Game Preview: Men's Basketball Visits Black Hawk College for First Road Game of Season
Moline, IL – Rock Valley College Men's Basketball will play its first road game of the season Tuesday, November 8th at 7:30 PM at NJCAA DII member Black Hawk College (Moline, IL).
Probable Starters




#1 NJCAA DIII Rock Valley College (1-0)
PG-
Malique Ross - 6'1, Fr., Oswego, IL; 10.0 ppg, 5.0 apg
SG-
Dalton Menke - 6'3, So., Winnebago, IL; 8.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 4.0 apg
SF-
Jace Kitchen - 6'6, So., DeKalb, IL; 5.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg
PF-
DeMari Davis - 6'6, R-Fr., Indianapolis, IN; 9.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg
C-
Alec Pena - 6'7, So., Rockton, IL; 22.0 ppg, 10.0 rpg
Probable Starters
Black Hawk College (3-0)
PG- Larry Dixon - 6'0, Fr., Rock Island, IL; 13.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg
SG- Tyler Houston - 6'3, Fr., Knoxville, IL; 9.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg
SG- Corielle Robinson - 6'4, Fr., Chicago, IL; 13.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg 3.0 apg
SF- Connor Fuller - 6'2, Fr., Oak Park, IL; 13.0 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.0 apg
PF- Kyle Epping - 6'5", So., Deland, FL; 6.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg
Rock Valley Wins Opener
On ring day honoring last year's 33-3 National Championship team, the Golden Eagles opened up the season with a 64-50 win over Cedar Valley College (Lancaster, TX)... Despite a slow start offensively, the Golden Eagles picked up the pace toward the end of the first half, heading into the break up 32-24...
Dalton Menke (Winnebago, IL) and
Alec Pena (Rockton, IL) both went into halftime with 8 points a piece... RVC got up as much as 20 in the second half before finishing the contest with a 14-point advantage... The Golden Eagle defense held the visiting Suns to a frigid 18-56 from the field (32.1%) and 4-19 from the 3 PT line (21.1%).
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 1-0, will travel to Moline, IL, Tuesday for a game against NJCAA DII member Black Hawk College... This will be the home opener for Black Hawk College... Rock Valley defeated Black Hawk College last year with 83-76 win at home... Chicago native
Elijah Williams paced the Golden Eagle offense with 25 points and 7 rebounds... 2016 NJCAA DIII Player of the Year
LT Davis finished the game with 17 points and 7 rebounds.
Tough Scheduling
RVC will play its next 3 match ups against NJCAA DII opponents (Tuesday against Black Hawk College (3-0), Saturday, November 12th against #3 ranked South Suburban (2-0), and Tuesday, November 15
th, against McHenry County College).... Following those three games, the Golden Eagles will match up with NJCAA DI #17 ranked Indian Hills on Friday, November 18
th.
Black Hawk Notes
Black Hawk College is a NJCAA DII member of the Arrowhead Conference located in Moline, IL… Head coach of the Braves, in his tenth season, is Darren Bizarri... Bizarri holds a 152-130 record as a head coach at Black Hawk... Bizarri's team finished with a 15-16 record last season, and comes into the 2016-2017 season with a young team full of freshman and only 3 sophomores... Black Hawk enters Tuesday's Region IV match-up with a 3-0 record, which they earned with multiple come from behind wins... Black Hawk came back from a 9-point deficit at half to beat Morton College 50-44 on Tuesday, November 1st... Following that, they battled back from a 10-point disadvantage at the half to defeat Olive-Harvey College 71-66... Black Hawk finished last week off with a 88-80 victory over Prairie State College.