College notebook: QU game gets canceled, C-SC’s Blaize earns honor, JWCC’s Jennings reaches grand milestone

QUINCY — The Quincy University men’s basketball team will have to wait a couple of extra days to get back on track.

The Hawks were informed Wednesday afternoon that Maryville, which was scheduled to visit Pepsi Arena on Thursday for a Great Lakes Valley Conference game, has to cancel both of its games this week due to health and safety concerns amid the COVID-19 protocols.

It gives the Hawks (9-7, 2-4 GLVC) two extra days to prepare for Saturday’s rematch with Lindenwood, which is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday. The Lions beat the Hawks 91-87 in St,. Charles, Mo., in the GLVC opener December 2.

Meanwhile, the Maryville game will not be rescheduled. According to GLVC guidelines, the game is considered a no-contest. The Saints also have canceled Saturday’s game at Truman State.

The cancellation spoils a homecoming for Maryville redshirt freshman guard Jaeden Smith. The former two-sport standout at Quincy High School, Smith comes off the bench for the Saints (9-5, 3-3 GLVC) and is averaging six points in nearly 13 minutes per game. 

The QHS record holder for career 3-pointers when he graduated in 2019 with 147 treys, Smith is 12 of 24 from the perimeter this season. He also is 8 of 9 from the free-throw line. Smith set the QHS single-season free-throw percentage record as a senior when he shot 91.2 percent.

The QU women’s basketball team’s game against Maryville will be played as scheduled at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

C-SC’s Blaize earns weekly conference honor

CANTON, Mo. — A record-tying performance got Jalen Blaize noticed beyond the Culver-Stockton College campus.

A junior guard on the C-SC men’s basketball team, Blaize tied a 48-year-old school record when he scored 46 points in a 94-87 victory over Graceland in Heart of America Athletic Conference play at Charles Field House. Blaize went 14 of 20 from the field and 10 of 16 from 3-point range.

Two other double-digit efforts last week helped Blaize earn the Heart Player of the Week honor. The 6-foot-3 Brooklyn, N.Y., native averaged 21.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists in three games. He shot 52.2 percent from the field and 60 percent from 3-point range.

Currently, Blaize ranks 10th in the Heart in scoring at 17.3 points per game. He has scored in double figures in 14 of the Wildcats’ 16 games. He also ranks sixth in the Heart in 3-point shooting at 46.4 percent.

JWCC’s Jennings reaches scoring milestone

QUINCY — During a 37-point effort against Marshalltown Community College, an NJCAA Division I program, Jarvis Jennings joined an exclusive club of some of the John Wood Community men’s basketball program’s elite players.

He became a 1,000-point scorer.

A 6-foot-3 forward from Columbia, Mo., who is a redshirt sophomore, Jennings has 1,017 points in 64 career games. He also has 409 career rebounds. He is the seventh player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

A first-team NJCAA Division II All-American last season when he led the Trail Blazers to the national tournament, Jennings is in his third season playing for JWCC. The Trail Blazers are 11-7 heading into Saturday’s Mid-West Athletic Conference opener at Parkland in Champaign, Ill.

C-SC names Mowen as shotgun sports coach

CANTON, Mo. — Culver-Stockton College’s fledgling shotgun sports program now has a leader.

Wildcats athletic director Pat Atwell recently announced the hiring of Brenden Mowen as the program’s first coach. C-SC announced in October it was adding shotgun sports as its 21st competitive athletic sport with competition to begin with the 2022-23 school year.

The co-ed program will use the Quincy Gun Club, located in West Quincy, Mo., as its home facility with a goal of competing in trap, skeet, and sporting clays.

Mowen is a graduate of Lindenwood University and competed for the Lions’ shotgun sports team. Mowen was a member of the Lindenwood team that captured the 2016 and 2017 collegiate shotgun sports national championship.

“Brenden is an outstanding shooter himself and will be able to demonstrate firsthand the necessary skills required to compete at our level,” Atwell said in a press release. “We are looking forward to Brenden hitting the recruiting trail in early 2022 to help form our inaugural shotgun sports team. We think Culver-Stockton can provide an excellent option for students in our geographic region to continue to participate at the collegiate level.”