MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[jimmychitwood15]

Earlhamalum- curious as to the situation of your 7-3 putout at 3rd base... my guess, a short blooper to shallow left field with runners on 1st and 2nd. Both SS and 3B drift out, pitcher is backing up home and 2B is covering 2nd for runner tagging. So the 1B had to come over and cover 3rd??? just a guess....

[earlhamalum]

jimmychitwood- aka HOOSIERs   You nailed it on the dot... but you didn't guess who the 1st baseman was.. 

[jimmychitwood15]

after looking it up...sean o'reilley?

Another one for you or anyone, I remember hearing Nathan Stoopes was playing in Japan at some point last year... is he still playing or did he hang 'em up??

[earlhamalum]

Good answer!  He is still over there... after this season he might change to another team or come back to America... He'll figure that one out come June

[wally_wabash]

Hip hip hooray for the Terriers:

Hiram 90, Thiel 79

In Granville, Wabash is up 66-59 with 10:00 left.  Wabash is in big foul trouble here.  Coffey is on the bench with 4, four other Little Giants have 3 personals.

[wally_wabash]

3 minutes left in Granville...

Wabash has managed to walk the foul trouble tightrope and has extended the lead to 10.  Good clock management and adequate foul shooting should seal this one for the Little Giants. 

[wally_wabash]

Final from Granville:

Wabash 85
Denison 73

Wabash turns a 3 point halftime deficit into a convincing win.  Wabash held a 7-10 point lead for most of the second half and was able to overcome some foul trouble to get the road win.  Wabash has quietly won 5 games in a row now and moves to 6-3 on the year, 2-0 in the NCAC. 

Wabash is off until Dec. 30 when the Franklin Grizzlies come to Chadwick for this annual Hoosier grudge match. 

[ScotsFan]

One GL Region score of note from today:

ONU rebounds well after taking their first  loss of the year at home to BW defeating JCU in Cleveland Hts. in OT. 

The final:

ONU - 87
JCU - 75

ONU is looking like they are for real.  It could be a much more interesting game than many were expecting down in Springfield on Wednesday.

By the way, just my opinion, but  I wouldn't go as far as to say a 12 point win over Denison is a "convincing" win.  A solid win, yes.  But, convining?   They just lost at home to Bluffton by 23?!  That's convincing.  Wooster beat them down there by 36.  That's more than convincing.  A twelve point win is solid, but given the current state of Denison basketball, I would call it a stretch to say it was a "convincing" win.

[David Collinge]

Also of interest
#18 B-WC 85, Capital 82

[ScotsFan]

One thing to add about the upcoming game between ONU and Witt.  We should definately get a pretty good feel as to how the best of the NCAC stack up against the best of the OAC on Wednesday when Witt and ONU square off, given the fact that Wooster narrowly defeated Wittenberg just last week, and ONU is coming off back to back games against arguably the 2 favorites in the OAC; a narrow defeat to BW, and an OT win over JCU. 

Also, on the 29th, Wooster will meet BW in the opening round of the Mose Hole Classic and that will again pit 2 of the respective conference's best (not to mention the GL Region's best) against each other as well. 

[smedindy]

I wouldn't go as far as to say a 12 point win over Denison is a "convincing" win.

Any double digit win on the road is convincing to me! (Well, maybe not against Oberlin).

Hmmm...I think this whole Denison thing WAS the coach preparing for the NCAC season. It seemed much ado about nothing.

Perusing the Wabash / Denison box:

Wabash played 12 players, all in the first half.

Denison did play 11, but two of them played just one minute in the first half. In the second half, they played just nine and Hern, Hodgkinson and Krantz played at least 16 minutes each in the second half.

[witt4ever]

One thing to add about the upcoming game between ONU and Witt.  We should definately get a pretty good feel as to how the best of the NCAC stack up against the best of the OAC on Wednesday when Witt and ONU square off, given the fact that Wooster narrowly defeated Wittenberg just last week, and ONU is coming off back to back games against arguably the 2 favorites in the OAC; a narrow defeat to BW, and an OT win over JCU. 

------------------------------

Wittenberg will probably lose against ONU since  Russ has not practiced or ran for over a week and Witt has not played for 10 days, great scheduling.

So all you pick-em pickers might want to reconsider the Witt win against the Bears.

----------------------------------

Here is the News-Sun article about Russ:


Russ day-to-day with ankle sprain



Wittenberg students had final exams this week, but the men’s basketball program’s leading scorer has an extra test to pass Monday.

Senior post Dan Russ did not practice this week after suffering what coach Bill Brown is calling a high-ankle sprain, suffered in the 86-83 loss at North Coast Athletic Conference rival Wooster last Saturday.

Luckily for the Tigers, they don’t play until Tuesday at home against Ohio Northern at 7:30 p.m.

“(Russ) is out of the walking boot that he was wearing earlier this week, “Brown said. “My best hope is that he does some light jogging by Sunday.”

After an MRI turned up nothing earlier this week, Russ has been seeing Cincinnati Reds and Wittenberg team doctor Tim Kremchek about the injury. Brown said if the ankle doesn’t improve by Monday, a second X-ray might be scheduled.

“Tim Kremchek said if Dan had any major discomfort come Monday that he will reevaluate the injury,” Brown said. “I don’t see that happening, but we will have to see. Right now he is just day-to-day.”

Russ suffered the injury with about eight minutes left in the second half when he blocked the shot of a Wooster shooter before falling to the ground. Russ sat out for three minutes before coming back and hitting three key shots, including one that tied the game at 83-83 before South grad James Cooper hit a game-winning 3-pointer.

Russ finished with a game-high 33 points, the second-best scoring output of his career.

“It just shows the toughness he has,” Brown said. “He did a lot for us that night and hit some key shots.”

If Russ, who is averaging more than 14 points a game for the Tigers (6-1), can’t go in Tuesday’s matchup with Ohio Northern (7-1), Brown said senior wing Kenny Brady will step into the forward role and junior guard Billy Bowen will start.


Reach Lucas Sullivan at

lsullivan@coxohio.com

[DenisonFan]

I have to admit that the Big Red put on a pretty good show last night.  They lost the game but it wasn't by 40.

It seemed like they played with more energy than I have seen in previous games.

Ghiloni still played way too many guys.

He allows his freshman guard Kranz to shoot it 17 times.  That was what Hodgkinson and Hern shot combined.  HELLO??  And he was 5 of 17.  Come on Ghiloni, get it to the guys that make you baskets.

Other than that they looked pretty good.

[ScotsFan]

witt,

Thanks for the info.  I wouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly about Russ not playing.  From what I read in that article, Russ is progressing just fine with his ankle sprain and I would be surprised if he didn't play against the Bears.  He may not start, but that guy is such a competitor, it seems Coach Brown would have to strap him down to keep him out of a big game like the one on Tuesday.  Even a 70% Russ is better than no Russ.  And judging from how he played on it last Saturday when he came back into the game, I would say he will play on Tuesday.

And as for Witt not playing in 10 days, it sounds like its a good thing for them.  The 10 days off gave Russ some healing time for his ankle.  If they would've had this game any earlier, it sounds as if Russ definately wouldn't have been able to go, but with the extra time off, at least there's a chance Russ can contribute.  Also, OWU has had 2 pretty grueling games in the last week (a 2 point loss at home to BW and a win in OT at JCU).  How much will they have left in the tank?

[smedindy]

Can the coach make the passes to get it to the big guns, or were the big guns taken away by the defense? I think you're giving a coach way too much credit or blame. It seemed like the 26 turnovers were the key - perhaps they were trying to force it too much? Inquiring minds want to know.