MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

All good points, LGH.  There's no question that Wes was not at 100% Wednesday night (I was surprised he was able to play at all frankly...his spill last Saturday was about as hard a fall as I've seen in 13 years of watching games at Chadwick), but even if he's not 100%, I would have thought that he'd be the one on Gregory at the end of the game there.  At the very least Wes has enough length to bother Gregory's shot.  Oh well...c'est la vie. 

One big positive from Wedensday and going back to Saturday has been the re-emergence of Aaron Brock in the post for Wabash.  Brock is starting to look more like the guy that went off during the Little Giant NCAC tournament run last season and Wabash will need the assertive Aaron Brock (and a healthy Wes Smith) if they are going to have a shot to win those last three games in the tournament and punch a dance ticket. 

[ScotsFan]

Five minutes into the game in Richmond and Wooster has yet to miss a shot from the field and as a result lead 20-4!!!  8) 

Wooster is 7-7 overall and 4-4 from deep early in this one!

Perfect start for the Scots who seem to always struggle in their games at the EC and also considering that the EC was coming into this game with some confidence as a result of their upset of Wabash earlier in the week.

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Hiram 42  Oberlin 26

Ian Pfouts is leading the Terriers with 9 points.

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wooster 55  Earlham 32

Wooster hit 12 of their first 14 shots and 7 of those were three pointers!  Scots are being led by Matt Fegan with 9 points (3 three pointers), Justin Hallowell with 8 points, Nathan Balch with 8 points, Bryan Wickliffe also with 8 points and Ian Franks with 7 points.  Wooster made 9 three pointers in the half.  Scots shot 75% from the floor in the half.

Earlham's leading scorers are Tristian Gregory with 13 points and AJ Sutherlin with 8 points.

[ScotsFan]

Looks like Witt is responding in their must win game at Kenyon.

They lead 52-32 early in the 2nd half! 

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Hiram 74  Oberlin 59

Hiram gets the road win and moves their record to 12-5, 7-1 NCAC.  Terriers were led by Ian Pfouts with 16 points.

Jordan Beard was the leading scorer for Oberlin with 20 points.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 109  Earlham 86

Wooster ran away with this game by making 15 three pointers and they got the easy road win.  Scots were led by Nathan Balch with 17 points (5 three pointers), Marty Bidwell with 15 points, Bryan Wickliffe also with 15, Ian Franks with 13 points, Justin Hallowell with 12 points and Matt Fegan with 11 points.  Wooster shot 68% from the floor today and won the boards 37 to 26.

Earlham was led by Tristian Gregory with 29 points and A.J. Sutherlin with 20 points.  Quakers are now 2-15, 2-6 NCAC.

Wooster is now 12-5, 7-1 NCAC.

GO SCOTS!

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wittenberg 74  Kenyon 61

Tigers get a nice road win in Gambier.  Both Witt and Kenyon are now 5-3 in the NCAC.

[wally_wabash]

One more final...OWU beats Allegheny in Meadville 64-60.  No stats or game stories are available as of yet. 

[ScotsFan]

Nice balance shown by the Scots today with 6 of the 11 players that made the trip to Richmond scoring in double figures!  And Drew Sawyer was only a bucket away from joining the double figures party!

[wally_wabash]

Halftime at Wabash where Denison leads the Little Giants 37-28. Denison shot 50% in the first half while Wabash shot considerably less than that. This was a pretty poor effort from the LGs all the way around.

Good group of Denison fans made the trip but they sure are an angry bunch. They need a hug I think.

Wabash is led by Smith, Brock, and Maloney who have 8 points each. Denison is paced by Garabedian and his 9 points but Larry Farmer is Denison's best player. I don't understand why he isn't used more.

Here's to a better second half for Wabash!

[David Collinge]

With just over five minutes gone at Kenyon, J.T. Knight had personally outscored Wittenberg; his 7 points contributed to a 14-6 KC lead with the hosts seemingly in control.  Then Knight stepped into a backcourt passing lane trying for a steal, but instead committed his second foul.  Sent to the bench for the remainder of the half, Wittenberg chose to pack in the defense and dare the other Kenyon guards to shoot over the defense.  They did, and failed (0-5), and Witt converted that 8-point deficit into a 10-point halftime lead (which would have been 12 if not for a phantom technical foul called on Witt's Chris Sullivan).  After Knight's departure, Kenyon's offense consisted of a 5-of-7 performance by Bryan Yelvington, a putback by Allen Bediako, and nine turnovers, while at the other end Witt was unconscious, hitting 11 of 18 shots including 14 points from Kevin Murray, while turning the ball over just four times.  Knight returned to the floor to begin the second half, but missed his first four jumpshots as Witt used a 17-4 run to put the game out of reach.  KC did mount a 13-4 run to close the gap to 12, but the visitors remained on fire, hitting 56% of their second half shots (they were better than 62% for the game), and the Lords could get no closer.  

With the win, Wittenberg (8-8, 5-3 NCAC) passes the ceremonial Must-Win Game Albatross over to Kenyon (11-6, 5-3) who will take it with them to Hiram (12-5, 7-1) on Wednesday in an attempt to stay in the conference race.  Wittenberg gets to return home for their next three games, but all of them are minefields: Wabash (8-8, 3-5), then Transylvania (13-4), then Hiram.  

[David Collinge]

Wally, or anyone else who's seen him, I'm interested in your opinion of Denison's wonderfrosh Mike Garabedian.  He had 20 points against Wooster and already has 20 this evening.  EDIT:  finished the game with 26 on 9/17 from the floor and 7/9 from the line.

EDIT:  Denison hangs on and wins 78-72.  First NCAC win of the season for Denison, and it happens in one of the toughest places in the NCAC to win. 

[wooscotsfan]

All the NCAC 1/24 Final Scores in one list:

Hiram 74  Oberlin 59
Wooster 109  Earlham 86
Wittenberg 74  Kenyon 61
Ohio Wesleyan 64  Allegheny 60
Denison 78  Wabash 72

[wooscotsfan]

Current NCAC Standings thru 1/24 Games:

1.  Wooster 7-1, 12-5
1.  Hiram 7-1, 12-5
3.  Ohio Wesleyan 6-2, 10-6
4.  Wittenberg 5-3, 8-8
4.  Kenyon 5-3, 11-6
6.  Wabash 3-5, 8-8
6.  Allegheny 3-5, 7-10
8.  Earlham 2-6, 2-15
9.  Oberlin 1-7, 4-13
9.  Denison 1-7, 4-13