MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

Quick start for Wes Smith in Richmond tonight.  He's already got six points...three shy of 1,000.  Aaron Brock is scoreless so far.  Wabash leads 11-7 early at Earlham.  

8-0 run for Earlham ties the game at 15-15 and forces Wabash to get a timeout.  8:59 to play in the first half.  

8:35 left in the 1st half...Wes Smith gets a layup and scores his 1,000th and 1,001st career points.  Congrats Wes!  Wabash leads 19-17.  

Smith also has three steals and two blocks tonight...very active evening thus far for Wes.  Earlham just made their fourth 3 point FG of the evening (4-6 on the game so far) to pull back to 21-20.  The longball is keeping Earlham in it.  

4:24 left in the 1st hafl....Brock picks up his second foul and goes to the bench, likely for the duration of the half.  Two free throws puts the Quakers ahead 24-23.  Brock is scoreless so far tonight.  

Halftime in Richmond....Wabash finishes the half on a 11-0 run and goes to the break with a 36-28 lead over the homestanding Quakers.  Monster half for Wes Smith (19 pts, 7-10 FGs, 5-6 FTs, 3 STL, 2 BL).  Haltom chipped in with 9 points for Wabash, however Chase is 0-3 on his 3 pt FGs.  Dustin Rusk had a nice half for Earlham with 9 points and 4 rebounds.  

Wabash has remained hot to start the second half.  Aaron Brock scores his second basket of the half and Wabash leads 46-30.  Aaron is now four points shy of 1,000.  15:30 left to go.  

Earlham's announcing crew have taken to calling Wabash "Wes Smith College".  Wes is leaving an impression tonight.  

12:37 to play...Brock scores again.  Now just two points shy of 1,000.  

12:18....Two FTs for Brock and he joins the 1,000 point club as well!  Congrats Aaron!  56-38, Wabash leads.  Earlham's broadcast crew is getting incredulous about the refs and not calling fouls....despite the fact that the team foul count here in the second half is Wabash 6, Earlham 1.  Come on, fellas...just call the game.  

10:13 to play and Wabash has streaked ahead 61-40.  Timeout Earlham.  Wabash is shooting a balmy 57% for the game so far despite being just 1-9 on 3pt FGs.  

All done at Richmond...Wabash wins 73-48.  Smith and Brock both break the 1,000 point barrier.  LGs shoot 55% for the game while Earlham could only must a 28% shooting night.  Any road win is a good win.  Next up is Denison at Chadwick on Saturday afternoon...Wabash will look to get the Big Red monkey off their back. 

[ScotsFan]

Wooster is having one of those cold shooting nights.  When the livestats were still up, Wooster was only 1-11 shooting from 3-point range and barely 30% overall from the field. 

Allegheny on the other hand is shooting close to 60% from the field.

As a result Wooster finds themselves down by 8.

And make it 6 with a chance to cut it to 5 with Balch at the line.  FT is good and it's down to 5!

[David Collinge]

How will Wittenberg fare without Gregg Hill?  Well, they have three-pointers from five different players, they've shot 55% overall, they have just one turnover, and they're pounding Denison at the half 49-28.

[ScotsFan]

Well, the Gators score the last 4 points of the half and are up 9 at the half 37-28.

Wooster is in jeopardy of having their 25 game win streak over Gheny come to an end if they can't find their shooter's touch in the 2nd half.

[wally_wabash]

How will Wittenberg fare without Gregg Hill?  Well, they have three-pointers from five different players, they've shot 55% overall, they have just one turnover, and they're pounding Denison at the half 49-28.

The Big Red are saving it up for Saturday at Chadwick.   

[GoRed]

The Big Red are saving it up for the new coaching staff next year.  Eight is enough.

[David Collinge]

The as-yet unmentioned game has Hiram in the halftime lead, 34-27, over Oberlin.

[David Collinge]

Wittenberg ekes out the victory, 95-55.  Four in double figures, 12 threes made (28 att., 43%).  Five Tiger turnovers. 

[fantastic50]

Down by 8 with 6 minutes to play, the Scots hit enough shots down the stretch to get the "W" at Allegheny, 69-68, led by Ian Franks' 33 points.  Most nights, 4-for-25 shooting from behind the arc will doom a team, but not tonight, with Allegheny 3-of-16.

[pennstghs]

Wittenberg shows some grit and wins

Wooster survives

Wittenberg gets Allegheny at Allegheny this weekend

[David Collinge]

Hiram runs away from Oberlin in the second half, leading by 22 with 4:00 left before emptying the bench and settling for the 74-58 victory.  Chris "Where Have I Been Lately?" Roberts had 19.

[David Collinge]

Standings update:

Wooster 5-0
Hiram 4-1
Wittenberg 4-1
Allegheny 3-2
Denison 3-2
Wabash 3-2
OWU 2-3
Earlham 1-4
Oberlin 0-5
Kenyon 0-5

[ScotsFan]

Down by 8 with 6 minutes to play, the Scots hit enough shots down the stretch to get the "W" at Allegheny, 69-68, led by Ian Franks' 33 points.  Most nights, 4-for-25 shooting from behind the arc will doom a team, but not tonight, with Allegheny 3-of-16.

Led by Ian Franks might be an understatement in this game!  Ian pretty much single-handedly won this game for Wooster tonight including scoring 16 straight points at one point in the 2nd half to help the Scots eek out this win!

 

[seinfeld]

With Franks' effort last night, I think it is safe to say that there has never been a more valuable player to Wooster's success than Franks is to this year's team. As great as Bryan Nelson, James Cooper, Tom Port, John Ellenwood, Ryan Gorman, etc., none of them, in my opinion, were asked to single-handily win games, with little help, like Franks has had to do several times this year. The closest is Nelson in 2003 when he won player of the year honors. But even that team had Matt Smith, Rodney Mitchell, Kyle Witucky, Blake Mealer and Matt Schlingman. This year's team has the talent, based on prior performances, to help share the load, but it just isn't happening.

This got me to thinking that I can't remember the last time that a Wooster team seemed so short-handed coming off the bench. Right now, the Scots' bench is probably one of the weakest in the league. How did this happen? Well, one reason is that an entire team of players that all had the ability to be in the rotation have left the team in the last three seasons.

From last year's team, Dustin Geitgey decided not to play this year. He would be taking all of Warnes minutes, and would provide an outside shooting threat. Greg Ross started the season with the team, but has now transferred. He shot over 60% last year and played in all but two games. Would likely be backing up Wickliffe or Hallowell at this point. Drew Sawyer, who was 6th on the team in scoring last year, is now at Urbana. Scott Voiers, a guard, is playing for B-W. Brian Frank is now at Kent St., sitting out a year. And Terrence Williams, who was one of the top scorers at the Div. II level of high school in Ohio, left school.

This year's senior class would not have a single player if Brandon Johnson didn't take a redshirt, and this was supposed to be one of the largest and deepest classes in Wooster history. In addition to Geitgey, the three big men of that class -- Dex Battista, Craig Elam and Robert Melick -- all never materialized. One player that did materialize, but with another team, is Nick Hershberger. He transferred to Muskingum after his freshman year. He is fourth in the OAC in scoring (15.9 ppg) and also averages 5.7 rebounds and leads the team in assists from the forward position.

Any one of these players would help right now. I think most of these players left thinking they were never going to be able to contribute, but that has proven not to be the case.

[wally_wabash]

I wish my team's "down year" meant being 5-0 and being and all alone atop the conference standings.