Game Preview: Golden Eagles Host Nationally Ranked Programs in Thanksgiving Classic
Rockford, IL – Rock Valley College Men's Basketball (5-1) will host their 1st Annual Thanksgiving Classic Friday, November 25th and Saturday, November 26th. The classic will feature #1 NJCAA DIII Rock Valley College, #11 NJCAA DII Southwestern Community College (IA), #19 NJCAA DII Macomb Community College (MI), and NJCAA DI Kankakee Community College. The Golden Eagles will play Kankakee on Friday at 8:00 PM and Macomb Community College on Saturday at 3:00 PM. See below for the entire schedule for the RVC Thanksgiving Classic:
GAME SCHEDULE
NOVEMBER 25th, 2016
6:00 PM Southwestern CC vs Macomb CC
8:00 PM Rock Valley College vs Kankakee CC
NOVEMBER 26th, 2016
1:00 PM Kankakee Community College vs Southwestern CC
3:00 PM Macomb Community College vs Rock Valley College
Probable Starters
#1 NJCAA DIII Rock Valley College (5-1)
PG- Malique Ross - 6'1, Fr., Oswego, IL; 10.2 ppg, 5.5 apg
SG- Dalton Menke - 6'3, So., Winnebago, IL; 11.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg
SF- Elijah Pappas – 6'3, Fr., Rockford, IL; 4.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg
PF- DeMari Davis - 6'6, R-Fr., Indianapolis, IN; 6.8 ppg, 8.8 rpg
C- Alec Pena - 6'7, So., Rockton, IL; 20.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg
6th- Jace Kitchen - 6'6, So., DeKalb, IL; 9.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg
NJCAA DI Kankakee Community College (2-4)
PG- Gerald Duckworth - 6'1, Fr., Chicago, IL:; 7.3 ppg, 2.5 apg
SG- Tylen Williams - 6'4, Fr., Country Club Hills, IL; 9.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg
SF- Latrell Tidwell - 6'7, So., Cincinnati, OH; 22.0 ppg, 8.8 rpg
PF- Dante Emerson - 6'6, Fr., Bourbonnais, IL; 6.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg
C- Simeon Lepichev - 6'10", So., Sophia, Bulgaria; 9.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg
#19 NJCAA DII Macomb Community College (3-0)
PG- Vince Ramaci - 12.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg
SG-Dwight Burton; 11.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg
F- Antonio Capaldi- 10.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg
F- Malcom Cohen- 9.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg
C- Gary Perry II - 3.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg
#11 NJCAA DII Southwestern Community College (5-0)
PG- Calvin Chambers – 5'8, So., Memphis, TN; 8.0 ppg, 5.0 apg
SG- Jordan Johnson - 6'0, So., Des Moines, IA; 17.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg 4.2 apg
G- KeShawn Wilson - 6'2, So., Lincoln, NE; 14.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg
G- Brodric Thomas - 6'5, Fr., Bolingbrook, IL; 13.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg
PF- Jamil Maddred - 6'5", So., Camden, NJ; 8.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg
Rock Valley Takes Down Columbus State Community College
Last Sunday, Rock Valley traveled to Columbus, OH to face off against NJCAA DIII Columbus State Community College and came away with a 94-91 win... Rock Valley found themselves in a back and forth battle heading into halftime trailing by a point... The second half was just as back and forth until Rock Valley pulled away in the final four minutes coming away with the win... The Golden Eagles were led by sophomore Alec Pena (Rockton, IL), who scored a career high 38 points on 15-22 shooting, while also grabbing 7 rebounds... Rock Valley also got help from freshman Elijah Pappas (Rockford, IL) scoring a career-high 13 points on 6-10 shooting, to go along with 7 rebounds... 94 points marked the highest scoring output for the Golden Eagles in the 2017-17 campaign... Sunday's win also marked the fifth consecutive game where RVC won the battle of the boards.
Game Notes
Rock Valley is an NJCAA Division III member of the North Central Community College Conference (N4C)… RVC Men's Basketball entered the 2016-2017 season ranked #1 in the NJCAA DIII Preseason Poll… Rock Valley, with a record of 5-1, will host their Thanksgiving Classic Friday and Saturday... The Golden Eagles will play two games against NJCAA DI Kankakee Community College (Friday) & NJCAA DII Macomb Community College (Saturday)... The Golden Eagles look to grow their winning streak to five with two weekend wins... RVC currently ranks sixth in NJCAA DIII in 3 PT defense (holding opponents to 22%) and eighth in FT percentage (71.6%).
Kankakee Community College Notes
Kankakee Community College is a NJCAA DI school located in Kankakee, IL... The Cavaliers are coached by Chris Gardner in his second year as head coach... Last season, Kankakee CC finished the season 22-10 overall... Kankakee comes into the Thanksgiving Classic with a record of 2-4 with wins over Shawnee CC and Olivet Nazarene JV... The Cavaliers are led by sophomore Latrell Tidwell's (Country Club Hills, IL) 22 points per game and 8.8 rebounds per game.
Macomb Community College Notes
Macomb Community College is a NJCAA DII school out of Warren, MI... Macomb competes in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association (MCCAC)... The Monarchs are coached by Jim Twigg... Macomb currently holds an undefeated record of 3-0... Macomb has defeated all of its opponents by at least 30 points, scoring over 100 points in all three victories.. They are currently averaging 106 points per game with an average win margin of victory of 44 points points per game... The leading scorer for the Monarchs is Jalen Sykes with 13 points a game... The Monarchs feature five players in double figure scoring... In last year's match-up in Quincy, IL, the Golden Eagles defeated Macomb 84-71... RVC was led by a 27-point, 9-rebound effort from Columbus, IN native, Kooper Glick.
Southwestern Community College Notes
Southwestern Community College is an NJCAA DII located in Creston, IA... Southwestern competes in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC)... Southwestern CC is coached by Todd Lorensen in his second year at the helm... Last season, the Spartans were ranked in the Top 10 in NJCAA DII polls for 6 consecutive weeks, as his team finished 23-10 reaching the semi-finals of the ICCAC Regional Tournament... The Spartans are currently 6-0 while averaging 97.8 points per game as a team... They are led by Jordan Johnson (Des Moines, IA) 17.7 points per game with two other players scoring over 13 points per game.
