TOURNEY TIME 2! No. 19 @MUCrusadersMBB set to host Rochester in WHAC Semifinals

WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 29 at 3 p.m.

WHERE: MU Activities Center

COST: 

• Adults - $7,
• Students/Seniors - $5; 
  • The first 50 MU students will recieve free admissions through the main entrance courtesy of New Five Nutrition while the first 50 All-Star campers will also receive free entry sponsored by the All-Star Basketball Camp

HOW TO WATCH: The Madonna Athletics Network will cover the game live at www.mucrusaders.com/live. 

SERIES HISTORY: Rochester leads the all-time series 33-9 and has won the last three games and 7-of-10. The last time MU defeated the Warriors at home was Nov. 21, 2006, a 71-62 victory.

Madonna is 1-4 in WHAC semifinal contests and 1-1 at home with the lone loss coming last season against Indiana Tech 83-68. The win came in 2013 when the defeated Lourdes 56-50. This is the first meeting for MU and RU in the WHAC tournament. 

Madonna defeated seventh-seed Siena Heights University 93-66 in the quarterfinals behind a Madonna tournament record 40 points from Dwight Burton, 21 from Joshua Reynolds and a double-double from Mark Mettie with 14 points and 15 rebounds. 

Armand Cartwright scored 35 points and Peter Agba netted 21 to help lead the Warriors to an 80-70 win over the six seed, University of Michigan-Dearborn.

This season, RU is 2-0 against MU averaging 77 points in the two games to MU’s 67. Reynolds has led the Blue and Gold in two meetings averaging 21.5 points while Burton has averaged 12 and Ryan Nunn has added 10 per game. Mettie has dominated the boards averaging 10 per game to go with four blocks in the two meetings and 6.5 points. 

Rochester has outshot MU 48.6 percent (56-of-115) to 39.1 percent (45-of-115) from the field, hit 18-of-37 (48.6%) from beyond the arc to MU’s 25 percent (11-of-44) from long range. The other factor in the games has been at the free-throw line where RU is 24-of-37 (64.9%) and MU is 33-of-53 (62.3%).

The Warriors enter play Saturday fifth in NAIA Division II in scoring defense per game (67.71) and eighth in turnover margin (5.129) while Cartwright ranks fifth in free throw percentage (.886) and 14th in total scoring (647) while Agba is sixth in field goal percentage (.618) and 16th in total rebounds (265). 

Cartwright leads the team at 20.9 points per game, 98 assists, is shooting 36.5 percent from the 3-point arc and nearly 43 percent from the field. Cap Wilson is second on the team at 14.3 points per game and is shooting nearly 53 percent from the field and 46 percent from three while Agba is averaging 13.9 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

The winner of Saturday’s game will advance to the WHAC championship on Monday, March 2. They will face the winner of top-seeded Indiana Tech and No. 5 seed Cornerstone University. The winner of the championship game will receive the second automatic bid to the NAIA national tournament in Sioux Falls, South Dakota March 12-17. 

If Indiana Tech defeats Cornerstone, the MU/RU winner will receive the automatic bid regardless of the championship outcome.