Rock Valley College Athletics

Game Preview: #1 Golden Eagles men's basketball puts perfect record to the test vs. 2-0 Black Hawk College

11/10/2015 10:42:00 AM

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Upcoming Dates
Nov. 10- vs. Black Hawk College, 7:30 PM CST; Rockford, IL

Probable Starters
Rock Valley College (5-0)
PG- LT Davis, 5-11, So., Rockford, IL; 21.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 44% 3 PT
SG- Dalton Menke, 6-3, Fr., Winnebago, IL; 9.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg
SF- Kooper Glick, 6-3, Fr., Columbus, IN; 11.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg
PF- Jontrell Robinson, 6-5, So., Rockford, IL; 2.4 ppg, 2.0 rpg
C- Elijah Williams, 6-7, So., Chicago, IL; 18.4 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 64.7% FG
Sub-G- Dalton Payton,  6-6, So., Byron, IL; 8.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg
Sub-PG- Mo Jackson, 5-10, So., Belvidere, IL; 10.8 ppg, 50% 3 PT

Black Hawk College (2-0)
PG- Terrance Fisher, 6-0, So., Moline, IL; 3.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 4.5 apg
G- Brian Richardson, 6-0, Fr., Rock Island, IL; 19.0 ppg, 60% 3 PT
F- Kyle Buhman, 6-6, So., Bettendorf, IA; 5.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg
F- Markus Johnson, 6-6, So., Chicago, IL; 6.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg
C- Brandon Vice, 6-7, So., Moline, IL; 22.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 65.4% FG
6th – Brandon Cole, 6-0, So., Ford Heights, IL; 14 ppg, 3.5 rpg

Rock Valley College Notes
Rock Valley is an NJCAA Division III member of the North Central Community College Conference (N4C)… In the NJCAA Division III Preseason Poll (October 27th, 2015), the Golden Eagles earned the top spot with a #1 ranking nationally… RVC is coming off of a big weekend at the Blackwell Tire Classic in Ottumwa, IA… The Golden Eagles improved to 5-0 with a 109-86 victory over Western Iowa Tech CC (Sioux City, IA) and a 88-86 win over the host school, NJCAA DI powerhouse Indian Hills CC… In Friday night's win, the Golden Eagles had an incredibly balanced scoring attack, led LT Davis with 28 points, including a smooth 6-9 clip from behind the arc… Dalton Menke (17), Dalton Payton (15), Elijah Williams (14), Mo Jackson (13), and Kooper Glick (11) rounded out the 6 Golden Eagles reaching double figure scoring… Williams, Menke, and Glick led the Golden Eagle rebounding effort with 9, 8, and 7, respectively… RVC continued its hot shooting at the expense of Western Iowa Tech CC going 30-60 (50%) from the field, 14-29 (48.3%) from beyond the arc, and 35-39 (89.7%) from the charity stripe… On Saturday night, RVC finished off #7 NJCAA DI Indian Hills CC with a tip in from Elijah Williams at the buzzer… The Golden Eagles were led by a giant effort from Williams' 31 points and 15 rebounds… Also cracking double figure scoring for the Golden Eagles were LT Davis (17), Mo Jackson (15), and Dalton Payton (12)... With the win over Indian Hills, the RVC improves to 3-0 this season over NJCAA DI opponents…The Golden Eagles currently lead NJCAA DIII schools in total points (474) and FT percentage (79.4%)…

Black Hawk College Notes
Black Hawk College is an NJCAA DII member of the Arrowhead Conference located in Moline, IL… Head coach of the Braves is Daren Bizarri…Bizarri is currently in his 9th year at the helm of Black Hawk College, holding a career record of 134-115… Black Hawk College is currently 2-0 in this young season with wins over Lincoln College (NJCAA DII – Lincoln, IL) and St. Ambrose University JV… In last year's contest in Moline, the Golden Eagles pulled away with an 83-73 road victory… Tuesday's contest marks the first Region IV opponent the Golden Eagles have played this season…

Tough Scheduling
The Golden Eagles will play one of the most difficult schedules in the country again this season…RVC has scheduled 14 of their 16 non-conference games against NJCAA D1 and D2 opponents including NJCAA D1 national tournament teams 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 (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.


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).