MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[DadofBashWarrior..]

That makes it twice in a month that the Dannies show up "undefeated" only to be kicked to death by the Little Giants

Yessss...am smiling

[wooscotsfan]

7:31 remaining   Wooster 60  Hiram 46   Ian Franks now with 23 points

[David Collinge]

Denison outlasts Kenyon 83-78 in OT.  The biggest single factor appears to have been the officiating--now, I'm not suggesting that there was anything wrong with it, just that fouls and free throw shooting were the keys.  Kenyon was whistled for 20 fouls, costing them their senior leader Uki Vasiljevik, who fouled out, and leading to 27 DU points (in 37 shots).  By contrast, Denison committed just 13 fouls, with no one player earning more than three, and leading to just 13 KC charity points.  Both teams were led by former NCAC Newcomers of the Year: Denison's Dimonde Hale and Kenyon's Kodey Haddox each had 19 points and four rebounds.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 74  Hiram 60  

Wooster played much better in the 2nd half with excellent shooting.  Ian Franks led with 25 points followed by Justin Warnes 12 points, Bryan Wickliffe with 10 points (7 boards) and also frosh Ryan Snyder with 10 points (6 boards).

Hiram was led in scoring by Babajide Eniola with 19 points, Glenn Campbell with 12 points and Andrew Wiegand with 9 points.

Scots shot 51% from the floor vs. only 31% for Hiram.  Scots outrebounded the Terriers 42 to 36

Wooster is now 5-0, 1-0 NCAC     Next up is Denison at home on Saturday.

GO SCOTS!

[David Collinge]

Oberlin reminds me of CC Sabathia when he was still with the Indians.  It seems like every night, he'd come out and struggle in the first inning, and you'd hold your breath and hope he'd survive.  Then from the second inning onward, he'd be untouchable.  

Oberlin did it again tonight, spotting Allegheny to early leads of 11-0 and 25-6 before settling down and making their huge comeback.  Unfortunately, unlike Sabathia, this has not been a winning strategy for the Yeomen, and it was not a winner tonight either, as the Gators held on for the 83-71 road victory.  Devone McLeod (20) and James Ness (18) led four Gators in double figures.  

[David Collinge]

Conference standings:
Allegheny 1-0
Denison 1-0
Wooster 1-0
Ohio Wesleyan 0-0
Wabash 0-0
Wittenberg 0-0
Hiram 0-1
Kenyon 0-1
Oberlin 0-1

Non-conference record: 26-20 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Oberlin reminds me of CC Sabathia when he was still with the Indians.  It seems like every night, he'd come out and struggle in the first inning, and you'd hold your breath and hope he'd survive.  Then from the second inning onward, he'd be untouchable.  

Oberlin did it again tonight, spotting Allegheny to early leads of 11-0 and 25-6 before settling down and making their huge comeback.  Unfortunately, unlike Sabathia, this has not been a winning strategy for the Yeomen, and it was not a winner tonight either, as the Gators held on for the 83-71 road victory.  Devone McLeod (20) and James Ness (18) led four Gators in double figures.  

Wow, that sounds exactly like Justin Verlander of the Tigers.  I swear, if you removed his first innings he would already have 2-3 Cy Youngs!

[KnightSlappy]

Oberlin reminds me of CC Sabathia when he was still with the Indians.  It seems like every night, he'd come out and struggle in the first inning, and you'd hold your breath and hope he'd survive.  Then from the second inning onward, he'd be untouchable.  

Oberlin did it again tonight, spotting Allegheny to early leads of 11-0 and 25-6 before settling down and making their huge comeback.  Unfortunately, unlike Sabathia, this has not been a winning strategy for the Yeomen, and it was not a winner tonight either, as the Gators held on for the 83-71 road victory.  Devone McLeod (20) and James Ness (18) led four Gators in double figures.  

Wow, that sounds exactly like Justin Verlander of the Tigers.  I swear, if you removed his first innings he would already have 2-3 Cy Youngs!

Give me Verlander over CC all day any day.

[Duster72]

Stifling Wabash D tonight held DPU to under 30% shooting.  

Fun game.  DPU students had nothing for the good guys' chants all night long.  The 47 chant was especially fun.

I thought the story of the game, though, was DPU not being able to hit open looks at shots.  I thought their ball movement was getting them pretty good looks at 3s, but they couldn't knock them down.  Glad Wabash was able to turn the intensity back up the last 10 mins and ice the game. 

[ScotsFan]

Wooster got up early on Hiram by as many as 15 points in the 1st half only to lose Nate Balch to injury.  And Wooster didn't seem to know how to adjust without Balch the remainder of the 1st half and Hiram capitalized cutting the Wooster lead all the way down to 4 at the break.

And Hiram didn't let up early in the second as they came out and actually took a one point lead on a couple of occasions.  But after a Woo timeout, the Scots really stepped up their defensive intensity and simplified things offensively and took control of the game.

Franks as usual had a nice game, but to me, tonight's  gameball has to go to Justin Warnes!  He had a career high 12 points and really, for the first time I can remember, he really looked to create on the offensive end and he looked pretty good doing it!  And the Scots absolutely needed him to step up as he did!  It would be nice to see Justin use this performance as a confidence builder moving forward.  Freshman Ryan Snyder also did a nice job of coming off the bench and filling in for Balch with some increased minutes!

BTW, Balch took a knee to his thigh when scrambling for a loose ball and suffered a deep thigh bruise or contusion.  Dr. Tom kept him out for precautionary reasons.  Moore said he probably could have returned if needed.  Moore did say these injuries can be serious at times with the possibility of missing some significant time.  Hopefully, Balch's thigh bruise isn't of the serious variety and he will be available again to go on Saturday.

I also heard some other good news on the injury front.  Mike Evans is supposed to be losing his big cast tomorrow and if things continue to progress he might be available by the Mose Hole.  And freshman Scott Purcell who suffered a knee injury just minutes after seeing his first action of his collegiate career is also possibly going to be ready to go by the Mose Hole as well!  It will be nice if the Scots can get fully healthy heading into the New Year and into the conference schedule!

Sidenote:  Carrying the basketball is one of the most useless violations in basketball IMHO. 

[woosterbooster]

Aside from Wooster's usual suspects doing what usual suspects do, the contributions of Justin Warnes and Ryan Snyder were notable.  Warnes, along with some nice defensive and hustle play, dropped an early three and had some nice moves to the hoop in which he finished.  Snyder looked more comfortable on the court, and even more athletic, as perhaps his newbie nerves are settling in.

Although I saw none of the dirty play that they've provided in the past, Hiram is still Hiram.  Too much reaching, too many guys flying in out of control for rebounds.  Still, they play hard, and for over thirty minutes stuck with Wooster until the Scots' D finally clamped down.  The Terriers, though, will pull a few upsets in the league this year, especially in the northern wilderness that they call home.

Wooster was called six times for carrying the ball.  Four in the first half alone, followed by two more in the first five or so minutes of the second half.  I'm guessing that that number approximates how many times that happened all of last year.  Not only are these the same players, but the calls were made by three of the same refs that often populate Timken gym.  What the heck was that all about except three clowns flexing their egos, deciding that they were going to be the show.

Scotsfan, we were obviously thinking many of the same things at nearly the same time.  Only your youth and superior typing ability enabled you to beat me to the finish line.

[wooscotsfan]

As David noted, the NCAC has a winning non-conference record so far at 26-20.

One reason for this 26-20 record is that NCAC has a winning 6-4 record so far vs. the OAC.  In past seasons, the OAC has often held the upper hand.

Hiram has actually beaten all 3 OAC teams that they have played so far and Wabash, Wooster and OWU have also picked up wins vs the OAC teams.  To be fair, the NCAC teams have not faced John Carroll or Wilmington yet and they could be the top 2 teams in the OAC this year.

The NCAC looks deeper this year with Denison, Hiram and Kenyon each having 3 nonconference wins so far.

There also seems to be a lot of parity in the Great Lakes region so far though it is still early in the season.  Already, there are only 4 undefeated teams remaining in the entire Great Lakes region:

Wabash 7-0, Wooster 5-0, Marietta 5-0 and Penn State-Behrend 5-0.  Two of those are NCAC teams!

[wooscotsfan]

BTW, Balch took a knee to his thigh when scrambling for a loose ball and suffered a deep thigh bruise or contusion.  Dr. Tom kept him out for precautionary reasons.  Moore said he probably could have returned if needed.  Moore did say these injuries can be serious at times with the possibility of missing some significant time.  Hopefully, Balch's thigh bruise isn't of the serious variety and he will be available again to go on Saturday.

I also heard some other good news on the injury front.  Mike Evans is supposed to be losing his big cast tomorrow and if things continue to progress he might be available by the Mose Hole.  And freshman Scott Purcell who suffered a knee injury just minutes after seeing his first action of his collegiate career is also possibly going to be ready to go by the Mose Hole as well!  It will be nice if the Scots can get fully healthy heading into the New Year and into the conference schedule!

ScotsFan - Thanks for the full injury report! k+  It is good to hear the positive news on Evans and Purcell!

[smedindy]

Well, as for 'carrying', the refs have been instructed to 'call the rules as written' instead of having a point of emphasis this season. So, they may not have been 'making themselves the center of attention' - nor is it a 'conspiracy against the good and righteous (my inference -  ) by calling something that's never been called before, it's that the NCAA is wanting the refs to ref the game as written in the book.

It's a very close cousin to traveling and double dribble, and the way to avoid it is have the palms facing the floor. Getting the palms underneath the ball is akin to the carrying violation, as it is 'the ball coming to rest IN the hand.'

They did a lot of work in the offseason working on making the traveling calls consistent. This clutch of carrying calls probably comes from that. Now if the NBA would follow suit!

[ScotsFan]

Scotsfan, we were obviously thinking many of the same things at nearly the same time.  Only your youth and superior typing ability enabled you to beat me to the finish line.

Must be my high speed dial up connection!      

My dial up connection