MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[smedindy]

The LG's had a week to get through the Wooster hangover. Hiram's no sissy-mary. To not be ready to play a home conference game at this juncture is quite concerning. Now Witt comes to town.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Haven't seen any reports.  What the heck happened in Crawfordsville today?!  Losing to Hiram is one thing; losing by 12 at home is another.

[smedindy]

From the web site - the LGs fell behind 19-9, and then stormed back to take a half-time lead. Wabash couldn't shoot and Hiram got hot, and after about the 15 minute mark they raced away.

[kiltedbryan]

Any word on Hallowell? Will he play tomorrow ?

Hallowell is in the starting lineup for the Scots tonight.

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wooster 42  Wittenberg 32

Wooster is being led by Nathan Balch with 13 points (3 three pointers), Josh Claytor with 6 and Ian Franks with 6.

Wittenberg's top scorers are Clayton Black with 14 points and Chris Sullivan with 5.

Scots shot over 50% in the half and Witt won the rebound battle.

[David Collinge]

Every time I see the name "Claytor," I think there's something wrong with my display since the terminal 'n' is cut off.

[ScotsFan]

Wooster couldn't have asked for a better start to this game tonight!  Now, let's just continue this for another 20 minutes and leave Springfield with the upper hand for Woo's 7th regular season title in a row!

Also, looks like a nice Wooster crowd showed up.  Breck mentioned a good size crowd, but nowhere close to the 3000 they were expecting.  He was guessing around 2000 and I'm guessing Woo's fans make up about 1/4 of the crowd!   

Black has kept Witt in this game.  Included in his 14 points are a couple of ill advised shots that Wooster will probably live with.  One was his first made trey on the season and another was a shot from around 18 feet out.  I'm guessing Wooster will take Black settling for outside jumpers as I don't see him continuing to find the success he did in the first half if he keeps chucking 18-20 foot jumpers.

I'm loving the Witt video feed and WQKT's webcast are pretty much in sync with each other as well! 

As for that Wabash result, I think all of the Pool C love Wabash attained after beating Wooster was just flushed down the toilet with their loss at home to Hiram.  Also, it looks like they learned nothing by the team effort they displayed in beating Wooster as it once again looks like Wes Smith tried to do it all himself.  He had 25 and the only other player for Wabash in double figures was Derek Bailey with 10.  Not even close to the team effort and balanced scoring they showed at Wooster.

[ScotsFan]

This is deja vu only the opposite of the game in Wooster.  Wooster has blown a 12 point 2nd half lead and now trails by 4?! 

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wittenberg 76  Wooster 72

Congratulations to Wittenberg on a big comeback to secure the victory tonight.

Wooster's top scorers:  Ian Franks 13, Nathan Balch 13, Bryan Wickliffe 12

Wittenberg's top scorers:  Clayton Black 30, Chris Sullivan 16, Jacob Weide 8

[drt]

Unusual for Witt to put it all on the shoulders of one guy offensively, and he really stepped up. 
Great to see the Tiger "D" do the J O B...

[pennstghs]

Wittenberg 76 Wooster 72, BIG time win for Witt as they take sole possession of first place in the NCAC and hold their own destiny in their corner.

I will say, for the most part it was a near sell out for Witt and probably the most "sportsman" display on both fan bases in a long time in this rivalry. No "S*it on Witt or F Wooster cheers. Very energetic crowd and I think about half of Witt's students were in attendance (not really but it seemed like it)

As for the game, really it was a tale of two segments. Wooster controlled the first 25 minutes and Witt controlled the last 15 minutes. In the first half, Wooster had about 16 points on wide open layups or shots down low. Witt didn't play zone one bit tonight so they got caught in some switches down low as they were trying to guard against the 3. Witt started playing a little more intensely in the second half.

Game balls go to: First and foremost Clayton Black, whether he was out for redemption from the first matchup or whatever, he was absolutely a force tonight on the offensive end. He had an impact on the D as well as he kept Hallowell in check for the most part.

2 - Seth Hill. He only had 6 points but for a guard to have 13 rebounds and 5 assists is a pretty good box score.

3. Micheal Cooper, he did a fairly good job on Franks in the second half and kept him well below his scoring average. Although Franks had more than enough driveing layups, I honestly don't think he had a 3 pointer all night and may not have even gotten one off.

Great overall hustle by Witt and here's to another great addition to the Wittenberg/Wooster chapter, the best rivalry in D3 Hoops.

[pennstghs]

Also, not sure what to think of Wabash's loss to Hiram today but that should effectively drop them way down the regional rankings and move Witt way up. Perhaps they could flip flop spots, but cannot have losses like that.

Should be an interesting psychological battle for both coaches. How does Witt come off a victory that huge and how does Wabash rebound after a tough loss.

[WAlum]

1. Wittenberg 13-1, 17-5
2. Wooster 12-2, 21-2
3. Ohio Wesleyan 10-4, 14-9
4. Wabash 9-5, 17-5
5. Hiram 6-8, 12-11
6. Kenyon 5-9, 9-13
7. Denison 5-10, 8-16
8. Allegheny 3-12, 6-17
9. Oberlin 1-13, 2-21

[smedindy]

Also, not sure what to think of Wabash's loss to Hiram today but that should effectively drop them way down the regional rankings and move Witt way up. Perhaps they could flip flop spots, but cannot have losses like that.

Should be an interesting psychological battle for both coaches. How does Witt come off a victory that huge and how does Wabash rebound after a tough loss.

Maybe Witt will have the Wooster hangover as well...

[Wabash2011]

For as well as Wabash played at Wooster, we turned back into the team that played Denison.  Hiram is as athletic of a team as I have witnessed in the conference and when the three bombs started falling, Wabash could not put a run together.  Wabash had 3 attempts to make a five point game a one possession contest and could not get a shot to fall.  Wes Smith was out with the flu the last two days; not an excuse, just a factor.  In short, Wabash had a sub-par game.  When Hiram is clicking on all cylinders they are very dangerous.  Not excited about them coming back over for round one of the tourney but they were the better team tonight.  Agreed that Pool C is probably long gone.  This is still a good Wabash crew and I am not counting them out for a tourney run.