MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[earlhamalum]

So I have been quiet this year about my Earlham Quakers... I could lie and say I have been busy with work and getting my Freshman Squad ready for Indianapolis North Central (Eric Gordon's alma mater) game tomorrow morning; honestly been busy with that and the holiday and family gatherings.  Speaking of Gordon he is GOOD okay a little better then good, but I was able to watch him up close and personal @ the Iowa game and that kids is good.  THANK YOU BRONSON Lickliter! 

Going to pass on talking about my big ten and Horizon league games I have attended this year and take my direction towards the NCAC.  So I've seen Earlham twice this year once at home against Anderson with Billypilgram.  Since he decided not to comment on this board I opted not to also.  I'm not a big fan of boards and well he usually surfs every Penn State Board known to mankind.  I also went down to Franklin College last Saturday for there game against Baldwin-Wallace. 

Anderson game- Lost 62-69.  I really think they have some individual talent and it is a shame that they do not have those missing players to fill in some of the voids they have.  I look at the 11 guys Anderson played and the 7 guys Earlham played and thought no way these guys will be able to play with Anderson.  Well needless to say they Gregory with a quiet 17 and .500 from the field, Terrel Berry grabbed an impressive 17 carmoms and God love him I'm not sure if he could throw the ball in the ocean.  Nick Welsh played soft as always, but put up solid (love me an oxymoron) numbers 5-8,   12 pts, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. They were in the game the entire time trailing 61-63 with 52 seconds remaining.  They just do not have the numbers right now and they get worn down throughout the game.  They pretty much play 4 players over 30 minutes a game, and by no means do I judge that decision.  I think I would have them train with the cross country team and try to have 6 guys ready to play since they seem to have a bunch of obstacles in the way and to be truthfully honest with you they only have a handful college basketball players on that roster.

Baldwin-Wallace- Lost 65-82.  Walked in the gym and saw Gregory with a taped ankle and a coaching staff w/ trainer watching him workout like it was the NFL Combine.  Well needless to say his Ankle injury prevented him from playing and man did that hurt.  It was nice to see Justin Carter who was playing in his second game for the Quakers.  He ended up 6-10 with 14 points in 35 minutes and they also received a pleasant 14 from freshman Mark Host.

As for tonight or should I say Friday night game I'll hopefully have something for you later.  It is hard for me to believe that this was one-sided and not provoked because Nick is a Soft 6'8.  I am thinking about going to become an official instead of coaching.  Some of these guys are steps below a bad joke.  I actually saw Mike Fox, one of the official's that covered the Game tonight and also worked the Earlham/Baldwin-Wallace game I attended.  I also saw him on National T.V. thinking he was a chairman or doing something or another... I wish I would of told BillyPilgram, because it has eluded my mind at the current moment in time and buggin me... Anyone that can help? anyone?  BUELLER? BUELLER? BUELLER?   

[wally_wabash]

Nice live updating, Wally!  +K

Sounds like a very good win for the LGs.  Part of that four-game homestand is against Wooster...sounds like Woo better be ready to play for that one. Will the Chadwick Crazies be back on Jan. 12?

Thanks for the +K....and this was a good win for Wabash.  I'm going to reserve really heavy praise for this one for a couple of reasons.  On the surface, Wabash laying waste to a 6-3 team seems awesome, but Allegheny's schedule is littered with every Penn State hyphen school known to man and I'm not sure how tough that 6-3 record is.  Also, the Gators were without two key players tonight and they were playing for the first time in four weeks.  Allegheny was running up a steep hill before this game even tipped off and after digging a hole in the first 8 minutes, they didn't have much of a chance. 

That having been said, I'm really impressed with what I'm seeing from Wabash this season.  Wabash's defense has been pretty good lately, even through the last few "lean" seasons, but this year the defense has stepped up a little bit.  As I posted during the game, Allegheny had trouble getting anything at all going in the half court thanks to constant harassment from Little Giant defenders.  While the defense is still good, the thing that has me really optimistic is that Wabash seems to be playing with a LOT more consistency offensively this season.  We know Zimmer can score, but Simkus, Brock and Haltom have each added a great deal to Wabash's offense both inside and outside.  Teams that are gearing up to stop Zimmer at all costs are getting burned big time by these other guys who are knocking down shots with enough consistency to be dangerous. 

At risk of looking past Hiram tomorrow afternoon, the CoW/Wabash game is looking very good to me.  The students will be back for that one and I'm expecting a good and rowdy student crowd.  I'm also anxious to see what kind of kicks Coach Petty is going to sport for Coaches vs. Cancer Day.  Wabash hasn't beaten Wooster at Chadwick since joining the NCAC....I think 1/12 is the best chance Wabash has had since Wabash's first year in the conference (with Estelle and Latham).  Wabash will be underdogs for sure, but the Scots will get everything they can handle from Wabash.  I'm anticipating that Wes Smith will draw the Cooper assignment...tough draw for a freshman, but Wes is the best defender Wabash has and while I'm sure Cooper will get his points (he's too good not to), I think Wes will make it a difficult time.  It's going to be a fun matchup for sure. 

[ScotsFan]

Wabash hasn't beaten Wooster at Chadwick since joining the NCAC....I think 1/12 is the best chance Wabash has had since Wabash's first year in the conference (with Estelle and Latham).  Wabash will be underdogs for sure, but the Scots will get everything they can handle from Wabash.  I'm anticipating that Wes Smith will draw the Cooper assignment...tough draw for a freshman, but Wes is the best defender Wabash has and while I'm sure Cooper will get his points (he's too good not to), I think Wes will make it a difficult time.  It's going to be a fun matchup for sure. 

I don't know.  Those teams with Joe DesJean and Brady Claxton seemed to always give the Scots all they could handle when Wooster would visit the 'ville.

[ScotsFan]

Hiram scores final five points to defeat Earlham 79-75 (at Richmond)

Wow, for once my upset special turned out correct!!!

[smedindy]

Mike Fox runs the Hoosier Dome...er...RCA Dome as the stadium director.

[wally_wabash]

We're about 5 minutes from tipoff at Chadwick.  This is my first chance to see Hiram's Mike Staley so I'm excited about that.  In a bizarre twist, Hiram will be wearing the home whites today and Wabash will be sporting the road reds.  As I never get to see Wabash in the red unis, I'm ok with this.  Wes appears to be going with the red headband to start today...we'll see if the headband makes it through the layup drills and onto the court for tipoff.  Back with more once we get underway. 

19:00 - The scoring starts with a Wes Smith steal and breakaway dunk.  Nice.  2-0 Wabash.  Smith is shadowing Staley here early and Staley is having a tough time getting free. 

17:12 - Wabash is having a tough time getting shots to fall early here.  Earl Rooks just picked up his second foul which will send Staley to the line.  The shots are good and Hiram has an early 7-4 lead.   

16:25 - Rough start for Wabash.  Staley just scored again to give Hiram a 9-4 lead and forcing a Wabash timeout.  With Rooks on the bench, Wabash is going to need strong minutes from Chase Haltom here in the first half.  Simkus scores in the paint out of the timeout.  9-6 Terriers.  And then Haltom hits a 3 before I can post.  9-9.

15:16 - And Wes Smith converts a 3 point play after finishing a great drive.  Just like that Wabash is on an 8-0 run and leads 12-9.

13:00 - Another steal and dunk for Smith.  Wabash is on a 14-0 run here.  Make it 16-0 as Zimmer lays the ball in.  20-9 Wabash leads.  Hiram coach Steve Fleming is about to come out of his sweater vest...he's not happy with much of anything right now. 

11:02 - Evan Arnold drills a triple for Wabash and extends the lead to 27-13.  Timeout Hiram.  In the last 4 minutes, Hiram has gotten completely out of any half court offense at all...pretty much we've got Staley pushing the ball up the floor and jacking up 3s.  this strategy will not serve the Terriers well.  The current Wabash run is 23-4 over the last 5 minutes or so. 

7:22 - We're in a timeout.  The game has gotten a little sloppy over the last couple of minutes...lots of turnovers by both teams here.  The score sits at 29-19 in favor of Wabash.  Hiram's offense is pretty stale...lots of one-on-one stuff, not much passing.  The Terriers are getting killed with Wabash's help defense.  Staley drives the baseline and scores out of the timeout and draws the foul.  The freebie is good.  29-22 now.  This Staley cat can play. 

1:30 - There hasn't been much to talk about here...this game has been pretty sloppy for most of the last 10 minutes.  Hiram has chipped away...until Zimmer nails a triple.  We're under a minute go now and Wabash leads 42-29.

0:00 - Hiram gets a free throw to close to the first half scoring and we go to the break with Wabash leading 42-30. 

First half observations....I really like Mike Staley.  He plays in a different gear than his teammates.  He's just a little quicker, passes are crisper....he could probably play at any school in the NCAC.  Unfortunately for Staley, his teammates aren't quite at the same level and Hiram's offense suffers because of it.  You can see Staley get selfish at times which doesn't help.  Not surprisngly, Staley leads Hiram in scoring with 11 first half points. 

For Wabash, Zimmer had a big first half with 14 points and Smith added 10 more.  Aaron Brock, who has his knee wrapped today (I hope he'll be 100% for Wooster next weekend) had 9 first half rebounds.  Wabash is winning the rebounding battle 29-15.  Clearly Hiram will have to reverse this if they are going to make a run in the second half. 

Brent just sent over first half stats...it's like I'm on press row!   
Anyway, what stands out is Wabash's 20-8 edge in points in the painted area and the 13-4 advantage Wabash has on second chance points.  Hiram really doesn't have an answer for Wabash's strong rebounding.  Hiram shoots just 30% for the first half and they'll have to do much better than that if they aren't going to rebound. 

Second half will be underway in a couple of minutes.

[WooMix]

I am following your commentary wally.  Thank you.

[David Collinge]

Denison leads Ohio Wesleyan at halftime, 39-38.

You read that right. 

[wally_wabash]

Wow on that Denison score.  Beating OWU would be a good way to break the win column. 

Here we go for the second half...Hiram will get the ball to start off. 

18:25 - No scoring here yet, but Wabash just earned free throws after getting three offensive rebounds on this possession.  Not exactly the adjustment Hiram needed at halftime.  Brock gets one of the two shots.  43-30 for the Little Giants. 

17:33 - Zimmer beats the shot clock with a three pointer and Wabash matches their largest lead of the game.  46-30.  Hiram turns the ball over.  Back comes Wabash.

17:01 - He might be good, but he's still a freshman...Wes Smith draws towel duty after some bodies hit the floor. 

15:29 - Wabash is playing with some more patience on offense here in the second half whicih is good considering the 11 first half turnovers.  Zimmer lays the ball in after a Hiram turnover.  The lead has ballooned to 20 as Wabash leads 50-30. 

Zimmer has a double double....19 and 10 so far. 

13:00 - Hiram has gone back to a full court press.  It was at about that point in the first half when the game got sloppy.  We'll see how it plays out here in the second half.  We've got Staley at the line for two.  He misses the first.  Makes the second.  52-35 Wabash. 

10:01 - We're going through the motions here now.  Wabash has the second unit in...we'll see if the starters get back on the floor.  Chase Haltom gets a pair of free throws and Wabash has a 58-39 lead.

8:36 - 60-41 Wabash here....the first unit checks back in so they'll get one more run in before taking a seat tonight.  Zimmer scores immediately.  62-41 in favor of the LGs. 

6:54 - Zimmer hits another 3.  He's having a huge afternoon.  28 points for Zimmer to this point.  Rooks hits a driving layup for Wabash as well here.  67-43.  I think Mac is waiting for Coach Fleming to send in the end of the bench here.  Two more for Zimmer.  That's 30!  69-45 with 5:30 to go.

5:07 - Here comes the Hiram bench.  I'm sure Mac will substitute here at the next dead ball.

3:36 - Here come the Wabash subs.  Zimmer comes out to a well deserved ovation.  30 and 13 for Zim today.  Wabash leads comfortably, 73-48.

2:08 - Timeout Wabash...Mac finally gets a chance to substitute for Earl Rooks.  We've got 2 minutes to see how many of these kids can get their first varsity points. 

0:00 - 80-60 is the final.  After a slow start, this was a pretty easy win for the Little Giants.  Wabash has 7 days to get ready for Wooster.  This was a nice set of games for Wabash...I'm very encouraged by what I've seen here in the last 24 hours.   

[Li'l Giant]

You read that right. 

Good. I thought I needed to go get my glasses.

[Li'l Giant]

Great job, again, Wally. I'll repeat what a lot of us have said. You need to get into the SID business.

[kiltedbryan]

EDIT:  d3hoops' scoreboard and the OWU website do not agree on this score at the moment.  OWU says they won 83-70 but the D3 site lists Denison as the winner by that score.

I suspect someone flipped the score when they submitted it to the d3 scoreboard.  Haven't seen a score at Denison's website or a recap for the game yet.

Denison 83, OWU 70, Final.

[seinfeld]

OWU's site has the score the other way around. I'm assuming they have it correct, since it was a home game for OWU.

[kiltedbryan]

This score is now confirmed.

Denison 70, Ohio Wesleyan 83

[BigRedGrad]

OWU won but the Big Red gave them all they could handle.
Good showing by the Big Red.  They may be o-fer but there is no quit in this team and that is a credit to all the guys and the coaches.