MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[zander]

I'm with you Penn. Thanks for straightening me out on what needs to happen. On another note... Is Al Vanwie still around??

[David Collinge]

On another note... Is Al Van Wie still around??

Sure thing.  I'd see him at every game when I still lived in the area.  He looks great.

[David Collinge]

Coverage update:  Live stats and audio for the Earlham/Denison game.

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wooster 32  Wabash 27

Ugly shooting in the first half for both teams.  Wooster was only 3 of 16 (19%) from the floor early in the game and trailed 17 to 11.  Wooster rallied to retake the lead just before halftime.

Scots are being led by Nathan Balch with 12 points, Brandon Johnson with 6 points, Ian Franks with 5 points and Justin Hallowell with 5 points.

Top scorers for the Little Giants are Aaron Brock with 11 points and Wes Smith with 6 points.

At the Half:   Earlham 26  Denison 26

[David Collinge]

At the Half:   Earlham 26  Denison 26

An EC win in this game could really throw a monkey wrench into the playoff scenarios.  Oberlin and Kenyon are both 2-10, and with a win the Quakers would join them in a three-way tie for the eighth and final playoff slot.

[countyroad]

Wooster is running into some foul trouble.  Wooster has 15 fouls to Wabash's 10 with 13 minutes left.  Balch and Wickliffe have 3 a piece for Wooster.  Tied @ 42.

[David Collinge]

Disregard my above post (assuming you don't already disregard all of my posts.)  Denison is laying the wood to Earlham in the 2nd half, now out to a 68-45 lead with about 4 minutes left.

UPDATE/FINAL:  Denison 74, Earlham 61

[ScotsFan]

WOW!  Wes Smith fouls out on a charging call with 15 seconds left.  Now Wooster needs to make ft's up two and with the ball!

Wooster now up one with the ball and 5 seconds left.  Feagin calmly drills 2 followed by a Brandon Johnson steal of Chase Haltom and WOOSTER WINS!!!

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 64  Wabash 61

With a big road win, Wooster clinches at least a tie for the regular season NCAC title!

Scots were led today by Nathan Balch with 17 points, Ian Franks with 13 points, Brandon Johnson with 11 points and Bryan Wickliffe with 10 points.

Top scorers for the Little Giants were Aaron Brock with 20 points and Wes Smith with 18 points.

Wooster was outrebounded by Wabash 31 to 27 but the Scots shot 46% vs. only 38% for the Little Giants.

Coach Moore complimented Brandon Johnson for a great game today.  Big baskets and a steal at the end of the game.

Wooster is now 17-4, 12-0 NCAC.  Next up is a road game at Hiram on Wednesday.

GO SCOTS!

[countyroad]

It sure was a tight 2nd half between Wabash and Wooster.  I'm sure it was an entertaining game for those in attendance.

Way to go Wooster.

[wooscotsfan]

2/6 and 2/7 Final Results:

Ohio Wesleyan 69  Oberlin 54
Allegheny 68  Kenyon 53
Wittenberg 66  Hiram 58
Denison 74  Earlham 61
Wooster 64  Wabash 61

Current NCAC Standings with 2/7 Results:

1.  Wooster 12-0
2.  Wabash 8-4
2.  Wittenberg 8-4
2.  Allegheny 8-4
5.  Hiram 7-5
5.  Ohio Wesleyan 7-5
7.  Denison 5-7
8.  Kenyon 2-10
8.  Oberlin 2-10
10. Earlham 1-11

[ScotsFan]

HUGE win on the road today for the Scots!  Not only from the perspective of all but clinching their 6th straight NCAC crown, but also from a GL Region perspective.

Brandon Johnson gets my gameball today!  He showed signs of being the old Brandon Johnson today especially on defense as he came through with 6 steals to go along with 11 points.  

As wsf noted, 4 Scots ended in double figures.  Justin Hallowell also had a nice game finiishing with 8 points, but he also had another strong game on the glass with 9 boards.

Wooster actually got outrebounded by Wabash 31-27 which is kind of surprising.  But the turnover battle was won by Wooster with just 9 compared to 17 for Wabash.  

Wooster also had a decent day shooting the ball at 46% to just 38% for Wabash.

It's hard to say that Wooster struggled at the line when they shot 68%, but they've been shooting over 80% over their last 11 games and their 7 misses at the line almost cost them today.  Wabash had an outstanding day at the line going 20-23 for 87%.

Wooster has now won 12 in a row and now have a GL Region best 16-3 record.  And they are now dormy with a 4 game lead in the confence with 4 to play!  

[wally_wabash]

Tough loss for Wabash today.  Wabash turned the ball over just a few too many times in this one, especially with a couple of tough turnovers late in the game.  Credit to Wooster for taking advantage of those Wabash miscues...Scots outscored Wabash on points off of turnovers 22-9. 

While it's tough to lose a three-point game when you've turned the ball over 17 times, looking forward I think that's correctable.  A couple of extra passes that didn't need to happen and a couple of silly traveling violations can be cleaned up.  The bigger issue that I see right now with this Wabash team is the perimeter shooting.  3 pt shooting over the last handful of games:

vs. Oberlin - 9-27 (33%)
vs. OWU - 7-21 (31%)
vs. Kenyon - 8-33 (24%)
vs. Earlham - 4-14 (29%)
vs. Wooster - 5-19 (26%)

That's 114 three point FGs attempted out of 277 total FGs attempted during this stretch.  41% of Wabash's shots are coming from shots that they only make 29% of the time.  If the LGs are going to shoot this many long distance shots, somebody other than Brock is going to have to start making some. 

The loss sticks Wabash into a three way jam for that #2 spot and makes it seem pretty apparent that Wabash will need to get at least one of their road games against OWU or Witt.  I don't see the #2 team having more than five league losses.  The first opportunity comes on Wednesday in Delaware.  Go Wabash! 

[David Collinge]

For the second time in three weeks, the NCAC Player of the Week sash and tiara will be worn by an Ohio Wesleyan sophomore.  This time the honoree is guard Tim Brady, who lit up Wittenberg and Oberlin to the tune of 26 points per game this week.  In the loss to the Tigers, Brady recorded a double-double with 23 points and 11 boards, while his 29 points in the Bishops' win over the Yeomen was a career high.  Brady is now tied with Wabash junior Wes Smith for second in the (conference only) scoring race at 18.6 ppg.  (Both trail Wooster junior Ian Franks, who is averaging 21.6 ppg in conference play.)  Congratulations, Tim!

[David Collinge]

One key game not to be overlooked in the maelstrom of activity on tomorrow's sports schedule is

Penn St.-New Kensington at Allegheny, 7:30 pm -- Live stats

...okay, so maybe it's not key.  Or a maelstrom.  Or even tomorrow, where most of you live.  But what else are you going to do to promote a why-the-heck-are-they-playing-this-in-mid-February game like this?

PSUNK, for the morbidly curious, is a member of the USCAA.