Doane
- Jan 13, 2020
- 5 min read
Doane Tigers (4-14, 0-9) vs. Briar Cliff Chargers (11-7, 2-6)
Saturday, January 11 @ 4 PM
Crete, NE
Haddix Center
THE SCHOOL
Doane University is private university in Crete, Nebraska. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ. Doane has an enrollment of 2,608 and an endowment of about $112 million. Of Doane's 2,608 students, fewer than half of them actually attend school in Crete. The others attend satellite campuses in Omaha, Grand Island, and Lincoln (which holds most of their graduate courses).
The Tigers compete in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) in Division II of the NAIA. As you can see from their record at the top of this post, Doane has had some struggles this season. This isn't anything new - Doane has only had one winning season in GPAC play over the last twelve seasons and they haven't qualified for the NAIA postseason tournament since 1999.
Briar Cliff University is a private Franciscan university in Sioux City, Iowa. The Chargers also compete in the GPAC.
THE TOWN
green=my apartment, blue=my office, yellow=previous games, red=this game
After leaving Lincoln an hour before tip-off, I drove south on 70th Street and west on State Highway 33 for around thirty total miles. It took about forty minutes to get to Doane's campus in Crete. Doane's Lincoln location is directly across the street from Allison's apartment complex, so I've walked/driven past there many times. Unfortunately, they don't play any basketball games there.
Crete is a small town in Saline County. Around 7,000 people live there. Honestly, I can't think of too many interesting things about Crete. There was a big pretty church building, the downtown area was kinda cool, but nothing really stood out. On the way back from the game, I stopped at Noa's Deli, which had sandwiches and breakfast food. I got a pastrami sandwich and Allison got bacon, eggs, and pancakes. When we got about twenty miles from Lincoln, you could see the lights from Lincoln, including the tip of the capitol building, past a vast expanse of darkness. That was cool.
Doane has a pretty campus. It snowed on Friday so the trees and buildings were still covered in white patches. The division between the university and the rest of the town is evident. Crete feels agricultural and working-class while Doane's large buildings and green spaces show it's clearly a college campus.
Haddix Center is a fairly new building, having been completed in 2010. If you read my write up about Midland University, Doane's arena feels like a slightly smaller version of theirs. It's impressive on the outside but feels bigger inside. Before entering the court, there's a big concourse-type area with restrooms, concessions, and interactive video boards. There were people just hanging out there when I arrived at the arena. If you look at the photo I took, you'll see that Doane has a unique court. I like it. It's hard to make a dark court look good, but I think they do a good job with it. It contrasts well with Haddix's ever-present orange. The court has a fieldhouse style to it with a high, curved ceiling meeting walls just past both baselines. Something about this style of building greatly amplifies sound; no matter what was going on and no matter how many people were there, sound filled the arena.
THE GAME
I parked a couple minutes' walk away from the arena. It was pretty cold outside so I was glad I didn't park further. Tickets were eight dollars at the door and I had no trouble finding a seat. Doane's students are still on winter break for a few more days, so the student population was fairly low. In fact, I'm pretty sure I accidentally sat in what is normally the student section, but no one cared. I look youthful. All total, I counted about about 130 fans in the stands, and more than a third of those were Briar Cliff fans. The Minnesota Vikings are one of the most popular NFL teams in Nebraska. Their playoff game was on at the same time as the Doane game, and several fans were watching it on their phones while watching the Tigers play.
Most of Doane's basketball players are from Nebraska, though one starter was from the U.S. Virgin Islands. As with many NAIA schools, Doane doesn't have a lot of size. The guy who jumped off at the beginning of the game was only 6'4". Briar Cliff was about the same - they had a couple of 6'8" guys who didn't make much of an impact on the game.
This one started out hot. Doane hit a quick three-point shot ten seconds in and the pace didn't slow down much. After the first five minutes, fast, tough play from both teams resulted in a 12-8 Doane lead. The Tigers' #4, Chukwudi Onwumere, made his impact early. While he didn't start, he was the first guy off the bench and commanded a strong post presence. If I were Doane's head coach, I would have run more of my first half plays to Onwumere because the Chargers didn't have anyone who could body him up. Continued solid play from the Tigers resulted in a 23-18 lead ten minutes in, but five minutes later, Briar Cliff took took the advantage, 30-29. Briar Cliff continued to play well and got the lead as high as 35-29, but they couldn't hold it. Doane managed a torrid 8-0 run to retake the lead (37-35) with 2:22 left. Briar Cliff didn't go away, but Doane kept the lead going into the half, 45-41. The star of the first half was Doane's #3, Anthony Laravie. Laravie had 14 first half points and was the clear leader for the team. A man who I assume was Laravie's dad sat in the section next to me. He was very supportive but gave a lot of unsolicited advice to the players on the floor.
Doane did not have much in the way of halftime entertainment. You know how I mentioned that Haddix Center had really good acoustics that filled the whole place with sound? That made it a little uncomfortable at halftime when everyone got quiet. They played a few ads on their video board and announced the first half player stats before playing "Sweet Caroline" over the speakers. Hearing "Sweet Caroline" in a basketball arena where zero people sang along was a depressing moment.
The second half maintained the same pace from the first. After ten minutes, the Tigers slightly extended their lead to a 63-56 advantage. Two big things happened in the first ten minutes: 1) Doane's #21, Joe Burt, hit two back- to-back-threes to amplify the Tigers' momentum. 2) Remember Anthony Laravie? He scored his 1,000th career point this game. His dad tried to hide his emotion in the moment, but after the game he held up a sign (i.e. a piece of printer paper) with "1000 points" written in marker. He was a proud dad. Back to the game, the Tigers achieved their first double-digit lead (69-58) with 6:50 left and extended it to fifteen (76-61) with 3:10 remaining. Doane played stifling defense and kept forcing offensive fouls. Between the 11:15 mark and the 3:43 mark, Briar Cliff scored just two points. The Chargers went on a bit of a late run and, with 48 seconds left, tried fouling to get back in the game, but they were too late. Doane won by 10 to get their first conference win and their first home win this season.
Final: Doane 81, Briar Cliff 71
I hope this win can spark a winning streak for Doane's basketball team. However, I looked at their schedule and their next game is at Morningside College (who I saw play against Midland). Morningside is undefeated and the top-ranked team in NAIA DII. Plus, back in November, Morningside beat Doane 69-32. So they probably won't win their next one.
Up next: Bellevue University
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