MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Gregory Sager]

BTW, Wabash found the national championship game back in 1982 and posted it on YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wSEQ-0vhq0&feature=youtu.be

Alright! A chance to see Merlin Nice in something other than black-and-white stripes!

[smedindy]

Well, nuts. It was different.

[smedindy]

DPU 64, Wabash 55 - It was a close game all the way until the end. Wabash could not find the range from long range (1-15) while the New Tigers certainly did (7-14). Barry Flynn led DPU with 15. Derek Bailey led all scorers with 17.

[woosterbooster]

I thought I saw you and Wally in the facepaint in the first few minutes of the footage?   

I loved that.  Given that it was 1982, it brought back memories of the Baseball Furies from the great cult-movie "The Warriors"!

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 92  Hiram 64 

Wooster was led tonight by Josh Claytor with 18 points (9 of 10 FG's), Justin Hallowell with 14 points (3 three pointers), Matt Fegan with 11 points (3 three pointers), Xavier Brown with 11 points and Ryan Snyder with 10 points.

Scots shot 56% from the floor while holding the Terriers to only 38%.  Wooster won the Boards by 43 to 29 and the Scots made 10 of 21 three point shots for a healthy 48% from behind the arc.

Top scorers for Hiram were Jamaal Watkins with 17 points and Andrew Weigand with 14.

David nailed it when he said Hiram was not an impressive team and could be dominated inside as the Scots proved.

Wooster is now 12-2, 3-2 NCAC.   Next game is At DePauw on Saturday 1/14.

GO SCOTS!

[pennstghs]

Wittenberg 71 Kenyon 63

I watched most of the game online and all I can say is Clayton Black pretty much dominated this game. Finished with 38 points, 11 rebounds but shot 11-15 from the field and 14-17 from the free throw line. Solid defensively too as the Witt front line wasn't letting too many easy shots go in from the paint.

Other than that, it was a close game throughout, Witt finally pulled away at the end. Never really had much going from the perimeter and Kenyon actually outrebounded Witt 41-40, which helped keep it close.

On to Denison before a big showdown a week from tonight

[kiltedbryan]

I've really just been lurking this year, but this is worth a post:

Final from Granville:

Denison 69, Ohio Wesleyan 66

[David Collinge]

Hiram pretty much lived up (i.e., down) to my expectations tonight. Wooster got 32 points out of the post tonight on 14 of 18 shooting and actually could have had more as there were several instances of too-fancy passes getting fumbled away underneath. (And the posts missed six free throws.) Hiram, for whatever reason, just doesn't play defense in the paint.

I know I will face ridicule when I say that Hiram probably played better overall tonight than in the other three games (all wins) I saw; at least tonight they did a good job of denying the dribble penetration. Wooster played out of their minds at both ends; it was a complete game for the Scots very reminiscent of the Geneva game. Jamaal Watkins still got his points (17) but had to work very hard for them against great defense chiefly provided by Josh Claytor (Watkins turned the ball over three times on fast breaks, very uncharacteristic), while Andrew Wiegand (14) was kept pretty much in check and Allen Sheppard (7) and Aaron Stefanov (5) were non-factors. And that's all it takes to beat these guys: the rest of the team can't score (21), and none of them can defend.

The Scots seem to be improving, and the untimely losses by two key rivals will surely buoy their spirits. (The Wabash/DPU final score was announced in the gym and received a big ovation.)

[sac]

Witt 71 Kenyon 63......Clayton Black with 38 for the Tigers

http://livestats.kenyon.edu/basketball/xlive.htm

[David Collinge]

Wabash, Witt, Oberlin, Denison as my upset pick and Wooster as winners tonight:

Something about getting a huge win streak snapped in your first big-time conference game of the year ... I think will have lingering effects. OWU is in for another setback vs a dangerous Denison team who has been close to knocking off some quality teams at home already this year... but fell short. (Hanover, Marietta,Wabash)

Who you got?

Got 4 of 5 and nailed the Big Red shocker. +1.

[David Collinge]

Elsewhere....
Oberlin 63, Allegheny 62

[GoRed]

Got 4 of 5 and nailed the Big Red shocker. +1.
[/quote]

The Big Red hung in there this time and closed it out despite manic lineup changes and substitution patterns.  Denison played 12 players and had 39 subsitutions by my count.  The team on the court would just start to get into a groove and someone (or two or three) would be substituted out.  Three players got two minutes or less of playing time and with 11 minutes left and a 3 point lead, they put in a freshman ice cold for two minutes??  He's a good shooter, but if someone could explain to me why you might do that at a critical point in a critical game I would be eternally grateful.     

Shooters finally seem to be getting more playing time with Akpapunam being key in this one.  Great win for the Big Red and hopefully a confidence builder for the players for the rest of the season.   

[smedindy]

The Wabash and OWU results make any early speculation moot. It's anyone's title to snatch now.

[ScotsFan]

The Wabash and OWU results make any early speculation moot. It's anyone's title to snatch now.

Was it not anyone's title to snatch before last night's results?  Wabash still has to play 2 against Witt and OWU as well as a game at Timken so they were far from being favored to maintain their top postition in the league.  OWU still has 2 games against both Wooster and Wabash.  If there is a team that might make a claim that the title isn't anyone's to snatch at the moment it is Witt as they are the lone unbeaten and already have road wins over Wooster and OWU.

[smedindy]

I said that because Wooster was in a 2-loss hole to OWU and Wabash before NCAC play resumed, and Witt had been sporadically effective and ineffective. Wabash and OWU were playing the best, most-consistent ball and it was easy to think that OWU would have been able to handle Witt at home.

Now, Witt has the two-game lead over Wooster, Wabash lost a tough one to their rival and OWU has fallen to a 2-loss tie with Wooster.