On Friday, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference will host its first-ever Men’s and Women’s Basketball Conference Championship Tournament games, as the 2012-13 Men’s Basketball Championship begins with a semifinal game between #3 seed Trevecca Nazarene and #2 seed Central State University, hosted by Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio. Following the first semifinal match, #4 Urbana University will take on the top seed and host Cedarville Yellow Jackets.


Men’s Championship Schedule

Semifinal #1 - Friday, March 8, 2013 - 5:00 PM (EST)
#3 Trevecca Nazarene (color uniforms) vs. #2 Central State University (white uniforms)

Semifinal #2 - Friday, March 8, 2013 - 7:30 PM (EST)
#4 Urbana University (color uniforms) vs. #1 Cedarville University (white uniforms)

NOTE: Between games one and two on Friday, the G-MAC will announce and present all the conference awards and honors, including Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Coach of the Year, and the All-Conference First, Second, and Honorable Mention teams.

Championship - Saturday, March 9, 2013 - 2:00 PM (EST)
Winner of Semifinal #1 vs. Winner of Semifinal #2 (top remaining seed will be home team and wear white)


Men’s Championship Preview

With a regular-season that came down to the final conference game between Cedarville and Central State for the top seed and the right to host the 2012-13 tournament, it should be an exciting experience for this inaugural season. The Cedarville University Yellow Jackets (18-8 overall and 5-1 conference) earned the top seed, dropping its only conference game to Trevecca Nazarene University in the G-MAC’s first-ever men’s conference game. Since then, Cedarville won its next five conference games by an average of 13 points per game.

Central State University, who finished second to Cedarville after dropping the regular-season finale, ended the regular-season at 17-9 overall and 4-2 in conference. The Marauders went a perfect 4-0 against Urbana and Trevecca, but dropped both contests to Cedarville by a combined total of only 14 points. Among CSU’s conference wins was an exciting overtime win at home against Trevecca, only days after an overtime road victory against Notre Dame College.  

The Trevecca Nazarene University Trojans finished the season 10-16 overall, but finished 3-3 in conference. They won two games against Urbana and opened the conference season with the victory over top-seed Cedarville. TNU lost meetings to Central State, but only by seven points and then six points in overtime. The teams only other loss was a revenge game against Cedarville, which the Yellow Jackets took by 16 points at Cedarville. Despite the overall record below .500, Trevecca is a dangerous #3 seed.

Urbana University, which finished the conference regular-season without a win at 0-6, finished 10-19 overall and played some tight G-MAC games against Central State and Trevecca, however against their semifinal opponent, Cedarville, the Blue Knights lost by 17 and 18 points in the two games.


Players to Watch

A handful of players really stood out this season, led by the regular-season scoring champion Armond Battle of Urbana University. Despite not winning a game in conference, Urbana was the second leading scoring offense in conference at 74.6 points a game and Battle was the only player to average over 20 points a game, at 21.1 points per contest. He scored a conference-high 506 points, only six more than Central State’s DeMarkus Isom-Jones, though Isom-Jones played in two more games than Battle.

The league’s top-three scorers were Battle (21.1 ppg), along with Isom-Jones at 19.2 points per game, and Cedarville’s Zimmy Nwogbo with 18.4 points per game. Nwogbo won the first-ever Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Week, while Battle won the final AOTW honor. Battle received the honor twice, with Isom-Jones being named once, but Nwogbo seemed to cement his name on the honor, winning AOTW five times, including three-straight prior to Battle winning the season’s final week. Cedarville led the way with seven total AOTW awards as Austin Foote collected two.

Urbana featured the high-scoring duo, as Battle (21.1 ppg) teamed with the G-MAC’s fourth highest scorer, Danny Goins (15.0 ppg) to put up a combined 36.1 points per game. Isom-Jones (19.2 ppg) and teammate Phillip Gates (12.3 ppg) scored 31.5 points per game for Central State; Nwogbo (18.4 ppg) and Foote (10.8 ppg) combined for 29.2 points per game; and Marquise Rudolph, who was fifth in the conference with 14.4 points per game and Maliek Daniels, who was sixth in scoring with 13.6 points per game, totaled a combined 28 points.

Nwogbo led the conference on the boards with 8.2 per game, and also led the conference in shooting at 64.8% from the floor.  CSU’s Gates led the conference in assists with 5.7 per game and 147 total.


Men’s Championship Match-ups

In the first semifinal, #3 Trevecca Nazarene will look to advance against #2 Central State. During the regular-season, the Marauders won both games, but neither game was a statement win against TNU, winning 76-70 in overtime at home, and 71-64 on the road.

In the first game in Nashville, Central received 17 points from Isom-Jones, while Gates chipped in 16 and LeDonte body scored 15. The team shot .45.5% from the field, but was held to just 4-14 from long range.  The obvious difference in the game came from the free throw line as an aggressive CSU offensive attack led to nine more free throw attempts and eight more makes.

TNU actually out-shot Central 48.1% to 45.5%, but had similar struggles from long range, making only five of 18 attempts. The Trojans were led by Maliek Daniels 17 points and Christopher Elliott joined him in double-figures with 12 points. JP Nyadaro had seven points on only 3-5 shooting, but managed a game-high 10 rebounds.

In the second match-up, an overtime thriller in Wilberforce, CSU was once again led by Isom-Jones, who scored 20 points. Three other players scored in double-figures - Body with 16, Lee Tabb with 15, and Charles McNeal with 10, to go with a game-high 10 rebounds.

Both teams defense improved as shooting percentages almost matched at 43.5% (CSU) and 43.8% (TNU). Again the difference came at the free throw line, where Central State was 17-22 and Trevecca was 8-12.

The obvious key to this match-up is keeping Central off the free throw line and converting on more long range shots, where both teams struggled. Over the two games TNU shot 26.8% and CSU was 29% from beyond the arc.

In semifinal number two, #4 Urbana will look for the upset bid over #1 and tournament host, Cedarville. In the two games this season, Cedarville won by 17 points and 18 points.  In the first meeting at Urbana, Nwogbo scored 30 points and had a game-high (tied with teammate Zach Brown) 11 rebounds. Brown also posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Foote joined the pair in double-figures with 14 points.

As a team, the Yellow Jackets shot 51.9% from the field and made 28 trips to the free throw line, converting on 22 of the attempts. As for Urbana, the Blue Knights were held to 29.4% shooting, but did manage to post 18 free throw makes in 29 attempts. The struggles for Urbana came from three-point range, making just three buckets out of 28 attempts (10.7%).

Urbana was led by Danny Goins 19 points, while Ramel Mitchell posted 14 points and C.J. Reid had 10. Casey Baker pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.

In the second game between the two teams, at Cedarville, Nwogbo posted another big double-double scoring a game-high 27 points to go with a game-high 11 rebounds. Teammate Jason Cuffee scored 20 points. At halftime, the teams were tied at 36-36, but a big second half shut the door on the win for Cedarville - which won the second half 43-25.

The Yellow Jackets were able to overcome a difference in 12 attempts from the free throw line with solid aggressive defense, which held Urbana to 35.7% shooting, while CU shot 47%. In the first half, the Blue Knights shot 43.3%, but could only manage 26.9% in the second half.


Men’s Championship Information

WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP PAGE: Click here to visit the G-MAC Women's Championship page for all the detailed information - incluing brackets, stats, results, team information, host institution information, awards, and more. 

LIVE STREAMING AND STATS: Live streaming of all games, courtesy of Cedarville, can be viewed at G-MACsports.com. You can access the G-MAC broadcast portal (containing live stats, video, and audio) by clicking on the Live Streaming button on the main page, or the Live Broadcast link under the Multimedia tab in the main drop down menu. You can also access the broadcast through the Cedarville broadcast portal (containing live stats, video, and audio).

TICKET INFORMATION:

Semifinals:  $5 general admission; $4 for students and seniors
Finals:  $5 general admission; $4 for students and seniors
Reserved Seating: $7 for adults and $5 for seniors

No artificial noisemakers are permitted during competition. Signs, placards, or banners that are insulting, offensive, or clearly in poor taste will be removed from the event.

DIRECTIONS TO CEDARVILLE:

From the North
    I-75 south to I-70 east; travel approximately 24 miles to the Springfield/Cedarville exit (Rt. 72); travel
    south 11 miles on Rt. 72 to the campus. (Approximately 38 minutes from downtown Dayton.)
    
From the South
    I-75 north to Cincinnati; merge with I-71; take I-71 north to the Sabina/Jamestown exit 58 (Rt. 72);
    follow Rt. 72 north to Cedarville. Proceed through Cedarville three blocks to the campus
    (Approximately 1 hour 17 minutes from downtown Cincinnati.)

From the East
    I-70 west to the Cedarville/Springfield exit 54 (Rt. 72); travel south 11 miles on Rt. 72 to the campus.
    (Approximately one hour from downtown Columbus.)

From the West
    I-70 east to the Cedarville/Springfield exit 54 (Rt. 72); travel south 11 miles on Rt. 72 to the campus.

From US-35
    US-35 through Xenia; Rt. 42 (north) to 72 (north) which is Main Street. Proceed through Cedarville,
    three blocks to the campus.

Address -  251 N Main Street, Cedarville, OH 45314