'Berg basketball aims for Conference playoffs
The college basketball season is coming to a close and it has been an exciting one for the men’s and women’s teams at Berg. Both teams have three games left, one home at Memorial Hall and two away. All are important Centennial Conference matchups that can affect qualifying and seeding in the playoffs. Both teams have had their own unique road to the playoffs from where they stand now.
The lady Mules were coming off of a fantastic finish to last season, in which they ended the year ranked 19th among all Division III teams in the nation. They sit comfortably at 15-6 this season with a 12-4 conference record. At one point in the season, the women’s team hit a rough patch and went 1-4 over a five game stretch that included four conference games. Coach Ron Rohn believes the DeSales game “jumpstarted” the team because ever since then, the Mules have clicked.
“The most notable thing has been our increased level of play and competitive- ness as the season has gone on,” said for- ward Chelsea Gary ’18. “We’re playing our best team basketball and peaking at just the right time.”
The remaining four games for the women may affect the seeding and will determine who hosts the Centennial Conference Championship tournament, which could be Muhlenberg for two consecutive years. The host is determined by who finishes with the best regular season record within the conference.
As of Feb. 6, the top teams in the conference are Haverford, Muhlenberg, Gettysburg, Dickinson, and Ursinus respectively. One of the three games left for the lady Mules is against Gettysburg, one of the two teams surrounding Berg in the standings, and the team is aware.
“These teams will be competitive and we are looking to get some big wins to solidify our standing in the league rankings,” Gary said. “We look to be aggressive and play a full 40 minutes of basket- ball.”
Fans should certainly pay attention to these matchups, not only for conference standings sake, but because they could be rematches in the playoffs, too
Dickinson and Gettysburg are two teams the junior forward thinks will be the toughest test in the postseason.
“Gettysburg has a very talented team that executes very well and is able to shoot the three,” said Gary. “It is a good matchup with lots of competition.”
The Mules fell to Gettysburg 67-61 the first time the two teams faced off.
Coach Rohn saw Dickinson as one of the best wins of the season.
“The fourth quarter come from be- hind victories over both Johns Hopkins and Dickinson put us in position to make our recent charge to first place in the Centennial Conference,” said Rohn.
The Mules have been hindered with injuries to key players throughout the year. “But players have stepped up to the plate each time someone goes down,” said Gary. She also recognizes the stakes are high but believes in “having the same mindset going into these games—play- ing the Muhlenberg Basketball way, focusing in on our defense, as it leads into our offense.”
On the men’s side, the Mules are 11-9 and 6-8 in the Centennial Conference. Head Coach Scott McClary, in his eighth season with Muhlenberg, looks back on some early season success as a highlight of the season.
“I would say that going five and one in our non-conference schedule with wins over Moravian and over Wilkes to take the Scotty Wood Championship high- light (our big wins),” said McClary.
In conference play the Mules have had some thrillers too. McClary mentioned victories over Johns Hopkins and Dickinson, two teams currently ahead of the Mules in the standings, as big victories because they were wins that came after tough losses.
The resilient group also played a marathon game. “I have to say that the game that stands out to me most is the Ursinus game which went into triple overtime,” said forward JeanLee Baez ‘18. “Even though we came up short that game we played our hearts out until the end.”
As far as the playoffs are concerned, the Mules are currently on the outside looking in. Five teams qualify and the Mules currently sit in sixth place. Just like the women’s team, all of the men’s remaining games are conference match- ups.
A plus is that two of the three teams Berg is slated to play are currently beneath them in the standings. With that said, Baez knows that a weaker record does not mean the games will be easy by any means.
“Going into these last Centennial Conference games we still have the same mindset that we had at the beginning of the season, which is to take focus on one game at a time and focus on the task at hand,” said Baez.
If the men’s season ended today, the seeding would be Swarthmore, Johns Hopkins, Ursinus, Franklin & Mar- shall, and Dickinson from top to bot- tom. Muhlenberg is in the hard and disappointing position of sixth place. With that said, they are working to achieve a goal Coach McCleary set for the team.
“Our goal is always to try our best to reach the potential of this year’s team, and do it in the right way as we represent Muhlenberg,” said McCleary. “Beyond that, we strive to reach the conference playoffs. That goal has not yet been reached, but with three games to go, is still within our grasp.”
There is still a chance for both the men’s and women’s team to see playoff action and the opportunity for some March Madness for the Mules.