MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Ohio Wesleyan 37  Wooster 27

Ugly first half for the Scots with too much one on one basketball and bad shots forced.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wabash 55  Wittenberg 49

[smedindy]

It was a tight, taut, tense battle. Neither team shot well but Witt had big-time struggles at the line (10-19). Wabash held the lead for most of the game, but Witt really pulled it tight in the second half. It was definitely like the early-season Wabash wins where defense and rebounding won out.

Andy Walsh came off the bench and hit big shot after big shot, including a dagger of a three with 1:34 to go to extend Wabash's lead to four. He had 18 points to lead all scorers. Derek Bailey added 15.

Alex Brandt was a perfect 6-6 from the floor and led Witt with 12.

[smedindy]

Hiram beat Allegheny 83-68. Jamaal Watkins led everyone with 26 while Aaron Stefanov added 22 as the Terriers get a big win for them. James Ness and Ryan Stanko each had 23 for the Gators. Hiram broke out to an 11-point lead at half and built it to 20 at one point.

Kenyon easily gets past Oberlin 69-42. Brian Leibowitz leads everyone with 24. No one from Oberlin scored in double figures. Josh Merritt did play, scoring five points in 21 minutes.

[smedindy]

The Big Rd get a big road win as they beat DePauw 78-69. Mike Garabedian led Denison 15. Sean Haseley and Kevin Sullivan led the New Tigers with 13. DPU held a 37-35 lead at the half but Denison stormed back and held on for the win. This result tightens up the middle of the NCAC race for certain.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 54  Ohio Wesleyan 50

Wooster's 2nd half defense won this game!   Scots hold the Bishops to a total of 13 points in the 2nd half.

Scots were led by Justin Hallowell with 14 points (15 Boards) and Xavier Brown with 9 points.  Nice double double for Hallowell tonight!

Bishops were led by Andy Winters with 16 points and Reuel Rogers with 12.  Tim Brady was 1 of 16 from the floor.

Wooster is now 19-3, 10-3 NCAC

Huge showdown on Saturday with first place at stake as Wooster visits Witt!

GO SCOTS!

[goscots]

So someone please educate me - IF Wooster were to win on Saturday - who has the tie breaker to host the tournament?

[David Collinge]

So someone please educate me - IF Wooster were to win on Saturday - who has the tie breaker to host the tournament?

All other things being equal, I believe it will depend on where DePauw and Hiram finish in the league standings. If DePauw finishes ahead of the Pups, Witt gets the tiebreaker. In that event, Witt would (likely choose to) host, making Wooster the #1 seed. Of course, this all changes if either team loses any of their other remaining games.

Hiram holds a tie-breaker advantage over DePauw, so if they finish tied, the advantage goes to the Terriers and thus to the Scots.

Corrections to this appreciated, it's all from memory.

Current/updated league standings:
NCAC    Overall
Wittenberg    11-2    17-5
Wooster    10-3    19-3
Ohio Wesleyan    8-5    16-6
Wabash    8-5    16-6
DePauw    7-6    13-9
Denison    7-6    10-12
Hiram    6-7    13-9
Kenyon    3-10    9-13
Allegheny    3-10    5-17
Oberlin    2-11    7-15

[smedindy]

Kenyon beat Oberlin so they're 4-9, 10-12 and Oberlin's  1-12, 6-16.

[smedindy]

OWU's GOT to be kicking themselves. They went almost 10 minutes while scoring just two points. Everyone has a bad game, but they did so well with Brady's poor first half it's inconceivable that they all went pancake flat in the second half.

[wooscotsfan]

OWU's GOT to be kicking themselves. They went almost 10 minutes while scoring just two points. Everyone has a bad game, but they did so well with Brady's poor first half it's inconceivable that they all went pancake flat in the second half.

Wooster got outhustled and outrebounded badly in the first half.  Steve Moore noted that OWU had 12 offensive rebounds in the first half and many of Wooster's shots were forced on the offensive end.

In the second half, Wooster's defense switched on every screen and rarely gave the Bishops an open shot.  In all fairness, Tim Brady looked like he was under the weather tonight?  ....as he even missed a free throw down the stretch that would have made the final score closer.

[goscots]

Thanks David.

Hiram has OWU (h) and Wittenberg (a) and Depauw has Wooster (a) and Witt (h). Both have Oberlin as the 3rd game. Since Hiram is currently one game behind Depauw - I wouldn't count on Hiram finishing ahead of Depauw. At best I could see them pulling even by getting a home win versus OWU and Depauw losing both "W" games. It's all speculation becuase they all look like tough games. But what if that happened - whats the next tiebreaker?

[Wabash2011]

Kenyon beat Oberlin so they're 4-9, 10-12 and Oberlin's  1-12, 6-16.

So NCAC site is wrong, has this score reversed.

[ScotsFan]

OWU's GOT to be kicking themselves. They went almost 10 minutes while scoring just two points. Everyone has a bad game, but they did so well with Brady's poor first half it's inconceivable that they all went pancake flat in the second half.

Someone at OWU needs to teach those kids how to finish a ballgame.  This is the 2nd time in a week where OWU jumped out to a big lead only to choke it away in the 2nd half.  The Bishops jumped out to a big leat against Witt last Wednesday only to see themselves be outscored by 15 in the 2nd half to lose that game.  And again tonight, Wooster outscores them by 14 in the 2nd half to beat the Bishops.

Well, thanks to Wabash doing their part, that noose just got a little tighter around Witt's neck.  Wooster is only a game back and they're coming to Springfield with a chance to even the standings.  The more things change... 

[imderekpoe]

I finally found the official tiebreakers:

1. Head-to-Head competition (NCAC contests only – no restrictions regarding number of games and sites).
2. Combined win-loss record with all teams above tied teams (restricted to "like" games – any team played twice; and single games played at the same location, either home or away).
3. Record versus individual opponents examined in descending order of standings (restricted to "like" games – any team played twice; and single games played at the same location, either home or away).
4. Coin toss.

IF THREE OR MORE TEAMS ARE TIED, the combined records of the teams
involved versus each other are totaled and rankings are listed according to
the winning percentage. The best percentage will be given the highest
seed. If two or more teams tie for the highest percentage, the lowest team
will be seeded. Once the lowest team is clearly seeded the remaining
teams repeat the process until the tie is broken. If three or more
percentages are arrived in initial process, and no ties remain, then teams
shall be seeded according to their percentages.

LIKE GAMES: Defined as: games that are played under the same
traveling condition (either home or away). E.G.: OWU and ALL are tied.
ALL plays DEN once—at DEN. OWU plays DEN twice—once home and
once at DEN. In comparing the two schedules, only compare the games
at DEN, throw out the DEN at OWU game. All teams played home &
home are also "like" games (teams that play each other twice).

This was the tiebreak procedure in 2008, and I assume that it hasn't changed.
So the analysis is based on Wooster winning on Saturday with both Wooster and Witt winning their final 2 to finish 13-3 in conference.

1) Wooster and Witt would split so this is a wash.
2) Nobody would finish ahead.
3) As noted by David earlier, if DePauw finishes ahead of Hiram then Witt wins the tiebreaker. If Hiram ends up ahead of DePauw then Wooster wins.  Of course, it might be possible that DePauw and Hiram could end up tied with OWU, Wabash or Denison - OR ALL OF THEM - and that would have to be sorted out first.
4) Heads or tails!  The winner of the flip gets a choice - do they want the #1 seed or do they want to host the tourney? That choice would almost certainly be to host.