Rock Valley College Athletics

Game Preview: #1 Rock Valley hosts Madison College in rematch of last year's region championship game

1/12/2016 10:07:00 AM

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Upcoming Date
Jan. 13 vs. Madison College, 7:30 PM; Rockford, IL

Probable Starters

(LT Davis, Dalton Menke, Kooper Glick, Alec Pena, Elijah Williams - RVC Athletics)

Rock Valley College (18-0, 2-0 in N4C)
PG- LT Davis, 5-11, So., Rockford, IL; 17.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg
SG- Dalton Menke, 6-3, Fr., Winnebago, IL; 8.9 ppg, 3.2 rpg
SF- Kooper Glick, 6-3, Fr., Columbus, IN; 12.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg
PF- Alec Pena, 6-6, Fr., Rockton, IL; 6.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg
C- Elijah Williams, 6-7, So., Chicago, IL; 16.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 63.7% FG
Sub- Dalton Payton, 6-6, So., Byron, IL; 9.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg
Sub- Mo Jackson, 5-10, So., Belvidere, IL; 7.9 ppg, 2.4 apg
 
Madison College (6-9, 1-1 in N4C)
PG- Kristian Zimmerman, 6-3, So., Green Bay, WI; 14.7 ppg, 5.1 apg, 4.8 rpg
SG- Cortez McCree, 6-2, Fr., Madison, WI; 9.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg
SF- Ethan Lurquin, 6-5, Fr., Poynette, WI; 19.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg
PF- Malik Henderson, 6-5, So., Milwaukee, WI; 7.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg
C- Markus Tobias, 6-5, Fr., Oregon, WI; 4.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg
6th – Tyler Meier, 6.1, So., Monticello, WI; 8.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg

Madison College Notes
Madison College is an NJCAA DIII member of the North Central Community College Conference (N4C) located in Madison, WI… Head coach of the WolfPack is Scot Vesterdahl… Rock Valley is 6-1 overall versus Madison during the Craig Doty era… The Golden Eagles went 3-0 against the WolfPack last season… In their last meeting on March 1st, 2015 in Joliet, IL, Rock Valley came away victorious with a 64-54 win to secure their third consecutive Region 4/District 2 Championship… The Golden Eagles were led by Dalton Payton's 18 points and 6 rebounds… In their three contests in the 2014-2015 season, Rock Valley won by an average margin of victory of 16.7 ppg.

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 17 national polls dating back to 10-27-2014... Rock Valley is currently a perfect 18-0, including a 13-0 mark against NJCAA DI and NJCAA DII schools… In their last contest out, Rock Valley beat #7 Milwaukee Tech 75-65 in Milwaukee, WI on Saturday… Rock Valley College was led by LT Davis who scored a game-high 22 points (6-11 3PT) to go along with 7 rebounds… Dalton Payton continued his solid N4C play, scoring 13 points and grabbing 7 rebounds… RVC big men Elijah Williams and Alec Pena each scored 12 points… The Golden Eagles held Milwaukee to a chilly 37.3% (22-59) from the floor, including 9-32 (28.1%) in the second half.

Dalton Payton starts off conference season hot, continues to bring championship-level play to Rock Valley

(Dalton Payton - RVC Athletics)

Redshirt sophomore Dalton Payton has started off the conference season hot.  The Byron, Illinois native is shooting 60% from the field including 57% from 3-point range in leading the Golden Eagles to a 2-0 conference record.  Payton has averaged 14.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game in conference wins on the road over Harper College and over #7 Milwaukee Tech for the balanced Golden Eagles attack.
"Dalton is one of our best players and is willing to come off the bench so we have more balanced scoring in our second rotation," head coach Craig Doty stated. "Dalton is a team-first guy who understands the game of basketball. It wouldn't be easy for many returning sophmores who started 27 games as a freshman and led their team to the National Championship game to not hear their name called in the starting lineup.  Dalton doesn't care about that stuff.  He cares about winning. He understands he is one of the team leaders in minutes played and that scoring balance in our rotations is important for our success."
Payton redshirted in 2013-14 before playing his freshman (2014-15) and sophomore (2015-16) seasons.  With Payton in the program the Golden Eagles have achieved a record of 79-9 (.897) which includes a National Championship in Payton's redshirt year, a National Runner-up last year, and a perfect 18-0 record so far this season.  The 6'6" guard helped the Golden Eagles win the 2014-15 conference championship (t) and was named MVP of the Region IV/District II tournament last season in helping lead RVC back to New York for the national tournament for the third consecutive year.  The Golden Eagles have been ranked #1 in the country in every game that Payton has played at RVC (from October 27, 2014 through today).
"Dalton is a winner.  He is an 'every-day guy,' who will run through a wall for his teammates and the coaching staff. He is the type of guy you want in your fox hole.  We have a lot of guys like Dalton in our program and that allows us to succeed at a high level."

NJCAA DIII Region 4/District 2 Standings
1. Rock Valley College (IL): 18-0
2. Milwaukee Area Technical College (WI): 14-3
3. College of DuPage (IL): 13-3
4. Joliet Junior College (IL): 12-5
5. Lorain County Community College (OH): 9-8
6. Harper College (IL): 9-9
7. Madison College (WI): 6-9
8. Mid Michigan College (MI): 5-9

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.
 

(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 boysbasketball coach at Akron-Westfield high school (IA).