MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[TigerLady]

Does anyone happen to know the score of the Witt/Allegheny game?

[kiltedbryan]

Does anyone happen to know the score of the Witt/Allegheny game?

Live stats available here: Live Stats

And Live Video here.  Unfortunately, no broadcast on the video stream.

41-25 Wittenberg leads, about 14 minutes to go, second half.

[Li'l Giant]

Having a long stretch late in the 2nd half without hitting an FG will kill just about any team. I think it was almost 5 minutes the LGs went between hoops. Only points at the stripe.

sigh........

[kiltedbryan]

Wittenberg 72, Allegheny 55, Final.

[ScotsFan]

Having a long stretch late in the 2nd half without hitting an FG will kill just about any team. I think it was almost 5 minutes the LGs went between hoops. Only points at the stripe.

sigh........

You're absolutely right.  I mentioned earlier, a key for Wabash to win this game was they had to prevent any significant Wooster runs.  And they had done that up to the 10 minute mark of the 2nd half where the LG's enjoyed their biggest lead at 58-47.  Over the next 7+ minutes of the game, however, Wooster outscored Wabash 17-2 to turn an 11 point deficit into a 2 point lead and that was basically ballgame.

0:58 - Fulk buries a triple from the corner.  69-65.  Wasn't it Fulk that buried the killer three-pointer here last year?  69-65 Scots.

It was actually Bidwell.  Wooster's radio guy, Mike Breckenridge mentioned this play on his pregame show.  Bidwell hit a trey and was fouled to complete a 4 point lead and turned a 63-61 deficit into a 65-63 lead and an eventual 68-65 Wooster win.

With Wooster's win at Chadwick today, the Scots improve to 20-1 overall vs. the LG's since they joined the NCAC and also to 11-0 at Chadwick.

Lastly, things should be status quo next weekend in Springfield.  Witt won easily today in Meadville to remain unbeaten in the NCAC.  Both Witt and Wooster have what should be mid-week scrimmages at The EC and at Hiram respectively and should set up yet another showdown for sole possession of 1st place between these rivals.  With that said, Wooster's record in the NCAC is faaaaar more impressive than that of Wittenberg's to date.  Of Wooster's 4 conference wins, 2 are impressive road wins over OWU and Wabash.  Compare that to Wittenberg with 3 of their 4 wins over the bottom 3 of the conference vs. Hiram, Oberlin and Denison.  I'm still expecting this game to be another classic.  After all, as is the case in most rivalries, you throw the records out the window.

[David Collinge]

Final from Gambier:
Kenyon 71
Earlham 51

[wally_wabash]

Just too many turnovers today.  Other than take better care of the ball, I don't know what else Wabash could have done to win today.  Wabash took away Wooster's three point shot completely.  Cooper was frustrated.  Wabash shot a very high percentage on 3 point FGs.  But those 21 turnovers.....just can't do that against teams of Wooster's caliber. 

[kiltedbryan]

I agree, Wally. Turnovers was basically the only statistical category where there was a decided advantage for Wooster today.  The LGs really played well enough to deserve to win; second straight year with a really tough outcome for Wabash at home.

Looking ahead, Wooster has to feel happy about escaping both Crawfordsville and Delaware with a 2-0 record.  I suspect that no one else in the NCAC will do that.  If Wooster follows with a win next Saturday at Wittenberg, that 3-0 record on the road at the other top conference opponents will put Woo firmly in the drivers seat of this conference chase for another year.

[David Collinge]

Ohio Wesleyan nips Hiram, 91-53, and the DoggieDome.

[woosterbooster]

It seems as if the game plans of both coaches, though textbook, failed somewhat.  Wabash, although successful at shutting down Wooster from the perimeter, had to give up something, and that was Wickliffe's inside game and penetration by Johnson and Bidwell.  On the other end, the Scots knew they had to help inside against the Little Giants size, and probably figured they wouldn't get hurt too much by threes.  Wrong, especially in the first half, as long shots were being dropped by all takers.  Still, I'll bet there are no major philosophical changes when these teams meet again in Wooster.

The Scots are still pretty limited to six guys.  After Fulk off the bench, Melick played only 5 minutes, Elam 6, and Geitgey 11.  At this point, I don't know where any help is going to come from, I think this is the way it's going to be.

Obviously, this is one that Wabash nearly had, a very tough game as we probably all thought it would be.  Wooster's record against Wabash is very one-sided, but there's been some luck involved in coming out on top so often in Indiana.  Honestly, I don't expect that to continue in the future, as the Scots will once again be losing three key players to graduation: Cooper, Will, and Fulk.

[pennstghs]

good win for Wooster yesterday-anytime you come out of Wabash unscathed is impressive. Wittenberg held serve as well with their win at Allegheny. Barring some miraculous upset we will see yet another showdown next Saturday-it will be the first matchup between the two in the  Pam Evans Smith Arena btw. I will have some more notes later on, but I hadn't posted in a while so thought that I would just keep in touch.

A side note everyone may find interesting--my brother's high school basketball coach is James Cooper's old high school coach from his freshman and sophomore years.

[David Collinge]

For the second time this season, NCAC Player of the Week accolades go to Ohio Wesleyan's Dustin Rudegeair.  Dustin had a monster game at Kenyon with 21 points and 9 boards, and then topped it at the Puppy Palace with a 23-and-11 effort, as OWU stayed one game back (loss column) of co-leaders Witt and Woo.  Congratulations, Dustin!

[David Collinge]

Must-See TV:

Wednesday's Kenyon/Denison clash will be televised to Columbus-area viewers, on a tape-delay basis, on the Columbus Sports Network, first on Wednesday at 10:30 pm, replayed Thursday at 9:30 am and 8:00 pm.   CSN can be found over the air on ch. 32, on Time Warner Cable on channels 78 and 524, and on WOW!, which I gather is another cable provider, on ch. 97.  The same network will televise the Kenyon/Denison women's game next Weds. (1/23) as well.

[pennstghs]

so us who actually have the channel can see first hand how terrible Denison is 

[goscots]

The Scots are still pretty limited to six guys.  After Fulk off the bench, Melick played only 5 minutes, Elam 6, and Geitgey 11.  At this point, I don't know where any help is going to come from, I think this is the way it's going to be.

I think an interesting comparison of this years team could be made to the 03-04 squad in terms of support off the bench. In the 03-04 season Coach Moore basically used a 9-man rotation, Ryan (Jimmy) Snyder, PJ McCloud, Ryan Ridder, and Jeff Stevens.  This year the primary players off the bench are Fulk, Geitgey, Melick, and either (Elam or Reed). If I were to do a man to man comparison:

Snyder vs. Fulk - both were the first off the bench and were/are used for instant offense. Give the nod to to Fulk.

Geitgey vs. Ridder - Ridder got a lot of minutes early in the season but scored less than 1 point a game. Geitgey can handle the ball and is very effective from 3-point land. Give the nod to Geitgey.

PJ McCloud vs. Melick - PJ was a senior in '03-'04 and was a good defensive player. Nod to McCloud.

Stevens to (Elam or Reed) - This is the toughest comparison because of the limited minutes. Stevens and Elam are the most alike.  I think Elam has much more upside than Stevens had but at the moment this is a draw.

The point of all this is that I think the bench situation is very similar if not more favorable for the 07-08 squad and yet the 03-04 got to the elite eight. In '04 Coach Moore shortened his bench rotation as the season wrapped up and pretty much used the upperclassmen in the tournament.

What I like from the Wabash game came from the post game interview with coach Moore. Mike B asked what he said to the team with 10 minutes to go. Coach Moore said he challenged the team to win with defense. That is obviously what happened and I like to believe that this team has found their identity which separate then from last season's team.