MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Li'l Giant]

Pictures from the game are posted on the game recap on the Wabash site. I'll take this time to mention I dig the new unis. Old school. No fancy schmancy stripes or piping. Just a big "Wabash" on the jersey and a big "W" on the shorts. Fantastic looking.

[wally_wabash]

I knew you'd dig the new unis, LG.  I'm definitely a fan of the big block "Wabash" on the front and the simple double-stripe trim.  It's a good look for the LGs this year. 

[billy_pilgrim]

Quaker pride...please QUAKER pride.

Let us never reference that strange name that has creeped over into a few other athletic programs at Earlham.

Anyway, a career high 34 points for Tristian Gregory and 22, including the game-winner for Neil Collins.

According to now assistant coach Markous Jewett, "(Lake Erie) just kept running and jumping (defense) and we just kept making 3's".

Earlham also wins the rebounding batte, surprising, and kept turnovers in check after a shaky start.

Now, the bad news. Earlham only uses 7 players. It's not even a matter of not having depth, they just barely have players.

It will likely still be a long season, but this was a fun way to kick it off and I'll continue to enjoy it.

[ScotsFan]

First of all, nice wins for Wabash and especially Earlham!

I wasn't able to attend the Wooster game last night, but I did catch the replay on the tele.  IMO, Marty Bidwell looks like he is ready to be a player this season.  Over his 1st two seasons at Wooster, his primary job was defense as he wasn't really needed on the offensive end of the floor.  But, with the departure of Port and Vandervaart, I had a feeling that Bidwell would look to score more this year and look to score he did last night!  And not only did Bidwell finish tied for the team lead in points, but he also led the team in rebounds and assists!  Sound familiar?  If Wooster can get that kind of production from Bidwell, it could result in some good things for this season.

Other positives were to see the Scots hit the century mark in their first game without Port and Vandervaart and Van Horn.  And they did it with yet another balanced attack as 6 players reached double figures.  And how about local freshman product Kaleb Reed who just joined the Scots basketball team on Monday after football and made an immediate impact scoring 8 points on 3-3 shooting from the floor!

On the negative side, 26 turnovers!!!   That's not good!  Hopefully, a lot of that can be attributed to it being the first game and all. 

Also, I'll add the officiating to the negative side of the game!  59 fouls?!  Maybe a lot of that can be attributed to it being the first game as well?!

Well, I'm off now to prepare myself for The Game!  Here's hoping the Maize and Blue can pull one out for Lloyd, Henne, Hart and Long!!! 

GO BLUE!!!

[David Collinge]

What I'm not anxious to see are NCCAA and NAIA schools.  These games essentially do not count for Wabash for any sort of tournament resumé they may want to build.  Bordered on the immediate east by the HCAC, CCIW on the west, and MIAA to the north, there are plenty of D3 schools around that I think Wabash should be filling its invitationals with D3 teams (preferably in-region).  I realize that the problem here is that 2 out of every 3 D3 schools are hosting a tipoff tournament/classic of some sort and there just aren't enough teams to go around, but I'd really like to see Wabash schedule at least two other D3s for these events.  Perhaps scheduling multiple years in advance would help?  How far in advance does Wooster schedule its Mose Hole and Van Wie invitationals?  Wooster always seems to have good D3 fields for those events. 

I asked Steve Moore about this last night during the Otterbein/St. Thomas game.  He told me that they start working on filling their two tournaments about 18-24 months in advance.  He also told me that it is getting harder and harder to find D3 opponents, due to the plethora of new tip-off and holiday tournaments.  It's tough for everyone; I know that Wittenberg at least briefly considered dropping the Zimmerman Classic (their end-of-year tournament) last year, and didn't Wabash recently drop a year-end confab?

[Li'l Giant]

Final from Crawfordsville

Indiana Wesleyan 66
Wabash 62

[smedindy]

The Pete Thorn isn't happening this year.

[wally_wabash]

Sadly, I'm unable to give any feedback from the Wabash game today....post playoff victory celebration kept me away from the hardcourt this afternoon.  I'm wondering if there wasn't any lingering fatigue effect from last night's sprintfest.  Time will tell...I've still got a really good vibe about this year's Little Giants.  Wabash travels to Hanover on Monday which will be a nice test. 

[sac]

Earlham 77 Case Western 72

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  St. Thomas 38  Wooster 37

St. Thomas actually led this game by 10 points in the half (34-24) before Wooster went on a 13-4 run to close out the half.

Wooster is being led by James Cooper with 12 points, Marty Bidwell with 7 points and Devin Fulk with 7 points.

Leading the scoring for St. Thomas are Joe Scott with 10 points and BJ Viau with 7 points.

St. Thomas made 6 three pointers in the half vs. 4 three pointers for Woo.

GO SCOTS!

[smedindy]

Last year, Indiana Wesleyan was 30-5 (gotta love (not) those NAIA schedules. Class time, anyone??)

This year they're 7-1 after beating Wabash. I don't think the LGs should hang their heads.

[jscwittfan]

Wittenberg defeats Kalamazoo 80-72 behind Gregg Hill's second straight 24-point performance.  The difference today is that Hill gets the help he needed, as three other starters score in double digits (Sam Gregory with 16, Brandan Barabino with 13, and Brandon White with 10).  The other main difference came at the free throw line, where the Tigers went 22-30 compared to only 13-20 for Kalamazoo.

The Tigers now stand at 1-1 and play their home opener Tuesday night against Capital.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 85  St. Thomas 79

Wooster was led by All-American James Cooper with 20 points, Marty Bidwell with 19 points, Devin Fulk with 19 points and Brandon Johnson with 12 points.  Scots win the championship game of the Al Van Wie Tourney.

Leading St. Thomas in scoring was Joe Scott with 15 points, Lonnie Robinson with 15 points, David Baker with 14 pts and BJ Viau with 11 pts.

Wooster shot 55% from the floor and outrebounded the Tommies 30 to 25 to get the victory.

Marty Bidwell wins the Tourney MVP Award; Brandon Johnson gets the Defensive Player Award and James Cooper is on the All Tournament Team

Wooster is now 2-0.     Scots next play at Lake Erie on 11/25.

GO SCOTS!

[wooscotsfan]

Other NCAC Final Scores:

Allegheny 68  Salisbury 58    Bill Babe with 16 pts. for the 2-0 Gators

Transylvania 60  Denison 52   Big Red are 0-2

#12 Brandeis 70  Kenyon 61   Bryan Yelvington with 21 pts. for the Lords

Earlham 77  Case Western 72   Tourney MVP Tristian Gregory has 28 points

[David Collinge]

Also:
Haverford 58, Oberlin 35...rats
Trinity (TX) 64, Ohio Wesleyan 53...yuk
Pick 'em games:
UW-Stevens Point 105, Carroll 72
Penn St.-Behrend 6, Bridgewater (Va.) 46

If there's such a thing as a "good loss," both Kenyon (losing by 9 at #12 Brandeis) and Wabash (losing by 4 to the #5 team in NAIA-2) had them tonight.  Very encouraging results for both squads, IMHO. 

And congratulations to the Kenyon Ladies, who beat #14 Brandeis 67-62 on their home court this afternoon!