MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[ScotsFan]

Fans going to the Wooster/MUC game may be interested to know that MUC's starting guard Dave Pellerite is the elder brother of OWU winger Pat Pellerite.

I knew I had heard that name before... 

Also, MUC's starting forward, Jay Mathis, is the elder brother of COW tight end Jon Mathis...

[ScotsFan]

Final from Timken tonight:

Wooster - 80
MUC - 61

Wooster was led in scoring by the tournament Defensive MVP, Ian Franks with 21 points including a perfect 13-13 from the charity stripe.  Tournament MVP, Justin Hallowell chipped in 19 including 5-8 from beyond the arc.  All in all, five Scots hit double figures including Matt Fegan with 11, Nathan Balch with 10 and Drew Sawyer had another solid outing filling in for Wickliffe with 10.

MUC actually outshot Wooster tonight to the tune of 45% to 43% but Wooster really clamped down on their perimeter defense limiting MUC to just 17% (3-18) from deep while the Scots made 11-23 for 48%.  Franks' defensive effort on MUC's leading scorer and 3 point shooter, Chris Switzer was a thing of beauty to watch.  Switzer came into the night averaging just shy of 20 ppg. while shooting almost 44% from deep and Franks clamped down defensively to hold him to just 6 points on 2-11 shooting and 1-5 from downtown.

Wooster also dominated on the glass to the tune of 43-28 including 15-6 on the offensive glass!

And lastly and most surprisingly, Wooster actually had an outstanding night at the ft line going 15-16.  Their only miss on the night was Greg Ross' miss on the front end of a one & one in the 2nd half.  MUC on the other hand was a horrid 10-20.  Switzer came into the game 17-17 from the line on the season and he missed his first 3 ft's of the night.

All in all, this was a much, much better performance on both ends of the floor tonight for the Scots, save from about midway through the first half where Wooster went ice cold and  allowed MUC to come all the way back from a 12 point defecit to pull within 4 at the half.  But, Wooster always seemed to hit the big shot when they needed to, and I think Wooster's depth and the pace of the game really started to take it's toll on the Purple Raiders and then MUC compounded things when they began to unravel and lose their composure to add to their demise in the 2nd half as Wooster pulled away down the stretch.

Wooster is now off until a week from tomorrow when they travel to Gambier for a key NCAC matchup with up and coming Kenyon for their only meeting of the season.

[ScotsFan]

Other scores:

CWRU - 78
OWU - 68

Ugly loss for the Bishops... 

Witt - 82
MSJ - 75

Witt avoids going winless in their Holiday tournament

Wabash - 73
Franklin - 68

Denison - 74
Nichols - 59

[David Collinge]

Other scores:

CWRU - 78
OWU - 68

Ugly loss for the Bishops... 

Sheesh.  I hereby recuse myself from making any more comments on OWU's place in the conference race this season.  They are just too tough to figure out--great one day and crummy the next.  Unless some Case chemistry professor has invented a substance that allows the Spartans to sail unimpeded around the gym, this is one terrible loss for the Bishops.

[wooscotsfan]

Just back from Timken and I think that ScotsFan gave a very nice summary of the Wooster victory.  A few other observations that I would add...

Coach Moore made a key substitution midway through the second half when Wooster's offense had stagnated and Mt. Union had closed the Scots lead to 1 point (50-49).  Moore recognized the need for an offensive spark and he reinserted both Nathan Balch and Justin Hallowell.  They promptly each hit a three point shot...suddenly the Wooster lead was 7 points (56-49)  and the Purple Raiders never got the lead to less than 4 points after that juncture.

How do you stop a 6'7" guy from draining three pointers in D3 basketball?   It is a very difficult task as Mount discovered tonight when Hallowell hit 5 of them and rightly earned the MVP award for the tournament.

Drew Sawyer could have made the all tournament team as well with a near double double tonight (10 points, 9 boards) following his 18 point effort last night.  He is probably the most athletic player on the Wooster squad and he is clearly earning more playing time with his hustle.

Matt Fegan had another strong performance with 3 three pointers (11 points) and a beautiful assist to Greg Ross for an easy layup.  He looks more comfortable with his shot and ball handling with every game played.

As ScotsFan noted, major kudos to Ian Franks for his defensive work on Switzer and Marty Bidwell picked up the challenge whenever Franks was out of the game.

Wooster's perimeter defense was superb tonight as Mt. Union entered this game shooting 43% as a team from the three point arc (key reason for their 9-1 record) and the Scots held them to only 3 of 18.

Scots got 10 more shots than Mt. Union tonight mostly because of their rebounding advantage already noted by Scotsfan.

Wooster is now 7-4, 2-0 NCAC.    Let's knock off the Lords in Gambier on 1/7.

GO SCOTS!

[wooscotsfan]

One other thought - 7 first year players (6 frosh plus Balch as a transfer) saw playing time for the Scots tonight and these first year players accounted for 70% of Wooster's total points.  Note that Bryan Wickliffe missed another game with the flu tonight.

It is a real credit to the Wooster coaching staff that this mostly new team is already playing well as an unit and much improved from the start of the season.  The future looks very bright for Wooster if these first year players continue to improve as the season progresses.

[ScotsFan]

One other thought - 7 first year players (6 frosh plus Balch as a transfer) saw playing time for the Scots tonight and these first year players accounted for 70% of Wooster's total points.  Note that Bryan Wickliffe missed another game with the flu tonight.

It is a real credit to the Wooster coaching staff that this mostly new team is already playing well as an unit and much improved from the start of the season.  The future looks very bright for Wooster if these first year players continue to improve as the season progresses.

It is amazing to me that Wooster has this many freshmen or first year players making such significant contributions to this team.  And I am even more amazed at the level of play these first year players are showing.  I think when you look at this recruiting class, this has to be arguably one of Wooster's best in both talent and depth.

Also, as I was reading Witt's game recap from their win over MSJ, I noticed they had a Springfield South product with the last name of Cooper.  Any chance he's related to James?  His name is Michael Cooper and he's a freshman and he's Witt's 2nd leading scorer so far this season.

[woosterbooster]

Leave it to Witt to sneak a former Los Angeles Laker into DIII basketball.  Kudos to Cooper himself, though, who at 53 apparently still has some game left.

[David Collinge]

Also, as I was reading Witt's game recap from their win over MSJ, I noticed they had a Springfield South product with the last name of Cooper.  Any chance he's related to James?  His name is Michael Cooper and he's a freshman and he's Witt's 2nd leading scorer so far this season.

Michael and James are not related.  Michael was a wide receiver on the football team, and now that he's fully in "basketball shape," the Witt folks are very high on him.  From what I've seen, he's a good player with plenty of potential, part of Witt's large and talented freshman class.  With the numerous frosh at Witt and Wooster, it looks like the "Big 2" may reassert their NCAC dominance in the coming years after a couple of years of relative parity.

[David Collinge]

Allegheny 89, Earlham 78...

MEADVILLE, Pa. - Craig Devinney (Allison Park, Pa./Shaler) led five different Gator scorers in doubt figures, finishing with 22 points -- including 17 in the second half -- and six steals, as the Allegheny women's basketball team defeated Earlham, 89-78, in North Coast Athletic Conference action.

Devinney seems to be recovering well from his her operation.  Recap.
Hiram 80, Wabash 72...Chris Roberts (8 points, 4 assists) was off his game, and Ian Pfouts (14 points, 5 boards) was clearly under the weather, which accounts for the closer-than-expected final margin.    As they did against Wittenberg, Hiram took control of the game's pace from the outset, scoring 10 of the game's first 12 points and leaving the Little Giants wondering what hit them.  A Nick Russo three-pointer gave the Terriers a 12-point lead with 10:44 left in the first, and Wabash couldn't get the margin back to single digits until there were less than 9 minutes left in the contest.  Hiram hit 55% of their first-half shots, including 8 threes, to open up an 18-point halftime lead.  Wabash couldn't get anything going in the opening half, hitting just 30% of their shots (Chase Haltom missed his first five treys, all of which were from 24' or beyond), being outrebounded by 7, and generally getting outhustled on both ends.  Wes Smith came alive early in the second half, single-handedly bringing the LGs back into the game.  He scored 16 points and grabbed 7 boards in just over 10 minutes, cutting the Hiram lead to 8 with 8:53 left, but Hiram doubled him up the rest of the way, limiting him to just a late free throw.  (Smith ended up with 19 points and 11 boards, game highs in both categories.)  Wabash kept whittling away at the lead, cutting it to 5 with 1:24 left, but then they seemed to panic and chucked up a couple of off-balance threes, fouling quickly on the rebound.  Hiram, thus fortified with a seven-point lead and only 0:47 to kill off, held off the visitors with seven free throws down the stretch.  Wabash falls to 0-2 with what amounts to a must-win game tomorrow afternoon at Allegheny.  Hiram moves into the conference lead (with Wooster and 'Gheny) at 2-0 and hosts Earlham tomorrow.  Box.

[ScotsFan]

Hiram looks to be making a serious challenge at a top 4 finish in the league, having already beaten the #2 and #4 teams as voted by the pre-season media and coaches polls.  It will be interesting to see how they build off of these wins as the conference schedule progresses.

[David Collinge]

Hiram looks to be making a serious challenge at a top 4 finish in the league, having already beaten the #2 and #4 teams as voted by the pre-season media and coaches polls.  It will be interesting to see how they build off of these wins as the conference schedule progresses.

I was discussing that with a coach who was scouting the game, and we agreed that this is likely Hiram's best chance to make a run at a league title.  The stars are arranged about as well as they could be: Hiram has its best team in years, while Wabash and OWU are struggling and Witt and Wooster are rebuilding.  (Kenyon is in a similar position.)  Hiram winning the conference may still be a longshot, but if it's ever going to happen, this is the season.

Just think where they'd be if Mike Staley hadn't transferred.  He's averaging 15.6 points and 6.6 assists per game for Adrian.  His A/TO is 2.1, and he's scored 84 points in his last four games.

[smedindy]

First, the Buzzsaw that is the Arizona Cardinals wins an NFL playoff game, and now there's talk on the board that Hiram could be a legit contender in the NCAC.

Next, you'll tell me cats and dogs will be living together...

[wally_wabash]

Wabash gets a split of their biannual eastern swing with a 58-56 win at Allegheny this afternoon.  Chase Haltom hit two three pointers in the last 20 seconds to tie the score and then give Wabash the lead.  Following the go ahead basket, Allegheny induced a foul on the inbound pass.  Both free throws were made even though the second one was to be missed intentionally.  Not weird enough, yet?  It turns out that Allegheny decided to use a sixth man during the foul shots.  The points stayed on the board, but a technical foul was assessed and that was how the game ended.  Strange stuff for sure. 

Based on what I've seen and heard of Wabash hoops this season, Wabash would be a heck of a team if they bothered to play the first half of their games.  Time and again Wabash struggles to score points in the first half, digs themselves a massive hole, and then spends the second half crawling back.  Sometimes it works out (see the win vs. Franklin on 12/30) and sometimes it doesn't (see losses to Hiram, Kenyon, DePauw). 

It would seem that the league title is up for grabs...there are no dominant teams in our league this season.  Hopefully the LGs will find some consistency in the first half of their games and make a serious run.  If it's going to happen, it'll have to start at Chadwick Court vs. Wooster on 1/10. 

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Hiram 85  Earlham 70

No surprise in this final score as Hiram improves to 8-4 overall and 3-0 in the NCAC.

Quakers fall to 1-10 and 1-2 in the NCAC.  Hiram was led in scoring by Andrew Weigand, a freshman guard who had 16 points and here is the link to the game story: http://news.hiram.edu/?p=2080