Matlack’s 21 points help Widener cruise in opener
With homecourt advantage and as a decided favorite Friday night, Widener men’s basketball wasted no time getting down to business in the NCAA Division III tournament.
Steven Matlack scored 16 first-half points, Howie Rankine tallied the 1,000th point of his career in the second half and Widener ran all over Roger Williams in a 10170 victory in the first round.
The win is Widener’s first in an NCAA tournament since 2009. The reward is a date with the reigning national champion, Christopher Newport, which handled Hobart, 79-59, in the opener. That game is Saturday night at 7:40 at the Schwartz Center.
The Pride led 54-27 at the break, which flattered the visiting Hawks. Widener made RWU (14-15) look like a .500 team, holding it off the scoreboard for 8:06 of the first half, compiling an 18-0 run that put the game out of reach.
Widener played like a team that had earned its homecourt advantage. The Pride dished 13 assists on 22 made baskets in the first half. They pressed the ball into the lane, holding a 56-28 edge in points in the paint. Their 101 points is the second-highest total on the season for the Pride.
And then there was Matlack, who drilled four firsthalf 3-pointers. His back-toback 3-pointers in the first five minutes put Widener up 19-7 and forced a Roger Williams timeout. Another 3-pointer stretched the lead to 37-10. Mike Kane’s corner triple made it 44-12, the largest lead of the opening half.
Matlack finished with 21 points in just 19 minutes on 8-for-13 shooting. Rankine scored 10 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished six assists. His step-back 3-pointer with10:34 left moved the grad transfer from Susquehanna University into quadruple digits for his career.
Kevin Schenk contributed 11 points. Kane had 12 points and seven rebounds. Matt Daulerio and Luke Mazur scored 10 points each, and Xavier Ernest added eight. Widener held a 50-29 edge in rebounds and got 50 points off the bench.
For as good as Widener was to start, Roger Williams was that bad. It started 3-for22 from the field, including just 1-for-12 on two-pointers. It required a surge to get to 5-for-20 on two-pointers in the opening half.
The Hawks’ 3-point shooting couldn’t mask that. They entered 14th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage. But 5-for-14 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes didn’t do the trick, and it didn’t compensate for being outrebounded, 27-15. After the break, Roger Williams embraced the 3-or-bust mentality. It shot 11-for-28 from 3-point land on the night.
Mac Annus led the Hawks with 14 points. Philip Sughure added 12 and Finn Miller had 11. Second-leading scorer John Ah Kao was shut out in the first half. He finished with eight points.
In the other opening round game at Widener: CHRISTOPHER
79, HOBART 59 » Jake Latta scored 13 of his 21 points after halftime as the Captains steadily pulled away in the second half. Toa Hollenbeck added 17 points.
Isaiah Dozier chipped in 12. Jahn Hines paired eight points with nine rebounds and four assists. The Captains (22-6) are ranked 25th in the nation and are the reigning D3 champs.
Aidan Rodgers led Hobart with 14 points.