MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[jscwittfan]

Awesome game from Gregg Hill.  I must say I'm surprised that the Tigers were able to win with a low production from Borchers, bu it happened.

Can't wait to hear reaction from peple actually at the game.

GO TIGERS!!

[pennstghs]

Final Wittenberg 74 Wooster 71

Wow what a game it appears-i only picked up live video coverage from the second half on, but disappointed i couldn't be there. Whoever said it depending on Gregg Hill being contained hit it dead on as he had 24 and led Witt big time.

[pennstghs]

well wittenberg has to avenge the OWU monkey now on their other shoulder now

[WooMix]

We need Tim Vandervaart.

[Superfoot Wallace]

73Tigerfan, gave you a +k for the semester A project comment.

Was my first time watching a Tiger basketball game.  Thank You Woo 'W' club for the video stream.  Sad to say I was one of those silent majority lamented earlier in the thread having never gone to a Witt game during my time in Springfield.

Anyway, the Tigers never fail to impress.  Batting a thousand for Tiger viewing and success regarding basketball, maybe should go crawl back into my hole now.

On a lighter note, think number 12 (Nowicki?) and his super socks should be dubbed Herr Professor ala Andone.  That guy kills me.  Good shakes at the topof the key.

Good job Tigers, am personally not a fan of Berea and still say they didnt score that last TD in 1997.

signed,
OGHennyLo

[Li'l Giant]

Final from Chadwick Court:

Denison 52
Wabash 63

[drt]

Great to see the game live. Thanks to COW, I get to register an informed opinion. Thank you again COW.  
I cringed every time I saw Huelsman guarding Cooper off a soft screen, but nothing ever seemed to come from it.  Why didn't Cooper take him to the hole?  I know, he did everything else....
Borchers was a non-combatant on offense, but a bear on the defensive boards.
Basically just a solid team effort from the Tigers, helped by good shooting in the first half, and a shortage of Tiger turnovers
Wooster never let up, though, and it resulted in another classic.
The Woo announcers were good, but the lack of a constant clock and scoreboard were a distraction.

[drt]

...was a distraction?

[jscwittfan]

Not sure if this has been mentioned on this board, but I've been told that OWU's Ben Chojnacki is out for the season with a knee injury.

If this is the case, that is a huge loss for OWU and could really shake thing sup come tournament time.

[wally_wabash]

Your NCAC scores:

Witt 74, Wooster 71
Wabash 63, Denison 52
Hiram 82, Oberlin 74
OWU 87, Allegheny 58
Kenyon 53, Earlham 47

And our current standings are:

Wooster 11-1
Witt 10-2
OWU 8-4
Hiram 6-6
Wabash 6-6
Kenyon 5-7
Earlham 5-7
Allegheny 4-8
Oberlin 3-9
Denison 2-10

[David Collinge]

Usually I come away from a Wooster loss to Wittenberg shaking my head and questioning whether Wooster is really as good as they are cracked up to be.  But not tonight.  Tonight's game was a great game between two great teams, and I'm proud of the effort Wooster gave to come from 15 points down to make it another nailbiter.  I think you can count on one hand the number of teams in D3 that could have played Witt to a standstill tonight.  Both teams were outstanding, Witt (and especially Gregg Hill) was just a wee bit more outstanding. 

Sure there were problems; Wooster came out a little tight like they usually do against the Tigers; and at least part of Witt's early lead was that their shots barely went in and ours barely rimmed out, but that's basketball.  I'm sure this will be disagreed with, but I thought the officiating was as good as could reasonably be expected (did I agree with every call and non-call?  Of course not, but what's new about that) and did not materially alter the outcome.

With Witt up three and 10 seconds left on the clock, the Tigers made a smart play and then the Scots made a poor one, and that was the game.  The smart play was the foul on Johnson before anyone could set up to launch a tying three.  Johnson converted, then Witt got the ball into Hill, who icily converted his free throws.  Then with 4.6 seconds left, Wooster was in the same situation, and needed to run a play that resulted in a three point shot rather than a one-and-one foul, but they execution of that play (a baseball pass) was just poor, and Witt was able to defend it and win the game. 

In other words, just another in a long series of great games between these rivals.

The Wooster students were an embarrassment, of course, as was the evident lack of any attempt by any school officials to civilize them.  I'm ashamed that my school would permit such behavior.  "Boo on Woo."

Congratulations to Witt on a great victory.  I look forward to a potential rubber match in three weeks, and then to perhaps a fourth matchup in the sectional finals. 

Last note: it was great to have sac along for the ride.  I think he had a good time soaking up our atmosphere and excellent game, and he didn't even have to miss Hope at Albion.  Best of both worlds!

[pointlem]

As an MIAA/Hope fan with nothing doin' this evening I watched the Woo-Witt Internet broadcast and was quite impressed with two things:  the high calibre play (excellent shooting, tight defense, few turnovers), and the excellent Internet broadcast.  Of course, Hope is familiar with the Witt defense from last March, and Calvin with the Woo offense from last December.  Maybe some combination of these teams will have a chance to get reacquainted come March . . . by which time I gather Wooster's injured post player could return?

[WillieBrown]

Victory is in my eyes and I cant see...

[wooscotsfan]

Congratulations to Wittenberg on the win and a very well played game tonight.

Just got back from Timken and I will second David's point that this was a great game between two very strong teams.

The Wooster community showed up in force tonight as Timken was full and it was virtually all black.

Wittenberg deserved the win tonight because they shot the ball extremely well as evidenced by 9 of 17 (53%) on three pointers and 49% overall.  Witt also maintained their poise and took excellent care of the ball with only 8 turnovers.

Wooster won the battle of the boards but they only made 8 of 22 three pointers which was one difference in this game.  The other difference was TURNOVERS as Wooster had 12 of them and 2 of those were at a critical point in the game.

Brandon Johnson had a turnover with 1:27 remaining in the game and then James Cooper also had a turnover with 0:44 seconds left that allowed Wittenberg to build the three point lead when Gregg Hill made his final shot.

The last play by Wooster made no sense to me either as Wooster actually tried a long pass to Port (low probability of completing it) who was inside the 3 point line.  Even if Port had caught the ball, Wittenberg could have fouled him and he would have shot only 2 free throws.   The pass should have been designed for the halfcourt line area, a couple of quick dribbles and launch the three point attempt for a possible tie.

Wooster needs to win their remaining games if they want to host the NCAC tourney.

GO SCOTS!

[woosterbooster]

I'm sure this will be disagreed with, but I thought the officiating was as good as could reasonably be expected (did I agree with every call and non-call?  Of course not, but what's new about that) and did not materially alter the outcome.

You know, if you were sitting where you usually do, I don't know how you could even begin to venture an opinion on this.  The game appears almost sterile from so far away, just as it does when watching the televised replay.  Things look very, very different from courtside.  If you want to be politically correct with your remarks, fine. But you're dead wrong.

The NCAC officiating was, as usual, a serious embarrassment to the league and to DIII basketball in general.  I've been watching basketball for nearly 50 years and have never seen anything like what goes on in Timken Gym when a competitive physical opponent comes to town.  Invariably, any home court advantage that you would think Wooster would have disappears as the officials bend over backwards to accomodate the visiting team.  I've seen this happen over and over again during the last dozen or so years, and it was the same tonight.  Wooster got screwed, left and right, and it was a major factor in the outcome of the game.  

Furthermore, I am certain that everyone sitting anywhere near me is in agreement with my opinion.