MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[David Collinge]

Kent St. 104, Oberlin 58...just (snaps fingers) THAT close
Roanoke 84, Kenyon 76

42-25 / 40-21

Four games today, including three conference matchups.

[WooClone15]

Glad to see Wooster won today!
Also, was Wabash supposed to struggle this year? I was surprised to see they're at 0-4 in the conference right now

[David Collinge]

Wooster 83, Denison 67
DePauw 67, Allegheny 64
Hiram 80, Wabash 64
Kenyon 91, Montclair St. 87

Non-con 43-25 / 41-21 vs. D3, with as best as I can figure 2 D3 games left (Denison vs. Capital Wed., Oberlin at IIT in a couple of weeks.)

Conference standings as we swing into full-time league play:
1. Hiram, OWU, Wittenberg, Wooster...3-1
5. Allegheny, DePauw...2-2
7. Denison, Oberlin...2-3
9. Kenyon...1-3
10. Wabash...0-4

[wally_wabash]

10. Wabash...0-4

Blargh.  What's a bummer about this is that I think Wabash is better than what you'd expect from an 0-4 NCAC team.  Totally blew the opener against Witt at home.  Not sure what the heck happened at Oberlin.  But for whatever reason Wabash historically stinks at Oberlin.  It's a mystery.  Anyway, LGs turn the thing over almost 18 times per game which is too many and they miss 10 free throws per game.  Those things are hard to overcome.  Hopefully the LGs can get in the left column this afternoon at Allegheny. 

LGs do indeed get a win today.  63-61 at Allegheny.  Wabash led 49-33 with 12:45 to play.  The Gators actually came back and snatched a 57-56 lead with 3:03 to play.  16 points...gonzo in under 10 minutes.  Johnny Jager hit two clutch foul shots with 6 seconds left to give Wabash the 63-61 lead, which they held to win.  Second halves have been an issue.  Gotta close, gentlemen. 

In the other East/West game, Hiram drilled DePauw 91-60.  Hiram's not bad, you guys.

[sac]

Wabash lists 13 Freshmen on its varsity roster.  In addition to losing 4 Seniors Wabash lost So. Kyle Aiton their 2nd leading scorer.  Aiton is now at Southern Indiana  http://www.gousieagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=2550&path=mbball    They also lost another So. and 3 other Fr from last years team.

That's a lot of turnover from one year to the next.

[wally_wabash]

Wabash lists 13 Freshmen on its varsity roster.  In addition to losing 4 Seniors Wabash lost So. Kyle Aiton their 2nd leading scorer.  Aiton is now at Southern Indiana  http://www.gousieagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=2550&path=mbball    They also lost another So. and 3 other Fr from last years team.

That's a lot of turnover from one year to the next.

All good points.  Wabash has really felt the absence of Aiton and Scofield this season.  Scofield added depth to a pretty big Wabash frontcourt, and Aiton was an excellent outside compliment to the inside offense of Purvlicis- which would help open up the post a bit which has been a problem for Wabash at times this year.  Hopefully today's road win lights the fuse for these last six weeks of conference play and the LGs can claw their way back up into top-4 contention and play for a home game in the league tournament. 

[David Collinge]

OWU 77, Wittenberg 70...Tigers slowed 'em down but couldn't top 'em
Wooster 91, Kenyon 78...despite early season turmoil, Scots still in first (with Terriers and BBs)
Denison 92, Capital 76...44-25 / 42-21

[WoostAr]

Wooster 91, Kenyon 78...despite early season turmoil, Scots still in first (with Terriers and BBs)

Hard to tell from a distance since I can't get out of work in time to watch the feed -- it seems like their offense is coming around??

[David Collinge]

Wooster 91, Kenyon 78...despite early season turmoil, Scots still in first (with Terriers and BBs)

Hard to tell from a distance since I can't get out of work in time to watch the feed -- it seems like their offense is coming around??

54 points in the second half. They only had 37 in the first, on 32% shooting. They shot 41 for the game, vs. 47 for KC, but got off 16 more shots than the Lords. Wooster won because of that (built off rebounds and turnovers, I suppose; didn't see the game or boxscor) and free throw shooting -- Kenyon was within 5 under 4:00 but Wooster hit 14 of 15 FTs thenceforward.

I haven't seen them this year, but it seems like they have problems and haven't found solutions yet. Steve Moore changed his rotation, including two new starters, for the Denison game, very uncharacteristic this late in the season, and they've been handled pretty easily by the really good teams they've played. They need to find a way to beat Wittenberg and maybe even OWU if they want to continue their streaks of 20-win seasons and NCAA appearances.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

We are back to our normal Sunday and Thursday Hoopsville shows tonight! Now that we are getting back into our routine, we get back into the habit of featuring the East, Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes, and West Regions on Thursday night shows (Northeast, Atlantic, Central, and South Regions on Sunday nights). Tonight, Dave McHugh talks with coaches who are succeeding so far this season thanks to a bit of a youth movement. How those squads are either exceeding early expectations or reloading pretty nicely. Dave also gets an assist from Pat Coleman to help cover the much anticipated men's basketball game between No. 1 Augustana at No. 5 Elmhurst which needed overtime to be decided. And Dave talks about the latest Hoopsville partner - the WBCA. With the WBCA coming onboard with the NABC there needed to be some branding changes. You will hear the change almost immediately.

Watch Hoopsville tonight at 7pm ET: www.d3hoops.com/hoopsville/archives/2015-16/jan7 - a show that had to be pre-recorded tonight due to other commitments.

Guests and/or topics include (in order):
- Pat Coleman, coverage of No. 1 Augie vs. No. 5 Blue Jays
- Ron Rohn, No. 10 Muhlenberg women's coach
- Lindsay Goldblatt, Cal Lutheran women's coach
- Fajri Ansari, Buffalo State men's coach
- Chris Kibler, Hiram men's coach

You can tune into the podcast after the show airs here::
SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/hoopsville
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hoopsville/id1059517087

And don't forget you can always interact with us:
Website: www.d3hoopsville.com
Twitter: @d3hoopsville or #Hoopsville
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Hoopsville
Email: hoopsville@d3hoops.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/d3hoopsville

[David Collinge]

Hiram 72, (at) Wittenberg 68...statement win for the first place Terriers
OWU 89, Allegheny 77
Wooster 86, Oberlin 76...OWU and Woo keep pace with road wins
Wabash 80, Denison 66...LGs get good win at home
Kenyon 82, DePauw 75...who can predict this league anymore?

1. Hiram, OWU, Wooster...5-1
4. Wittenberg...3-3
5. Everyone Else...2-4

[smedindy]

I think it's great for the league to be unpredictable. It may not be good for the NCAA seed. However, we should be getting more respect out there as we build our non-conference chops.

[David Collinge]

Trap games? Wooster plays at Wittenberg Saturday. Both have tough matchups tonight, where just a small amount of looking ahead could be disastrous. So will that happen?

SPOILER ALERT: No.
@ Wooster 100, Hiram 69 (final)
Wittenberg 65, @ DePauw 42 (final)

[David Collinge]

Additionally
Oberlin 68, Allegheny 53
Kenyon 74, Denison 58
OWU 88, Wabash 76

1. OWU, Wooster...6-1...Ev'rything Old is New Again
3. Hiram...5-2
4. Wittenberg... 4-3
5. Kenyon, Oberlin...3-4
7. Et Alii...2-5

[bufordscot]

Looks like Coach Moore is figuring out what to do with all that talent.