The Big Blue have their signature win of the season.
In a game where Millikin led by as many as 11 and trailed by as many as 9, Head Coach Kramer Soderberg’s team stayed level-headed, defeating Carthage 77-74, who came into the game boasting an 11-4 record, including a conference leading 4-1 record.
Griswold Center felt like a crazy small town high school gym, and Soderberg wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I got emotional,” Soderberg said. “So many people who aren’t involved in our program or in college athletics don’t realize how much we invest into what we do, and the hours we put in lifting, watching film, and practicing.”
Coming off of tough losses to CCIW rivals Carroll and Wheaton, Soderberg knew his squad had to regroup if they wanted to remain in the mix in an extremely competitive conference. Regroup they did, completing the best team win of the season.
“They responded like champions and took the criticism and attacked it,” Soderberg said. “That’s what I’m most proud of. We were down by 10 or 12. There was an opportunity to fold and give up the win, but it’s just a great team victory. I’m just really happy.”
Although the two recent losses sting, the players have learned and moved on.
“I think they taught us that if you’re not ready to play, anybody can beat you, and the good teams will beat you bad,” Soderberg said. “It also told us that we’re a team that can handle adversity, can respond to adversity, and thrives in adversity. That’s what the best teams do. I’m so happy for my players.”
Junior Lane Thomann had his best performance of the season even though he wasn’t totally healthy. Leaving the locker room with a heat pack wrapped around his back after halftime, Thomann stepped up in a huge way to lead the team, finishing with 35 points and 12 rebounds.
“I’m really happy with how we responded,” he said. “Wednesday, we probably had our worst game of the year, and then we have the best team in the conference record wise come into our house, so we had to respond. And we did.”
This matchup was the definition of a game of runs, but Thomann and the team stayed steady the whole way.
“There’s going to be runs from both sides,” he said. “You can’t get too high, you can’t get too low. You’ve just got to be steady.”
Although Thomann filled up the stat sheet, there were little moments in the game that showed how hard working this roster actually is. Several clutch offensive rebounds from players such as McGrady Noyes and Chris Ketchum helped to push Millikin over the edge.
“We can go down the roster, and everybody is willing to do the dirty work,” Thomann said. “That’s huge, because you don’t know where the ball is going to bounce or who it’s going to bounce to. Every guy on the floor is ready to dive on the floor and get the next rebound or possession for us.”
Senior Nate Straughter had himself another nice game, posting 13 points and 3 rebounds. Straughter didn’t hesitate to give the coaching staff their flowers, as he has been at Millikin for four years, but never on a team with this much success.
“We didn’t play great recently, so we had to look ourselves in the mirror and just step back,” he said. “The coaches got us together and got us back into the state we needed to be in.”
Although the team has no shortage of offense, Straughter’s focus was on improving the defense moving forward.
“Our losses really came down to our lack of defense,” he said. “We have to play defense. If we don’t play defense, we’re not going to win the league.”
Soderberg’s squad improves to 12-5 overall and 4-4 in conference play. If the team is able to make it to the conference tournament, there’s no telling how far they can go.
