MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[ScotsFan]

Wooster finishes off Benedictine to the tune of 91-62 to improve to 6-2 on the season.

Benedictine made a run at the Scots early in the 2nd half and closed to within 7 points forcing a Steve Moore timeout.  After that, the Scots were back up 13 a minute and a half later and they slowly pulled away from there.

Wooster continues their hot shooting going 55% from the floor.  Even more impressive for Wooster was their shooting from beyond the arc going 11-17 for 65%!

Wooster was led in scoring by James Cooper who finished with 24.  Brandon Johnson, Brian Wickliffe and Devin Fulk joined Cooper in double figures for Wooster.

Wooster will take on St. Marys (MD) tomorrow at 8 pm.  St. Marys defeated Benedictine by 12 last night.

[kiltedbryan]

Wooster was led in scoring by James Cooper who finished with 24.

Off-night for Cooper.   

[smedindy]

Witt 3-5 beating Ott 1-8??

I swear that would be Earlham beating Marietta if you just gave me the teams records and not the names.

[pennstghs]

DC and Smediny-

Although i was not in attendance last night for personal reasons (girl issues don't ask) I do find it ironic that the game preview in the Springfield News Sun spoke of Wittenberg's focus on finding their offense over the past week off in practice. The results??? We've already shown that we can defend adequately.

87 points, 51% shooting from the field, and their newfound offensive weapon in the starting lineup-Kevin Murray with 27 points.

As i said last week do not count this team out, as they find their offensive touch they will be a tough out and as with Kenyon they are 1-0 in conference as well.......

[smedindy]

I never count Witt out - it's just that a 3-5 record is pretty surprising for them.

[sac]

A quick glance of the schedule suggests Wittenberg may hit the Wooster game in January on a good run.

Dec. 8  4:00 PM  Hiram * •  W, 77-57     
Dec. 19  7:30 PM  Otterbein •  W, 87-73     
Dec. 28  7:45 PM  Olivet •     
Dec. 29  TBA  TBA      Marian or UW-LaCrosse
Jan. 2  7:30 PM  at Denison * •     
Jan. 5  3:00 PM  Oberlin * •     
Jan. 12  3:00 PM  at Allegheny * •     
Jan. 16  7:30 PM  at Earlham * • 
Jan. 19  7:30 PM  Wooster * • 

[David Collinge]

I'm far from counting Wittenberg 'out' of anything, but at the same time I'm not putting too much weight on a smackdown of a pretty poor Otterbein squad.  If you disregard the season-opening loss to Benedictine (which is fair, given how much rebuilding Witt had to do), what the Tigers have done is lose to good teams (Cap, ONU, Cedarville, and to a lesser extent Transy) and beat bad ones (Kzoo, Hiram, Ott).  Of course, that formula can lead to an NCAC record of 10-6 or better!  I'll be interested to see how Witt does in Game 2 of the Zimmerman (vs. Marian or La Crosse) and then Jan. 12 at Allegheny; those games should give us a good sense of where the Tigers are prior to the Wooster game.

[pennstghs]

I would agree DC on losing to good teams, but with all of their losses minus the Cedarville game you find a trend of losing close games. Hypothetically speaking most of those losses come from lack of experience and discipline in those games.

loss to Benedictine by 5
loss to Capital by 4
loss to Ohio Northern by 3
loss to Transylvania by 5

But yes early conference play should allow Wittenberg to see an indication of how they stand competitively in the conference

[David Collinge]

Wooster downs St. Mary's of Maryland, 85-70.  Tournament MVP James Cooper had 28 points, giving him 116 points in his last 4 games and 1,681 in his career, 4th in Wooster history and just 103 behind Tom Port.  Wooster shot about 50%, and held St. Mary's to something like 1-17 from the arc.  Tyson Lesesne, the Seahawks' leading scorer at 20.5 ppg, had just 2 points before fouling out in the final minute of play.  Wooster is now 7-2, while SMC falls to 6-4.

[kiltedbryan]

Wooster (7-2) beats St. Mary's (7-4) 85-70.

Nice win for the Scots. For the second night in a row, the Scots came out fast, scoring the first 10 points of the game. St. Mary's played a good first half after that, and with the help of 11 first-half turnovers by the Scots, cut the advantage down to 2 at half.

The Scots went on a decisive run around the 13 min. mark of the second half, taking a 5 point lead to a 16 point lead in a hurry, and was never seriously in danger after that. Largest lead was 21.

Cooper led all scorers with 28; he's averaging 29 over his last four games. He also contributed with 6 boards and 3 assists. Wickliffe is improving by the game, falling one rebound short of a double-double, with 18 points and 9 boards. Fulk, as usual, contributes 12 on 2-3 from 3 pt. land.

It feels to me that this is a winning streak that could continue for awhile. The Scots are definitely showing signs of playing better basketball. Wickliffe continues to be a revelation, Cooper has found the All-American form and the supporting cast is gelling.

[smedindy]

It feels to me that this is a winning streak that could continue for awhile.

I'd look out for Wabash on the 12th. Of course, then there's Witt on the 19th.

[David Collinge]

Kenyon 69, Wash-Jeff 58

Kenyon (3-7) out-shot (43.1% to 35.7%), out-rebounded (39-34), and under-turnovered (15-17) the Presidents.  Bryan Yelvington had another double-double--his 5th of the season--with 23 points and 10 boards.  Frosh Kodey Haddox continued his hot scoring, adding 21 points and raising his scoring average to 12.8 ppg.  In a worrisome note, four Lords logged 33+ minutes, while starting guard David Jolson played just 3 minutes.  I hope that doesn't indicate an early-game injury; I hope one of my lurking Kenyon friends will email me (dacollinge -at- yahoo.com) and let me know what's up.   

[ScotsFan]

I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has a safe and joyous holiday season!

[David Collinge]

Ohio Wesleyan picks up a nice win over stubborn Hanover tonight, 70-66.  Wesleyan was almost undone by their ineptitude at the free throw line (just 16/28, 57.1%) but managed to hit enough of them to hold off the Panthers down the stretch.  Dustin Rudegeair had a huge game that is underestimated by the scorebook (15 points, 9 rebounds).  Three other Bishops contributed 13-15 points apiece, as OWU shot 48% from the field and committed just 10 turnovers on the evening.  OWU will play for the Smokey Ballenger Classic title tomorrow evening against Albion, who knocked off a very pesky homestanding Otterbein squad, 76-70.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 94  Wesley (DE) 61

Back from Timken where I watched Wooster dismantle a 6-2 Wesley team as the Scots played a great game tonight.

Wooster was led by All-American James Cooper with 29 points (4 three pointers), Brandon Johnson with 14 points and freshman Bryan Wickliffe also with 14 points.

Wooster won this game easily by shooting 56% from the floor (vs. 35% for Wesley), by outrebounding Wesley 48-26 and by shooting 46% from the three point arc (12 of 26 for the Scots).

Marty Bidwell played very stout defense on Wesley's #1 scorer (Devin Fulk also helped).  Rashawn Johnson who was averaging ~25 points/game for Wesley was held to only 14 points on 4 of 19 shooting from the floor.

Wooster's future looks bright given the potential of freshmen Bryan Wickliffe and Kaleb Reed who both showed good athleticism and hustle tonight.  Wickliffe played the best of all Wooster big men tonight with 5 of 6 FG, 4 of 4 FTs for 14 points and 5 rebounds in just 23 minutes of action.  Reed didn't score much but he played good defense and grabbed a few rebounds.

Wooster plays Notre Dame (OH) for the Mose Hole championship tomorrow night.

GO SCOTS!