTM per game.  In 2013-14 RVC finished 1st in the nation hitting 10.0 3PT shots per game. In Doty's first season, RVC ranked 2nd in the country at 9.2 3PTM per contest.
-The Golden Eagles are currently hitting a sizzling 74.6% of their free throws which ranks them 2nd in the nation behind only Ridgewater Community College (MN) who makes 77.3% of their attempts.
-Over the past three seasons the Golden Eagles have been ranked in the top 20 for assists per game.  This year RVC comes in at #17 (17.9 APG), in 2014-15 the Golden Eagles finished #7 in assists per game at 17.9 while in 2013-14, RVC handed out 17.8 assists per contest, good for 19th nationally.
 
Tough Scheduling
The Golden Eagles play one of the most difficult schedules in the country again this season…RVC has scheduled 13 of their 16 non-conference games against NJCAA D1 and D2 opponents including 2015 NJCAA D1 national tournament teams and top 10 ranked Vincennes University (W: 78-66, Oct. 30) and Indian Hills (W: 88-86, Nov. 7), as well as the 2015 NJCAA D2 National Runner-up John Wood Community College (W: 76-51, Nov. 13), all on the road.  Rock Valley will play no JV teams or prep schools.  For the complete schedule along with game times click here.
 
Tradition
The Golden Eagles men's basketball program started as NJCAA members in 1966 under Charles Behrends.  With a rich tradition, RVC has taken the men's basketball program to new heights over the past three seasons.  Despite reaching the NJCAA National Tournament only one time from 1966-2012 (in 2001 under Carl Armato), the Golden Eagles have won the NJCAA Region IV tournament each of the past three seasons to make three straight trips to the national tournament in New York.  The Golden Eagles have placed 7th, won the National Championship and was National Runner-up respectively, over the past three seasons.  To view the year-by-year success of the Golden Eagles program click here.
 
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(Head Coach Craig Doty - RVC Athletics)

Craig Doty is in his 4th season as the Golden Eagles' head coach. Doty has produced three of the best seasons in the 49 year history of the RVC program.  Rock Valley won the Region 4 Championship in all three seasons, earning a 7th place finish at the 2013 national tournament in Doty's inaugural season followed by a 30-5 season and winning the NJCAA DIII national championship in 2014. Last season, the Golden Eagles went 31-4 overall and made a return appearance in the National Championship game finishing 2nd in the country.  The 31 victories are the most in program history in a season.  In 2014, Doty was named the Spalding NJCAA national coach of the year, the Gary S. Cole coach of the national tournament, the NJCAA coaches association coach of the year, and the NJCAA national all-star game coach.  In all three seasons at RVC Doty earned Region 4 coach of the year, District 2 coach of the year as well as the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association coach of the year awards.  Doty graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in English from Morningside College (IA) and served previous stints as an assistant at the University of Sioux Falls (NCAA Division II), Riverland Community College (NJCAA), Central Wyoming College (NJCAA) and Morningside College (NAIA).  Doty served as interim head coach at Central Wyoming College in the spring of 2011 and also spent a season as the head boys basketball coach at Akron-Westfield high school (IA). 
 
 
 
 
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