About the authors>>

Ben Falkenberg

Class: Senior | Major: Biology | Hometown: Wadsworth, Ohio

A two-time NAIA Division II First Team All-American and a two-time ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Second Team selection...Has ranked in the top 10 in NAIA Division II in scoring, three-pointers made per game, and free throw percentage each of the past two seasons...2008 NAIA Emil S. Liston Award recipient...Enters the 2008-2009 season with 1,997 career points - 341 shy of the school's all-time record.

Jadin Thomas

Class: Senior | Major: Broadcasting | Hometown: Lithopolis, Ohio

Led the team in rebounding (7.7 per game), blocked shots (56), and double-doubles (9) while averaging 15.7 points in starting 30 of the team's 31 games as a junior after transferring in from Columbus State...Selected as the 2008 American Mideast Conference South Division Newcomer of the Year...Averaged 13.8 points and 13.3 rebounds as a sophomore at Columbus State while also earning NJCAA Scholar-Athlete honors.

Learn more>> Mount Vernon Nazarene | Cougar Athletics

No Regrets | February 5, 2009

Well, it’s been awhile since we last checked in and a lot has happened since then.  This season has been filled with an incredible amount of highs and lows and the month of January was the epitome of this.  We started off January with a frustrating loss at Walsh, but then we felt like we were back and track and rolling with two wins over Daemen and Roberts Wesleyan.  Those wins finally gave us some confidence again as Cedarville came to our place for a huge game, which turned out to be one of the hardest losses any of us have ever been a part of.  We lost in overtime after leading by 4 with 30 seconds left.  There were some tough calls and we were totally devastated when we dropped that game because we had it won.  Some losses hurt more than others and this one was tough.  We dropped our next game at Northwestern Ohio, too, and it seemed like our season was quickly heading in the wrong direction.

Sometimes basketball is more mental than physical and this was a perfect example of that – one moment it looked like we were going to beat Cedarville and be right back in first place in the league, and four days later, we were at the bottom of the league after losing two straight.

Well, that was the low point of the season so far… for a team picked to win the conference, it was devastating to be sitting at 12-7 and in eighth place in the league.  However, just as quickly as the floor had seemed to collapse, we found some momentum with a huge couple of weeks.

After the loss at Northwestern Ohio, we beat Notre Dame the next week to get back on track.  Then, we put together the biggest week of our season by beating Ohio Dominican and Cedarville on the road and thumping Ohio Christian at home.  Ohio Dominican is always one of our biggest games and we have really struggled against them the last couple years.  We were down double digits at half-time, but we came together and had an awesome second half to get the win.  It was probably the first time this season that things went our way in the last couple minutes of a game.

Then, we knocked off the No. 1 team in the nation, Cedarville, on their home court thanks to senior guard Dan Borcherdt having an awesome game. He had been struggling the last few games with his shot, but he exploded for 8 threes and won us the game!

So just like that, we have found some daylight again and we are hoping to keep things rolling.  For us seniors, we only have six regular season games left, so we want to go out without any regrets… that’s our motto for this season… NO REGRETS!

By Ben Falkenberg and Jadin Thomas | posted by the NAIA | February 5, 2009

Happy Holidays | December 19, 2008

The season has finally begun and we are off to a pretty good start. Right now we are playing pretty well, but we still have plenty to work on. Coach has been stressing the importance of defense to us since the start of conditioning, and we are still working on making it solid every game. We feel that we have enough offensive firepower to keep ourselves in every game, so if we can make our defense great then we should be in great shape. Once conference play starts and teams know our tendencies, it is going to be even more important that we have all five guys working together as a team on the defensive end of the floor if we want to accomplish the kind of goals we have set.

We won our first three games pretty convincingly, but then we lost 109-99 on the road to a tough Ashland team. It was a frustrating game because we played well and scored enough to win, but we struggled to get stops on the defensive end. This game was important, however, because it really helped show how important our defense is; any time you score 99 points, you should win, so we need to make sure we never give up 109 points again. A loss is never fun, but you have to learn to take as much positive as you can from it and try to get better as a team.  Hopefully we can use an early loss like this to motivate each other even more every day.

We bounced back from our loss and were able to win the North Central College Tip-Off Tournament in Chicago.  In the championship game, we got a good test from the home school, but eventually pulled away for a 15-point win. Our team really played well together and our defense looked better so it was a great night for us. It is always fun playing in tournaments, but the best part is just being able to get away from school and travel to a big city.  We had some down time and were able to head into the city to the ESPN Zone to watch the Buckeyes play Michigan. The food was good and we (OSU) won 42-7!

Happy Holidays… Go Cougars. God Bless.

Ben and Jadin.

By Ben Falkenberg and Jadin Thomas | posted by the NAIA | December 19, 2008

Getting Back on the Court | November 18, 2008

Well it's our senior year and basketball season is finally here.  We have been doing a lot of running and practicing, so it's great to finally get to start playing some games.  Everyone on the team gets sick of guarding each other everyday, so it will be even better going at some opponents now.  We have only played one "game" and we were able to beat AIA like 106-96 or so.  They were pretty good, and our offense looked real good.  Our defense wasn't the best though, so the next couple practices were sort of dedicated to fixing that.  Our first game is Tuesday against Cincinnati Christian, so we are definitely getting pumped up to start off strong.

Our team is coming together pretty well and everyone is starting to find their roles.  It's amazing how much a team can change from one year to the next, and even though we only lost two seniors, our team has a much different look than last year.  We got some great new freshman, and some of our other guys have really improved and that's real exciting.  We aren't the biggest team for sure, but instead of focusing on the lack of height, we are in the process of learning how to make that our advantage every time we take the floor.

The preseason rankings came out and we were ranked 3^rd in the country.  We try not to put too much emphasis on those, but it is nice to be able to start up there and hopefully not have to fight up hill all year to make it back to Branson.  The high ranking has made us work even harder because we realize everyone, including ourselves, has high expectations for our team this year.  Us seniors have won a lot of games, a couple conference titles, received some great individual awards and been out to Branson every year.  Add those to the fact that the last two seasons have ended by losing to the national champion by 3 points or less... so there is really only one thing left that this group of seniors and this team has to work towards and that is winning MVNU's first NAIA national championship.  We are sure it is going to be a long year with some expected ups and downs, but that is the goal we are working towards and that is the goal that will always be in the back of our minds.  God bless and go Cougars!

By Ben Falkenberg and Jadin Thomas | posted by the NAIA | November 18, 2008