Wednesday: Close encounters

No. No. 16 Illinois Wesleyan held off No. 11 Chicago, while No. 18 UW-Platteville edged North Central (Ill.) ahead in overtime, and St. Thomas just missed upsetting its D1 foe. On the women’s side, UW-Whitewater continued its hot start with all eight ranked teams winning comfortably.

Illinois Wesleyan topped Chicago 72-69 in a meeting between All-American Nick Roper’s new team and his old team.

The Titans built, lost and then rebuilt by double digits on the Maroons throughout the second half until Shane Regan scored back-to-back baskets to pull Chicago within three points with 1:13 to play. Chicago split two free throws on its next possession to get within 71-69 and had a chance to tie the game, but Karlo Colak swept the ball to IWU and Josh Fridman pushed the Titans’ lead back to three with a free throw. Chicago had two looks at tying the game on its last possession, but missed both.

Illinois Wesleyan (3-0) had a balanced attack with five players scoring in double figures, led by Noah Cleveland (14 points, eight rebounds). Noah Roper, who was first-team All-Region last season as a senior at Illinois Wesleyan and is now a graduate student in Chicago, scored 14 points and eight rebounds.

North Central scored six points in the final two minutes to force overtime with No. 18 UW-Platteville, but the Pioneers prevailed in overtime, 66-60.

After Joey Fuhremann gave Platteville a 56-50 lead, the Cardinals scored six in a row and tied the game on Tyler Disilvio’s buzzer-beating jumper. The Pioneers regained control with an 8-0 run, capped by Miles Hettinger’s layup with 1:23 left in overtime. Fuhremann filled the stat sheet with 12 points, nine rebounds and two blocks for the Pioneers (3-1).

St. Thomas just missed upsetting Division I Texas-El Paso before the Miners escaped with an 84-83 overtime win. The Celts led 41-30 at the half and 72-69 with 11 seconds left in regulation time before UTEP tied the game with a three-pointer at the buzzer. St. Thomas had an 83-82 lead very late in overtime, but UTEP won the game on a tip-in with one second left.

Corey Thompson led all players with 34 points, going 10-for-21 from the field and 10-for-15 from the foul line. Angel Thompson added 10 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Celts, whose record is not affected by this practice result.

On the women’s side, eight ranked teams took the field, but none of them had close games.

No. 2 Scranton followed Sunday’s exhibition win over D1 Pitt by toppling Drew in both teams’ conference opener, 71-48. The Royals led 44-15 at halftime and had four players score double figures. Katie Gorski, who had a double-double against Pitt, posted another with 12 points and 10 rebounds against the Rangers.

No. 4 Smith made sure history didn’t repeat itself for a third time as the Bears destroyed Mass-Dartmouth 83-38. The Corsairs have defeated Smith the past two seasons, but Smith held Mass-Dartmouth to 13 field goals to 19 on Wednesday night. Felicia Fongemie scored 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting in 20 minutes for the Bears (3-0).

No. 20 Christopher Newport turned up the defensive pressure to push past TCNJ, 85-59. The Captains forced 11 turnovers in the fourth quarter and 25 overall, outscoring the Lions 60-24 in the paint. Sydney Worsham scored 17 points off the bench for Christopher Newport (3-2).

UW-Whitewater continued its impressive start with a 73-62 win at home over Carroll. Renee Rittmeyer scored eight of her team-high 21 points and led the Warhawks (4-0) with 11 rebounds. Natalie Gricius scored 29 points for the Pioneers (2-2).

Elizabethtown and Susquehanna both remained perfect ahead of their Saturday match. The Blue Jays improved to 3-0 with a 70-67 win over Moravian, while Susquehanna handled Juniata 80-43.