Rock Valley College Athletics

Game Preview: #1 Rock Valley College puts perfect record to the test vs. undefeated McHenry

11/30/2015 11:13:00 AM

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Upcoming Dates
Dec. 1- vs. McHenry County College, 7:15 PM; Crystal Lake, IL

Probable Starters
Rock Valley College (10-0)
PG- LT Davis, 5-11, So., Rockford, IL; 19.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 41.9% 3 PT
SG- Dalton Menke, 6-3, Fr., Winnebago, IL; 8.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg
SG- Dalton Payton, 6-6, So., Byron, IL; 9.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg
SF- Kooper Glick, 6-3, Fr., Columbus, IN; 12.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg
C- Elijah Williams, 6-7, So., Chicago, IL; 17.3 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 62.2% FG
6th- Mo Jackson, 5-10, So., Belvidere, IL; 8.8 ppg, 2.6 apg
 
McHenry County College (5-0)
PG- Tyler Baker, 5-11, Fr., Crystal Lake, IL; 6.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4 spg
SG- Tyler Lewis, 6-0, Fr., Chicago, IL; 14.6 ppg, 4.2 apg
SF- Jessie McKinley, 6-4, Fr., DeKalb, IL; 7.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg
PF- Teyvious Montgomery, 6-6, So., Rockford, IL; 25.6 ppg, 16.0 rpg
C- Eric Grens, 6-10, So., Streamwood, IL; 3.0 ppg, 7.4 rpg
6th – Dustan Lewis, 6-0, Fr., Blue Island, IL; 10.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg

McHenry County College Notes
McHenry is an NJCAA DII member of the Skyway Conference located in Crystal Lake, IL… Head coach of the Scots is Dave Pettit… In their last contest out (11/24/15), McHenry traveled to Malta, IL and defeated Kishwaukee College 84-77… The Golden Eagles have had a good amount of success against the Scots in the last two seasons going 2-0 and boasting an average margin of victory of 35.5 points per game in those outings… In last year's match-up, Rock Valley College walked away with a comfortable 102-51 victory in Rockford, IL… The Rock Valley defense was strong from start to finish, forcing 21 McHenry turnovers and holding the Scots to a frigid 16-50 FG (32.0%) and 3-14 3PT (21.4%) performance from the field… The Golden Eagles had five players in double figures, paced by current University of Sioux Falls player, Jared Mayes (19) and current University of Minnesota-Crookston player, Ben Grygiel (16)… Former Belvidere HS standout Quentin Canty added 14 points and 5 rebounds off of the bench… Rock Valley out-rebounded McHenry 48-24 in this game… Teyvious Montgomery, a Rockford Lutheran graduate, leads the Scots with 25.6 ppg (ranked 4th in NJCAA DII) and 16.0 rpg (ranked 1st in NJCAA DII)

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, the next poll will be released on Tuesday prior to tip-off… The Golden Eagles are a perfect 10-0 on the season which includes wins over two top 10 NJCAA D1 programs (Vincennes and Indian Hills) as well as the 11th ranked team in NJCAA D2 (John Wood)… RVC is coming off an 85-60 victory over Sauk Valley Community College last Tuesday…The win marked the 5th victory for the Golden Eagles over a NJCAA DI school… The Golden Eagles have won by double digits in four of their five wins over NJCAA DI schools… In last Tuesday's win, the Golden Eagles overwhelmed Sauk Valley on the glass with a 59-32 victory on the battle of the boards… Of those 59 rebounds, 28 of them were of the offensive variety… Rock Valley's bench was also strong, outscoring Sauk Valley's bench 43-24… Despite an off-night shooting (36.6% FG, 29.4% 3 PT), Rock Valley had five players in double figures, led by 17 points from Dalton Payton… LT Davis (13), Kooper Glick (12), Elijah Williams (11), and Jace Kitchen (11) rounded off the Golden Eagles in double figures… Kitchen led Rock Valley in rebounding, hauling in 9 boards on the game.

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 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.
 

(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).