MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[ScotsFan]

Honorable mention surely must go to Hiram's Mike McDevitt, whose 43-point effort Saturday failed to garner him this award most likely because a) it was in a losing effort and b) his teammate Mike Staley was last week's PotW.

Additional honorable mention must go to Wooster's Evan Will, who set career highs in blocks (5 in Wednesday's tilt against the Gators), points (27 in the victory over OWU), and 3 pointers (4 against OWU) during the last week.

His stat line for the week was  41 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, five blocks and three steals, and he shot very well: 17-24 (.708) overall and 6-11 (.545) from three-point range.

I was thinking that Will might have gotten the nod considering that his career night came in a crucial NCAC game against a contending OWU squad whereas Loll's efforts came in a win over bottom feeding Earlham and a loss to OWU.

FYI, a video clip of Johnson's block and Coop's subsequent trey is now viewable on the write-up page of Wooster's win.  Here's the link if anyone is interested:

Momentum Changer

One final note:

Wooster has been led in scoring by their 6th different player in their last 7 games.  With the exception of the Hiram and Wittenberg games where James Cooper took home scoring honors in those back to back games, 5 other players have led the team in scoring.  Starting with Wabash, it was Bryan Wickliffe.  Then Brandon Johnson led the way vs. Densison.  Devin Fulk had team honors against Earlham.  And Marty Bidwell and Will topped the list vs. Allegheny and OWU respectively.  Wooster is also a tenth of a percentage point from having 6 players averaging in double figures (Evan Will is at 9.9 ppg following his 27 point outburst)!  That's some serious balance and further proof that stopping Cooper isn't the solution to beating Wooster.

[woosterbooster]

...and further proof that stopping Cooper isn't the solution to beating Wooster.

And kudos to Cooper for working so hard against OWU.  The James Cooper of two or three years ago, if the opposition was working so hard to deny him the ball, might have stood in the corner and become a spectator.  This year's version of Coop now does nothing of the sort; he spent the entire night working to get free and really earned the thirteen points that he scored.

[pennstghs]

another big week of games for wooster-step 2 of the 3 game stretch on saturdays against the top 3 teams besides them in the NCAC---witt should be able to hold homecourt setting up a HUGE week next week that will determine the conference tournament picture

[Put_It_On_My_Tab]

Can anyone believe the unbelievable amount of talent that Wabash has on its squad?  I mean they are just absolutely ridiculous....poised like a cat with claws of talent ready to pounce down the stretch.

I tabble in water paints.

[pennstghs]

except for not being able to score for long periods of streches......

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wooster 46  Hiram 27

Wooster is in control of this game already.   Leading scorers for the Scots are James Cooper with 12 points, Craig Elam with 7 points and Marty Bidwell with 7 points.

Hiram is being led by Mike Staley with 8 points and Chuck Williams with 6 points.

Wooster made 7 three pointers in the half and outrebounded the Terriers 21 to 14.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 104  Hiram 61

Wooster cruised in the 2nd half to a lopsided win.  Scots were led by James Cooper with 21 points, Devin Fulk with 16 points, Marty Bidwell with 13 points and Craig Elam with 10 points.  Congrats to Devin Fulk on hitting his 1,000 point in his Wooster career (49% career three point shooter!).

Hiram was led tonight by Mike Staley with 12 points and Mike McDevitt with only 12 points (Bidwell applied the "D").

Wooster is now 17-3, 10-1 NCAC   Next up is Wabash on Saturday

[wooscotsfan]

All the NCAC 2/6 Final Scores:

Ohio Wesleyan 86  Wabash 57
Wittenberg 70  Earlham 54
Allegheny 74  Oberlin 55
Wooster 104  Hiram 61
Kenyon 73  Denison 53

So, the top 5 in the standings are:

Wooster 10-1
Wittenberg 10-1
Ohio Wesleyan 8-3
Wabash 7-4
Kenyon 7-4

[Li'l Giant]

Ugh. That is all.

[jscwittfan]

NCAC 2/6 Final Scores:

Ohio Wesleyan 86  Wabash 57

Well that was unexpected.  Anyone in attendance care to lend an explanation?

[pennstghs]

The OWU/Wabash score is really surprising. I just got back from the newly named Pam Evans Smith Arena-Wittenberg started the game on an 18-2 run, but struggled thereafter to find their shot. Earlham to their credit kept fighting, but Wittenberg seemed to struggle hitting shots all night long

[goscots]

Congratulations to Devin Fulk in becoming the 32nd Wooster Scots to hit the Grand threshold (pun intended). Checking the media guide, this is the 7th straight season the Scots have had a player hit that threshold. Under Coach Moore....

'87-'88  ---
'88-'89  Mike Trimmer
'89-'90  Matt Heistand
'90-'91  Stan Aukamp, Erich Reibe
'91-'92  ----
'92-'93  Brian Buchanan
'93-'94  Doug Cline, Scott Meech, Doug Meinen
'94-'95  ----
'95-'96  ----
'96-'97  ----
'97-'98  Ryan Gorman (I'm guessing on this one - it was either the very end of '98 or very beginning of next)
'98-'99  -----
'99-'00  John Ellenwood
'00-'01  -----
'01-'02  Antwyan Reynolds, Bryan Nelson
'02-'03  Matt Smith
'03-'04  Rodney Mitchell
'04-'05  Matt Shlingman
'05-'06  Tom Port, Kyle Witucky
'06-'07  Tim Vandervaart
'07-'08  Devin Fulk + probably Brandon Johnson (94 points away)

There have also been four 1500 point scorers (Erich Reibe '91-'92, Bryan Nelson '02-'03, Tom Port '06-'07, James Cooper '07-'08)

[kiltedbryan]

NCAC 2/6 Final Scores:

Ohio Wesleyan 86  Wabash 57

Well that was unexpected.  Anyone in attendance care to lend an explanation?

My first-hand account would say that the score you see is a pretty good indication of how well these teams played tonight.  It was probably about 9-8 or 10-9 or so early, then OWU put together a run to push it out to double digits, took a 17-point lead into halftime, and the final was never in doubt throughout the second half.  It might have gotten down under 15, but when it was back out to around 20 and under 10 minutes, it seemed like Wabash just faded and lost the effort to try to get back in it.

My first time seeing Wabash this season.  Not impressed. Bash seemed pretty lackluster offensively all night long- not a lot of motion, some poor shot selection, etc. OWU had a tendency to turn the ball over a bit, but otherwise worked harder to find open looks, made more shots, and corralled a pretty good handful of offensive rebounds.

I would say that OWU played tonight approximately as well as they did against Wooster.  Wabash beating Wooster Saturday would be a huge upset in my book, based off of the Wabash team I saw tonight.

[David Collinge]

Yeah, this game was pretty much over at the tip.  The box score tells the whole story:

Shooting: OWU 48.4%, Wabash 36.5%
Three-point shooting: OWU 47.6% (10/21), Wabash 13.3% (2/15)
Rebounding: OWU 45, Wabash 27
Offensive rebounds: OWU 21 , Wabash 12

I don't want to be unkind (well...), but if the red jerseys had said "Denison" rather than "Wabash," the Bishops would not have been in firmer control of this game.

Wabash has to find a way to regroup before Saturday, or they'll be looking at a long bus ride to Gambier for the first round of the conference tournament.

[Li'l Giant]

I don't want to be unkind (well...), but if the red jerseys had said "Denison" rather than "Wabash," the Bishops would not have been in firmer control of this game,

This pretty much sums up what OWU did tonight: