MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[David Collinge]

Elsewhere:
Franklin 70, Earlham 58 (at Franklin)...Earlham faces Baldwin-Wallace in the consolation of the Bankers Classic
Aquinas 92, Hiram 64 (at Ashland)...Hiram faces Rio Grande in the AU Holiday Inn Express Classic consolation game tomorrow
Wittenberg 71, Olivet 58 (at Witt)...Witt will play UW-La Crosse for the championship of the Zimmerman Classic

[ScotsFan]

Final:  Wooster 94  Wesley (DE) 61

Back from Timken where I watched Wooster dismantle a 6-2 Wesley team as the Scots played a great game tonight.

I must say, I'm quite surprised at the margin of victory in the Scots' win last night.  I really thought this game was going to be close with even the chance of a Wesley upset.  With Wesley's Johnson coming into the game averaging 25 ppg, I thought if he went off, the Wolverines might've had a chance.  But Marty Bidwell with some help from Devin Fulk and Brandon Johnson held him to 10 points under his average.  I really don't know which was more fun to watch.  Coop going off for 29 points in another stellar offensive performance or Bidwell doing his thing on the defensive end of the floor.

Wooster seems to be really hitting their stride after a bit of a shaky start.  I think a lot of this had to do with settling on a starting line-up and rotation.  Of course, Cooper's slow start didn't help matters either.  But now, Wooster seems to have found a starting 5 and a solid rotation that works.  Wickliffe is really starting to settle into his starting role.  I was worried about his pension for getting into foul trouble, but he seems to have gotten that under control a bit better over the last few games.  I agree with wsf in that I really see a bright future with this kid.  He's going to be a good one.

Wooster now faces another NAIA foe in Notre Dame of Ohio where the Scots will actually have a chance to reclaim the Mose Hole title after 1st round losses the last 2 years in this tournament!  I think NDC might be a little better than their record indicates.  They have a good pg averaging 20 ppg.  Should be another opportunity for Bidwell to showcase his defensive prowess.  They have also lost several close games including losing by only 6 to Cedarville, whom you might recall also beat Wooster earlier in the year.  On the flip side, they also got handled pretty good by an average MSJ team.  All in all, I really expect Wooster to handle NDC rather easily.

[Li'l Giant]

Just got back home from Wabash's disappointing 72-66 loss to Trinity. I don't have much time before I head down for the Alamo Bowl but I will say that Wabash made a great run late in the 2nd half, played with great heart and just came up short.

Let's hope the LGs can put it all together tomorrow and go home with a win.

Wabash Always Fights!

[ScotsFan]

Wooster wins the Mose Hole for the first time in 3 seasons closing out Notre Dame College 87-71.

Wooster trailed 20-15 about 3/4 of the way through the 1st half but James Cooper took over the show scoring 11 consecutive points (including 3 treys) to jump start a 25-5 run to close the 1st half for the Scots.  NDC was able to make a run at Wooster cutting the Scots' lead to just 7 with around 3 minutes to play, however Brandon Johnson canned one of his 6 3-pointers and Wooster never trailed by less than 10 from there on out!

Johnson finished with 26 points which was enough to garner him tournament MVP honors.  Marty Bidwell was a well deserving defensive MVP and James Cooper who added a quiet 22 points joined his teammates on the all-tournament team.

In the consolation game, Wesley might not ever venture back to the Buckeye state after an 0-fer for the weekend as they couldn't shake off the drubbing they took at the hands of Wooster last night losing to lowly MUC 77-66.

Other scores of significance from the NCAC:

Wittenberg - 54

UW-LAX - 50

Nice win for the Tigers as they claim their holday tournament.

OWU - 67

Albion - 59

The Bishops get a nice win over an Albion team that could be a sleeper to contend for the MIAA.  The Bishops get 2 nice wins to claim the Otterbein holiday tourney to get some much needed momentum to propel them into the NCAC season!

[David Collinge]

OWU was very impressive tonight in dispatching a good Albion squad.  Recap and box score.  I'm not sure if OWU ever trailed, but if they did, it was not by much and not for long.  Like last night, they were horrendous at the stripe in the first half, hitting just one of seven, but still led by six after holding the Britons to just 31% shooting.  Then in the second half, while Albion caught fire (58.6%, hitting six more FGs than the Bishops), they calmly drained sixteen of nineteen free throws to secure the win.  As important as the sudden accuracy, though, was their impressive ability to handle the ball, committing just 7 turnovers on the night (at least three of which were charging calls, always subject to conjecture).  These two factors allowed OWU to claim the Smokey Ballenger Classic title, despite being outshot in both quality (45.5% to 42.9%) and quantity (55 FGA to 49) and outrebounded (35-32).  Tournament MVP Dustin Rudegeair had another good evening, with a team-high 16 points, 5 boards, and 3 steals.  Jesse Jean was a bucket (or, ahem, 2 free throws, he was 0-3) away from a double-double, scoring 8 and grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds;  he too was named to the all-tournament team.  But perhaps the key player in the Bishops' win was reserve Mitch Noggle, plucked off the cobwebby end of the OWU bench when Brian Cafarella picked up 3 early fouls.  Noggle, who had played all of 7 minutes prior to this evening, contributed 5 points, 4 boards, and lots of defense and hustle in 13 solid minutes, a surprise and quite welcome contribution, especially as the Bishops were without the services of the limping and non-uniformed Brent Pleiman all weekend.

The consolation game was won, somewhat to my surprise, by a very hot-shooting (55.8%) Otterbein over an even hotter (62.1%) Hanover.  The difference in this game is easy for all to see:  Hanover was 6 of 13 from the stripe, while Otterbein was 27 of 34.  Draw your own conclusions.

[kiltedbryan]

SF and DC, (and Lil Giant for chipping in!)

Thanks for the nice recaps of the games, perfect for someone who would have wanted to take all four of these games in but had commitments that kept me from hearing any of them.

Great to see Johnson continue to step up on the offensive end. Cooper still seems locked into one of the best stretches of his collegiate career, but Wooster is strongest when its flashes its other weapons, too.

That's two straight good wins for OWU. Circle Feb. 2 in Wooster on your calendars now.

Nice result for the Tigers, too. Always nice to win your home tournaments, and Witt's on a four game winning streak. (And should push that to 6: they get Denison and Oberlin next, then a potentially crucial matchup with Allegheny...)

[David Collinge]

So, a recap:
Wooster 87, Notre Dame (O.) 71...Wooster win the Mose Hole Classic
Wittenberg 54, UW-La Crosse 50...Wittenberg wins the Zimmerman Classic
OWU 67, Albion 59...OWU wins the Ballenger Classic (at Otterbein)
Trinity (TX) 72, Wabash 66...Wabash faces co-host Southwestern tomorrow in the classic format Trinity/Southwestern Holiday Classic
Baldwin-Wallace 82, Earlham 65...Earlham finishes last in the Goaltenders-Bankers Classic (at Franklin)
Rio Grande* 108, Hiram 101...Hiram finishes last at the Holiday Inn Express Classic (at Ashland)
NYU 72, Denison 51...Denison moves on to the consolation of the NYU Holiday Classic vs. John Jay tomorrow.

Three tournament titles, plus one more for the women (OWU at the South Padre Island Shootout)...not a bad weekend for the NCAC!

*For those who may be unaccustomed to our quaint Ohio ways, this name is pronounced RYE-oh Grand. 

[David Collinge]

John Jay slips past Denison, 73-69, in the consolation game of the NYU Holiday tournament.  *sigh*

[smedindy]

Wow, if the Big Red can't beat a sub .500 team from one of the worst conferences in D-3, then they may go donut for the season. Ick!

[wally_wabash]

Wabash is up on Southwestern 37-33 at halftime in the finale of their Texas two-step.  Wes Smith is having a good game with 11 points and 11 rebounds at the break.  Aaron Brock leads the Little Giants with 15 first half points. 

And we're all done in San Antonio...Wabash hangs on to beat Southwestern 69-64.  After first half foul trouble, Andrew Zimmer came back to lead Wabash in scoring with 19 points.  Wes Smith finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds. 

This concludes Wabash's non-conference schedule...next up for the LGs is the Allegheny/Hiram double on 1/4 and 1/5.   

[ScotsFan]

Just got back home from Wabash's disappointing 72-66 loss to Trinity.

Wabash Always Fights!

Wabash put up a more respectable result against Trinity than ONU.  The PB's fell to Trinity the other day to the tune of 75-58.

[Ralph Turner]

Ahhh, Rio Grande College, now University, of Bevo Francis fame! 

[pennstghs]

Wittenberg up 40-23 at halftime, sounds like a relatively pedestrian game so far for Witt. Denison shot 9-31 in the first half. Gregg Hill has 12 points so far. Hopefully things hold serve!

[David Collinge]

It was a pretty crummy game all around, pennstghs.  Wittenberg appeared to be supremely undermotivated, especially after the non-competitive first half, and strolled to a lackluster 73-59 win.  Gregg Hill led all scorers with 21, but he took 17 shots (vs. 2 assists).  That's indicative of how the game went: Wittenberg didn't move the ball very well because they really didn't have to.  Every time Hill had an open look he fired, and that was pretty much every time he touched the ball.  Denison played with heart, and to their credit they never gave up, getting as close as 13 in the latter stages (Witt's largest lead was 25 at 12:51, but immediately thereafter DU went on a 14-2 run), but they just don't have the talent to mount much of a threat to a top-half team like Witt. 

Denison's leading scorer, as he has been all season, was Pat Sullivan, whose 19 represented a career high.  As I mentioned to a friend I was sitting with, and meaning no disrespect, when Pat Sullivan is your top scoring threat, you're in trouble.  He should be piling up assists (he had just one tonight), feeding the ball to the post, but they have no replacement for Dan Hodgkinson, so the scoring load has fallen on Sullivan (now averaging 12.2 ppg and still getting 2.8 apg).

Denison, who has played just two home games now, falls to 0-11, and travels to Ohio Wesleyan Saturday.  The good news is that two of their next four games are against Oberlin and Hiram.

Wittenberg improves to 6-5, the first time they have been over .500 this season.  Although tonight's game might not provide much of a measuring stick for how much they may have improved since their 1-5 start, I'd say their chances of extending their streak of non-losing seasons to an unreal 53 are pretty good right now.

Box score

[wally_wabash]

A couple of weeks ago at the Wabash/Franklin game I kept a running post live from Chadwick Court.  With Wabash returning to Chadwick tomorrow night, I'm looking for some feedback.  Is this something anybody would like to see again or even regularly from Wabash home games?