Perfect 10: Wildcats start December with offensive flurry, keep winning streak alive

CANTON, Mo. — November was perfect. December is starting that way, too.

The Culver-Stockton College men’s basketball team ran its season-opening winning streak to 10 straight games Wednesday night, building a 15-point lead in the first 10 minutes and opening Heart of America Athletic Conference play with an 86-63 victory over MidAmerica Nazarene at Charles Field House.

The 10-0 record is the Wildcats’ best start to a season since 2001-02.

“It was a fun November,” C-SC coach Aaron Hill said, “and we got December off to a good start.”

Make that a sizzling start.

The Wildcats hit four of their first six shots, made five 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes and shot 48.6 percent from the field in the first half. The lead grew as big as 17 points before the Pioneers strung together five consecutive makes — three of those were 3-pointers — to trim the deficit to 31-26 with 5:42 remaining in the half.

However, Jalen Blaize made back-to-back 3-pointers and scored on three consecutive possessions to flip the momentum back in C-SC’s favor. The Wildcats led 43-29 at halftime.

“Sometimes a big lead isn’t fun to play with, especially when it disappears quick,” Hill said. “But I was really proud with our response.”

The Pioneers (6-5, 1-1 Heart) stayed within 12 points the first five minutes of the second half before the Wildcats went on a 16-4 run to ruin any comeback hopes.

“Without watching the film, I don’t know if you can play a whole lot better than we did on both ends of the floor,” Hill said.

The Wildcats dished out 20 assists against just six turnovers, leading to 50-percent shooting from the field and 44-percent shooting from 3-point range. Defensively, C-SC limited MidAmerica Nazarene to 36.1-percent shooting and 21.3-percent shooting from 3-point range, while forcing 13 turnovers.

“That was a pretty complete game,” Hill said. “In my four years at Culver, there’s been a handful of ones where you thought, ‘Man, we played really well.’ That one is up there with them.”

The balance offensively is a big part of that. Blaize led the Wildcats with 21 points, going 5 of 8 from 3-point range, while Alonzo Ortiz-Traylor had 17 points and eight rebounds. Zac Rzewnicki finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Javon Modester had 14 points and four assists.

“When we’re at our best, or what I picture as our best as the year goes on, that’s kind of what I see and kind of what they are starting to picture us being,” Hill said. “We can comfortably go 10 deep. It makes it a lot of fun when you can share it like we did tonight and see a lot of guys have success. Hopefully that’s contagious.”