MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[kiltedbryan]

OWU 35
Heidelberg 24

3:00 left first half.

OWU is shooting well from outside.  Rudegair has several 3 pointers already.  Heidelberg sounds like they are taking a number of poor shots.

Dave McHugh on the call for d3hoops- see the links on the homepage.

[kiltedbryan]

At the half:

OWU  44
Heidelberg  30

Largest lead of the game for OWU is the 14-point lead at the half.

OWU put together a great half.  The Bishops are shooting well, though I don't have stats.  Heidelberg sounds like they aren't taking great shots, but mostly sounds like Ohio Wesleyan is outplaying the OAC champs at this point.

[kiltedbryan]

Pre-game report from the radio broadcast:

Steve Moore says that Brandon Johnson will start, and that he practiced yesterday with the team.  He thinks Johnson will be effective, but he's not 100%.

Sounds like they are expecting to have to score more from the half-court set, as he doesn't expect Brandon to have the explosive speed to outrun people tonight.

[kiltedbryan]

OWU scores the first 5 points and extends the lead to 49-30 early in the second half.

Dustin Rudegair is 5-7 from 3 point land.  Impressive.

May not have many updates from the this game going forward, as the Scots are about to start.

64-51 OWU leads with 5:30 to go second half.

[kiltedbryan]

Moderately disastrous start for Wooster:

Wash U. 18
Wooster  8

13:18 left in the first half.  Wash. U. is shooting well while Wooster spent most of the first 4 minutes turning the ball over.  Check that: Wooster continues to turn the ball over.  7 turnovers in the first 9 minutes.

23-15 Wash U with 8 minutes left after Johnson runs the floor and puts in a layup.  Wooster's looking a bit better here in the last five minutes.  Now they get a stop and Will drains the 3.  23-18 and Wash U calls a timeout.

Another stop for Wooster...Bidwell drives and makes it and gets fouled.  He makes the FT.  23-21, 6:30 left.

25-21 now.  Bidwell to shoot a 1-1.  He misses.  Cooper hasn't scored for Wooster yet, Ruths has 12 for Wash U.

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wash Univ.  34  Wooster 27

Wooster is being led by Marty Bidwell with 6 points and Evan Will with 6 points.

Wash U. is being led by Troy Ruths with 17 points and Danny O'Boyle with 6 points.  Wooster has had no answer defensively for Ruths.

[kiltedbryan]

OWU   83
Heidelberg  62
Final

Impressive win for Ohio Wesleyan tonight, and a good win for the NCAC!  OWU remains unbeaten in NCAA play.  

OWU simply outplays Heidelberg tonight, in a game most probably expected to go the other way, or at least be much closer.  OWU kept the margin in double-digits throughout the second half.

I also assume that OWU becomes the first NCAC team not named Wooster or Wittenberg to win an NCAA game in awhile--anyone know the last non-Woo/Witt NCAC team to win one?

[wooscotsfan]

6:18 Left:  Wash U. 59  Wooster 56
James Cooper with 17 points in the 2nd Half, Troy Ruths now with 26 points

5:20 Left:  Wash U. 60  Wooster 58  Fulk basket

4:00 Left:  Wash U. 64  Wooster 58  2 Baskets by the Bears

3:12 Left:  Wash U. 64  Wooster 60  Fulk again, Wooster timeout

2:45 Left:  Wash U. 66  Wooster 60  Ruths again, now has 30 points

1:53 Left:  Wash U. 69  Wooster 60  Thompson 3 pointer for Bears

1:42 Left:  Wash U. 69  Wooster 62  Cooper hits, now has 19 points.  Woo Timeout

1:35 Left:  Wash U. 69  Wooster 64  Turnover, Cooper hits again

1:18 Left:  Wash U. 71  Wooster 64  Nading hits 2 FT's, Wooster misses shot

0:45 Left:  Wash U. 73  Wooster 64  Nading hits 2 FT's

0:26 Left:  Wash U. 73  Wooster 69  Woo bucket, Turnover, Fulk hits 3 pointer, TO

0:24 Left  Wash U. 74  Wooster 69,  critical Wooster turnover, foul by Woo

0:22 Left  Wash U. 76  Wooster 69,  Nading hits 2 FT's

0:13 Left  Wash U. 76  Wooster 71,  Cooper hits, now with 23 points

0:07 Left  Wash U. 77  Wooster 74,  Will hits 3 pointer

Final:  Washington Univ. 79  Wooster 74

Wooster was led by James Cooper with 23 points, Devin Fulk with 18 points and Brandon Johnson with 10 points.

Wash University was led by Troy Ruths with 30 points, Aaron Thompson with 16 points and Tyler Nading with 15 points.

Congratulations to the Washington Bears and good luck in the rest of the Tourney!

[kiltedbryan]

Congratulations to the Scots for another great season.  Valiant effort tonight against a very tough, very good team.

Great second half performance for Cooper and Fulk- the seniors really stepped up when necessary.  Will had a good all-around game in his final career game.

[wooscotsfan]

Congratulations to Wooster seniors James Cooper, Evan Will and Devin Fulk on terrific careers as Scots!

James Cooper finishes his Wooster career with 2,037 points (#2 all time) and 241 three pointers made (#1 all time).

Devin Fulk finishes with well over 1,000 points, 91% Free Throw shooter and 49% Shooting on 3 pointers.

Congrats to Coach Moore and the entire Wooster team (23-5) on another great season including another NCAC regular season title.

[Vanilla24COW]

Congrats and best of luck to the seniors Coop, Fulk and Will and hopefully the underclassmen will realize how tough it is to get to Salem and work that much harder to make a return trip next year.

[Hoops MacPherson]

Wooster certainly had a good season, winning a lot of games, finishing first in a league that hasn't been very competitive or deep the last few years, but losing at home in NCAC semis, then dropping a first-round NCAA game can't be considered a great season-- I'm guessing the Scots themselves would agree with that.

My question is this: Wooster wasn't deep this year, and they lose a lot of their contributors. Who do you people think is going to step up next year and have a real shot at prying the regular season title away from the Scots?

Seems to me, the more competitive this league gets, the better chance the eventual winner will have of getting to Salem, and then winning there.

[kiltedbryan]

Seems to me, the more competitive this league gets, the better chance the eventual winner will have of getting to Salem, and then winning there.

Hmm.  I'm not sure about this.  If "being more competitive" means "Wooster is less talented," yes, it will make for a more interesting and competitive league.  But if that occurs at an overall lower level of talent than Wooster/Wittenberg have had during their previous Salem runs, then I doubt it will help future NCAC reps in the tourney.

A talented team plus 1-2 great players is what makes a Salem run possible.  Wooster in 2003: Bryan Nelson.  Wittenberg in 2006: Dan Russ and Dane Borchers (sp?). Wooster in 2007: Tom Port and James Cooper.  Those were great players on top of talented teams that dramatically out-classed the NCAC, but they needed every ounce of that talent and All-American ability to reach Salem.

[David Collinge]

Congratulations to Mike DeWitt and OWU on their making-a-statement big victory tonight in snowy Danville.  Back during the first half of the Hiram game a week ago Weds., I called Dustin Rudegeair "soft as a kitten."  Since then, in seven halves of basketball, he's gone off for 84 points and 28 boards, including 32 and 11 tonight in OWU's first NCAA game in 20 years.  I swear I'll never understand why anyone gives any weight to anything I say in here.   

Next up: Centre, and I think the Bishops can get it done.

Wooster played pretty well for about 3/4 of the game, James Cooper especially, but Wash U. is just too good a basketball team to surrender an early lead.  It's a shame that this had to be a first-round game, but whaddayagonnado?  Congrats to Wash U. and good luck the rest of the way.  And congratulations to the Scots on another great season, and especially to James Cooper, Devin Fulk, and Evan Will, for three great careers in the Black and Old Gold.

[pbrooks3]

David, didn't know if you'd seen Old Student/Athlete's post on the SCAC board - this game tomorrow night is sort of a homecoming for Coach Dewitt.  Prior to Greg Mason taking the reins at Centre, Dewitt coached the Colonels for 3 years.  This is a big rematch of the SCAC - NCAC from the Wooster-Centre game in the 2nd round last season.  Agreed OWU played a tremendous game tonight and they will present some major challenges for the Colonels, particularly with Jean and Rudegeair scoring and rebounding well.