MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

No television.

[wooscotsfan]

No game stories can be linked from the Wooster Daily Record because they for subscribers only?

So, here are two other alternatives.

Great story in the Roanoke Times about Wooster's comeback win over Williams.  
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/college/wb/280549

Game story from Williams perspective in the western Mass Berkshire Eagle newspaper:
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/sports/ci_17649499

GO SCOTS!

[wooscotsfan]

Here are a few more Wooster-Williams game stories from other sources.  Boston Globe newspaper online:
http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens_basketball/articles/2011/03/18/late_fts_lift_wooster_past_williams_73_71/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+sports+news

Washington Post recap story including several game photos:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/down-17-in-second-half-wooster-closes-on-27-8-run-to-beat-williams-73-71-in-d-iii-semifinals/2011/03/18/ABXVzBs_story.html

GO SCOTS!

[fantastic50]

40 minutes away from bringing home the walnut-and-bronze, and hanging the big banner in Timken.  C'mon, Scots!

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  St. Thomas 43  Wooster 26

Wooster may have literally thrown away their chances with 11 turnovers in the half.

St. Thomas also made 7 of 10 three point shots in the first half.

Let's hope that the Scots can put together another big 2nd half rally!

GO SCOTS!

[wooscotsfan]

2nd Half Updates:
St. Thomas 46  Wooster 36  Scots on a mini-run as Franks get a traditional 3 point play.
St. Thomas 53  Wooster 36  Tommies on a 7-0 run, Scots shooting poorly
St. Thomas 57  Wooster 40  9:43 Left
St. Thomas 63  Wooster 43  7:39 Left  Wooster now with 14 turnovers
St. Thomas 67  Wooster 50  5:07 Left  Ian Franks with 22 points, Balch with 9.
St. Thomas 71  Wooster 50  3:40 Left
St. Thomas 74  Wooster 50  3:06 Left  Game is Over except for the Final Score.  Woo with 16 turnovers.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  St. Thomas 78  Wooster 54

Congratulations to the Scots and Coach Moore on a Great Season at 31-3!  National 2nd Place!

Congrats to Wooster Seniors Ian Franks, Nathan Balch and Bryan Wickliffe on stellar careers!  This Wooster class had 102 wins in their 4 years - a tremendous achievement!

Ian Franks finishes with 1,696 points which is 5th on Wooster's all time list.

[fantastic50]

Congratulations to the Scots and Coach Moore on a Great Season at 31-3!  National 2nd Place!

Congrats to Wooster Seniors Ian Franks, Nathan Balch and Bryan Wickliffe on stellar careers!  This Wooster class had 102 wins in their 4 years - a tremendous achievement!

Agreed!  Hopefully some of the freshmen on this team will be able to lead another deep run in two or three years.

[Drake Palmer]

Final:  St. Thomas 78  Wooster 54

Congratulations to the Scots and Coach Moore on a Great Season at 31-3!  National 2nd Place!

Congrats to Wooster Seniors Ian Franks, Nathan Balch and Bryan Wickliffe on stellar careers!  This Wooster class had 102 wins in their 4 years - a tremendous achievement!

Ian Franks finishes with 1,696 points which is 5th on Wooster's all time list.

Tough ball club & game Wooster fans.  I watched yesterday when you all wiped out that 17-18 point lead against Williams, and thought another one of those comebacks was in the works when you closed the gap to 10 points a couple of times in the 2nd half.  Ian Franks is a stud & well deserving of his All American honors.  Great leadership & basketball abilities. Best of luck next season.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Going into the game, I had high hopes for my alma mater and a ton of respect for Wooster.  Both teams played well, and while I am thrilled to tears that we won, my respecty for the Wooster program- players, coaches and fans-- has gone up. The Scots played their hearts out right to the end, and everyone associated with Wooster exhibited tons of class. Its a shame someone had to lose, and I look forward to our next rematch with the Scots!

[David Collinge]

As alluded to by Drake Palmer (thanks, by the way, for the comments by our visiting UST friends, +1 each), Ian Franks was indeed selected to the D3hoops.com All-America team today.  He was joined by two other NCAC senior standouts:

1st team: Ian Franks, Wooster
3rd team: Wes Smith, Wabash
Honorable Mention: Chris Sullivan, Wittenberg

Congratulations to all three of these outstanding players, and thanks for your contributions to NCAC hoops these past four years!  

[ScotsFan]

Well, yesterday's game made for a loooong drive home last night.     Thanks for the kind words Drake and miac.  UST was certainly a fine team and deserving of hoisting that trophy yesterday.  I read the game story in the Roanoke paper yesterday morning and Midd's coach had made a comment about how UST's defense was the best they'd played against all season.  I really thought Wooster would have the ability to break the Tommies' press, but man.  They are just relentless!!! 

That press was a lethal combination for Wooster.  When you factor in the energy Wooster's starters exherted in that epic comeback against Williams and add in the toll that press puts on you both physically and mentally, that's a recipe for the outcome we saw in yesterday's game.  And then when you add in that Balch was dealing with an ankle injury that pretty much made him ineffective on both ends of the floor and Wick did something to either his groin or his hamstring that limited him defensively as well, and you get the result we saw in the final outcome.

I think Wooster's biggest problem due to the quick turnaround after Friday's game was that you could just see they were very flatfooted on defesne and a step slower than they normally have been. 

But credit to UST.  They put the hammer down on defense and they never let up!  Tenacious is a word that comes to mind when thinking about how they play defense.  And offensively, you could just tell how well coached they were.  They executed very well and were able to really exploit Wooster for being a step slow defensively.

All in all, 2nd place is nothing for this team to hang their heads over.  This team advanced further in the tournament than any other Wooster team.  They finally cleared the hurdle of getting past the semis and actually getting to play for the title.  This team gave us fans one hell of a run over the last 3 weekends.  Memories I will never forget!  And being able to finally experience Salem in person just capped off a truly memorable season for me!  Especially seeing the throng of Wooster fans that turned the Salem Civic Center into Timken South over the weekend!  Props to the college for making this a special weekend for the fans with a nice reception on Friday and a tailgate party on Saturday.  They really went out of their way to treat the Wooster fans who made the journey to Salem.  I also got to meet Justin Warnes' dad and he was just blown away by the support this team gets from Wooster fans!  And I got to thank Nathan Balch's mother and father on our way out following the trophy presentation for Wooster and had the opportunity to tell them what a pleasure it's been to watch their son play for Wooster over the last 3 years. 

Congrats again to the accomplishments of this team and more specifically this senior class.  Congrats to Ian on being named 1st Team All-American.  He proved he deserved on that team with his performances in both games this weekend!  And lets not forget to send props to maybe the forgotten senior and captain, Kaleb Reed.  He may not have been filling up the stat sheet, but it takes a TON of dedication to stick it out like he has to stay a part of this team for four years without ever getting all that much playing time!  He truly proved you can be a leader without playing significant minutes!

[ScotsFan]

Get your revenge, Scots.

We need to stop seeing photos like this being taken by Matt Dilyard of UST celebrating in the background while Wooster players are in agony over defeat:



      

[bashbrother]

Congrats to this Wooster Hoops Team on a tremendous season!

Franks is a special basketball player and he and all the Seniors on this team will be remembered for a long time.

Cheers again on a great season.

[wabco]

Congratulations to Wooster on a fine season.  If Wabash can't be there, can't think of a better NCAC representative.