National Association Intercollegiate Athletics

Red River Athletic Conference

Saturday 17th December 2016

Tip Off 19.30

Wiley College Wildcats 82 Huston-Tillotson University Rams 75,  attendance 85

@ Alumni Gymnasium

711, Wiley Avenue

Marshall, TX 75670

$10 Admission

No programme.

It had only taken 25 minutes to cross back into Texas and around another 20 minutes more to reach Marshall. With Wiley College being only three of four miles off route it would save me just over 300 miles by doing them as I was passing by, rather than make a special journey in the future.

Wiley stretched their winning streak to 8 games with this. A halftime lead of 47-31 looked like it was pretty plain sailing, but a late rally by the Rams made it interesting. It was 70-69 with 2 minutes 11 seconds left, but a couple of two pointers took it back to 74-69 with 1 minute 26 seconds left.

One thing to note here was the extortionate admission price for this level, although the ticket could be exchanged for admission to a future game, which is not much use if you don’t live in Marshall.

National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I

Shreveport-Bossier Holiday Classic

Saturday 17th December 2016

Tip Off 16.30

Northwestern State University Demons 68 University Louisiana Monroe Warhawks 64,  attendance 737

@ CenturyLink Center

2000, CenturyLink Center Drive

Bossier City, LA 71112

Admission $15 (including $3 fee) covering all 3 games.

Programme free, 4 pages.

This was a real improvement on the first game, as it should have been, being two divisions higher. It was very one sided in the first half, ending 40-22, but an 11 point run saw Monroe gain belief and the defecit was further cut to 45-41 and then 47-44. They were unable to get any nearer than this, but did get it back down to three points again at 67-64, before a point from the free throw line finished it off as they were having to rely on fouling to try and level it.

There was an improvement in the atmosphere as the Demons band and cheerleaders arrived,and they also played the national anthem before the game.

Not sure how they worked out the attendance though, as this was given as 200 more than the first game, so can’t have been done on number of tickets sold for the day. I had estimated 450-500.

Following on from this game at 7pm would be the final game of the day, between Louisiana Tech University Bulldogs and Grambling State University Tigers. Had the second game finished later, or gone into overtime, I would have stayed for this as well, but in the end decided to head back into Texas and do a new venue on the way home.

National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III

Shreveport-Bossier Holiday Classic

Saturday 17th December 2016

Tip Off 14.00

Centenary College Gents 80 Millsaps College Majors 54,  attendance 537

@ CenturyLink Center

2000, CenturyLink Center Drive

Bossier City, LA 71112

Admission $15 (including $3 fee) covering all 3 games.

Programme free, 4 pages.

The CenturyLink Center was opened in November 2000, taking on its current sponsors name in 2010. It seats 14,000, although the top tier was partitioned off today. In 2002, the Nashville Predators played Atlanta Thrashers here in a NHL Pre Season game and in 2014 and 2016, New Orleans Pelicans took on Dallas Mavericks in NBA Pre Season games.

The Shreveport-Bossier Holiday Classic involved 3 games, all being staged here, and for a one ticket price covering all three.

I can only assume that the attendance figure given was for total tickets sold for the day as I reckoned there were only about 250 present for this one.