MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[pennstghs]

Should be some great games tonight, my prediction is Witt/Wooster III. If anyone is driving down, come say hello to me, I'll be across from the benches wearing a Wittenberg polo, usually in the first 3 rows.

[ScotsFan]

Wooster is up on OWU 41-34 at the half and quite frankly, OWU is fortunate to be this close.

Wooster is being led by Brown and Fegan with 10 points each and Claytor has 8.  Justin Hallowell, who has been on a tear for Wooster over the last 4 games was scoreless going 0-4 from the field and 0-3 from deep.

OWU is led by Morris and Dre White with 10 apiece.  White had 5 points combined in the Bishop's 2 previous meetings with Wooster.  Once again, Wooster is doing a number on Brady as he only has 3 in the half going 1-7 from the field! 

[smedindy]

Wow. Wooster's taken control, now up 68-50 with 10:41 to go.

[fantastic50]

Denison leads Witt 39-19 at halftime!

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Denison 39  Wittenberg 19

It will be interesting to see if the Big Red can hold this lead in the 2nd half.

Congrats to Wooster on beating OWU for the 3rd time this season.  Always tough to beat a team three times.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Denison 66  Wittenberg 58

Wow, big upset by the Big Red and it is their first win in Springfield since 1950!

Congratulations to Denison on a very well played game as Wittenberg got no closer than 6 points in the 2nd half.

Tourney championship game tomorrow is Denison vs. Wooster.

[wooscotsfan]

Wooster needs to avoid a slow start tomorrow night vs. Denison.  Witt never recovered after falling behind by 20.

Denison is a very hot team having won 6 of their last 7 games including a 14 point win at Wabash and a 8 point win at Wittenberg.  The key to beating Denison is slowing down Dimonde Hale and Larry Farmer.  Easier said then done.

GO SCOTS!

[GoRed]

Big Red got off to a quick start and rebounded very well.  The key to tomorrow night will be to keep the Scots off the boards too, stop Brown from taking his little fade shots in the paint and pressure Claytor inside.  Could be a barn burner.  Who wouldn't love to see three NCAC teams in the big tournament?

[woosterbooster]

Random Observations, in no particular order:

1. Wooster got some very, very important minutes from Kenny DeBoer tonight, in his first game back from injury.  Not that he played particularly well, but he was a big body in there, and with Claytor obviously still hurt and Mays in foul trouble, the freshman saved the day.

2. As mentioned above, Claytor's injured ankle is clearly still bothering him.  He was slow around the basket, and is almost certainly going to be that way tomorrow night, too.  Somehow, Wooster is going to have to find a way to keep Denison off the offensive glass.

3. Wittenberg failed to guard on the perimeter early, and it immediately did them in.  That, and the fact that Clayton Black was taken out of the game early because, finally, he was called for the foot-shuffling that he's so often guilty of doing.  They got him twice, quickly (a third time, later, also), and he was suddenly gun shy about making any post moves.  The twenty-point hole was way too deep, and that was that.

4. While some players swing on the rim for show, most of the time it's done to get back on balance for dropping to the floor.  Although the technical called on the Denison player didn't hurt them, I thought it was a poor call.  He came in hard for the dunk from the left side, with Clayton Black on the right.  He swung forward, held on not wanting to fly into Black, swung back to vertical, then dropped down.  For that he got whistled, and I don't think he deserved it. 

[smedindy]

We'll I'll be...

[ohiofan1954]

congratulations Denison. Go Big Red.

[BigRedFan]

OMG!!!  Did that just happen?

Simon & Garfunkel, Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, Alphonse & Gaston, Martin & Lewis, Jordan & Pippen

And then you have what might be the best combination of ALL TIME  Farmer & Hale!!!!

Not since 1950 had Denison beat Witt at Witt!!!!!!!  HELLO!!! 

I think William Shakespeare said it best in Macbeth..."double double toil and trouble"

Hey Wooster don't punch that ticket yet!!!  :-)

What an awesome run by the Big Red Machine!!!!!!!!!

NEVER SAY NEVER!!!  GO BIG RED!!!!!!!

[wooscotsfan]

Here are links to articles on yesterday's two NCAC tournament games:

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/springfield-oh-sports/wittenberg-university-tigers/denison-upsets-wittenberg-1334076.html

http://www.the-daily-record.com/news/article/5161058

[ScotsFan]

Random Observations, in no particular order:

1. Wooster got some very, very important minutes from Kenny DeBoer tonight, in his first game back from injury.  Not that he played particularly well, but he was a big body in there, and with Claytor obviously still hurt and Mays in foul trouble, the freshman saved the day.

2. As mentioned above, Claytor's injured ankle is clearly still bothering him.  He was slow around the basket, and is almost certainly going to be that way tomorrow night, too.  Somehow, Wooster is going to have to find a way to keep Denison off the offensive glass.

DeBoer's addition back into the rotation was HUGE last night for the Scots.  Claytor had just sat for a breather in the first half when Mays picked up his 3rd quick foul of the half and had DeBoer not been able to go, Claytor would have been logging a ton of minutes last night.  He may not have contributed that much statistically, but his 19 minutes were needed big time last night for Wooster to win.

Hey Wooster don't punch that ticket yet!!!  :-)

Trust me.  Denison has Coach Moore's and Wooster's full attention for tonight's game.  One of the reasons why Wooster has so many lengthy win streaks vs. so many conference foes is because Coach Moore doesn't allow his teams to overlook any opponent.  If Denison beats Wooster tomorrow it will not be because the Scots were looking ahead to the NCAA. 

BTW, Wooster seniors Matt Fegan and Justin Hallowell were quoted in that Daily Record article wsf linked where one of their goals they set 4 years ago upon arriving at Wooster was to win 8 NCAC championships (4 regular season and 4 tournament titles).  They already came up short on one of those goals and they don't want to fall short again tonight so they will be highly motivated to win their 4th conference tournament in a row!

I'm wondering how many Wooster fans will be in the stands for tonight's game.  It will be a weird and rare home court atmosphere for Wooster at the a Pam tonight.  Should we call the Pam Timken South tonight?   

[imderekpoe]

DeBoer's addition back into the rotation was HUGE last night for the Scots.  Claytor had just sat for a breather in the first half when Mays picked up his 3rd quick foul of the half and had DeBoer not been able to go, Claytor would have been logging a ton of minutes last night.  He may not have contributed that much statistically, but his 19 minutes were needed big time last night for Wooster to win.

I had a chance to sit with Doug Cline for a few minutes after the game, and he said exactly the same thing.  It was huge to be able to sit Claytor for almost the entire 2nd half to rest his ankle and save him some for tonight's game. And DeBoer played pretty well for only being back for one practice.

I'm wondering how many Wooster fans will be in the stands for tonight's game.  It will be a weird and rare home court atmosphere for Wooster at the a Pam tonight.  Should we call the Pam Timken South tonight?   

I thought that attendance was a little low (for Wooster) last night, but its hard to get from Wooster to Springfield for a 6:00 game.  I'd expect a larger Wooster crowd tonight.  There was a pretty good number of DU faithful last night, too.  Should be a good one tonight.