MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[David Collinge]

I just noticed that Gregg Hill is listed on Wittenberg's roster with a jersey number of "inj;" this is the same designation as Kyle Bigler, who is confirmed to be out for the season with an ACL injury.  I'm going to take this as confirmation that Hill is taking a medical redshirt and will miss the season.  However, if any of our AWOL Wittenberg friends know better, it'd be nice to hear.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

[David Collinge]

Congratulations to Hiram sophomore guard Chris Roberts, the inaugural NCAC Player of the Week for the 2008-09 season.  Roberts was honored for his 31-point outburst vs. Pitt-Greensburg.  Roberts also led the Terriers in scoring in last night's game, canning 18 points, and through two games is hitting better than 55% of his shots (16/29). 

Not meaning any offense to Roberts, I think my vote would have gone to Bryan Yelvington...

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Both Earlham and Ohio Wesleyan have announced that they will be waiving admission fees to all men's and women's basketball games this season, citing the current economic crisis.  They join Kenyon, which to my knowledge has never charged admission, and Wooster (women's games only) in offering a cost-free source of entertainment.  Denison has also waived admission fees for home games in Nov. and Dec. as part of their support for a local food drive.  If there are other schools are not charging admission, please post it here.

[BigRedFan]

Hey DC,
I am afraid I am not going to be of much help because I am also a long distance fan.
I have relied heavily on you in the past.  Howver, we do attend a few games a year and will be happy to give you my "less than expert anylsis" when we are there.

[David Collinge]

Wittenberg holds off Concordia of Portland (OR) this afternoon, 70-67, to grab their first win of the season.  This was a nip and tuck game all the way, with neither team able to build a lead of greater than 7 points.  With 6:37 to go and Witt down 1, Seth Hill grabbed a missed CU free throw and fed Kevin Murray on the break for the old-fashioned three-point play, and the Tigers never trailed again.  Murray led all scorers with 21, while David Nowicki added 14 points and 5 assists.  Wittenberg took an un-Tiger-like 18 three-point shots, and hit 7 for a reasonable 39%, part of their overall 41% shooting.  The Tigers will face host Pacific Lutheran tomorrow in the conclusion of this classic-style tournament.  Box.

Elsewhere,
It took the combined forces of two colleges to do it, but Pomona-Pitzer drops Oberlin 69-56 tonight in Claremont, CA.  Oberlin trailed by a humbling 32-14 score at the half and could get no closer than 9 points down the stretch.  The Yeomen were once again led by seniors Mike Loll and Jordan Beard, with Loll scoring 20 of the duo's combined 36 points.  The Yeomen play their fourth game in six days (with a cross-country trip in that span) tomorrow when they take on three colleges at once (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, a/k/a CMS) on Pomona's home court.  Box; recap.

[ScotsFan]

Wooster falls in a hard fought effort to Platteville, 76-67 to drop to a very uncharacteristic 1-3 on the young season.  Wooster trailed early by as many as 14 before trimming the lead to just 5 at the half.  The Scots then proceeded to score the first 9 points of the second half to actually lead by 4.  But it was all Platteville after that.

Wooster shot 47% from the field but only 9-27 from downtown.  And for the second game in a row, Wooster was the victim of a rather large discrepancy at the charity stripe as the Scots only attempted 7 ft's compared to 24 for Platteville...  Wooster was outscored at the line 17-4?!    It's tough to win when there's that kind of disparity...

Wooster was led in scoring by Justin Hallowell who scored 17 including 5 treys. Balch chipped in 16 off the bench and Franks added 11.

Wooster will now await the winner of the Hanover v. IU-Southeast loser tomorrow afternoon.

It sounds like, even though Wooster fell tonight, there were a lot of positives the Scots can take from this loss and build off of heading into conference action.  We just have to remember how young this team is and one of the leaders of this team will be back very soon.  And from how this season has started, Johnson's return can't come soon enough!

[David Collinge]

Other results:
Kenyon 61, Albion 55...more below
Ohio Wesleyan 80, Marietta 58...more below
Hiram 88, Geneva 84...Geneva recap; Chris Roberts with 22, Ian Pfouts adds 18, Hiram is now 2-1
DePauw 92, Earlham 57
Hilbert at Allegheny and Oberlin vs. CMS at Pomona should be underway
Wittenberg plays at Pacific Lutheran later tonight.
Denison and Wabash are idle.

[David Collinge]

In the first game of the "OWU/Kenyon Classic" (catchy title!), Kenyon came up with a very impressive six-point win over Albion, 61-55.  As the score would indicate, the defenses on both ends predominated.  Kenyon's defense got the better of the matchup, forcing 17 turnovers, including 10 steals, and holding the previously unbeaten Britons to 37% shooting.  The Lords' front line of seniors Bryan Yelvington and Allen Bediako and junior Dave Knapke dominated in the paint, grabbing 23 rebounds (Knapke 9) and blocking 4 shots (Yelvington 2), while combining for 38 points (Yelvington 17) and five assists (Knapke 3) at the other end.  This trio also kept Albion in foul trouble all afternoon, drawing enough fouls to require 20 free throws (Albion's whole team only had 15 free throw attempts).  Dave Jolson and Jim Arce each contributed 10 points, with seven of Arce's tally also coming from the stripe.  Recap; box.

The second game was considerably less entertaining, although it was much closer than the score (OWU 80, Marietta 58) would indicate.  OWU got out to a 10 point lead in sloppy first five minutes, and although the lead stayed in double digits for almost the entire game, the Bishops just couldn't seem to shake their guests until the final minutes.  Senior Kyle Holliday led OWU with 25 points on 9/18 shooting, but it took him most of the game to find his stroke; it was when he did that the Bishops were able to put away the Pioneers.  (He never did find it at the stripe, making just two of 10 attempts.)  Junior center Brent Pleiman added a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards; overall, OWU owned the glass with a +13 rebounding margin that included 20 offensive rebounds (Holliday 5).  The Bishops also took good care of the ball, recording 17 assists (Rob Gardiner 5) on 31 buckets while committing just 9 turnovers (and forcing 18 Pioneer TOs).  Recap; box.

The same four teams match up again tomorrow at Kenyon, with OWU leading off against Albion, followed by Marietta taking on Kenyon.

[woosterbooster]

Just from the feel of the radio broadcast, it seemed that Wooster played much better this afternoon than Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.  Platteville's early lead was gained from some very hot shooting.  Wooster, even though in considerable foul trouble inside, weathered the storm and fought back.  For a good while in the second half they seemed to be playing well, but then went cold from the outside and that was the ballgame.

The bad news?  Ian Franks is no longer a secret weapon, and teams will be watching him.  Melick and Wickliffe continue to hack and hold, or at least get called for doing so.  Marty Bidwell is still not much of a part of the offense.

On the other side, Hallowell, about a month after Halloween, was back in the lineup and had another very good game.  And, sophomore transfer Nathan Balch made very good use of his minutes and will likely see even more time.  I'd almost given up on him.

To be honest, I was expecting a much tougher loss.  This was a ballgame until near the end, against a good team, and that should bode well for a young team getting its sea legs on the road.

It was mentioned that freshman Drew Sawyer did not make the trip; no reason was given.

[David Collinge]

More scores:
CMS 67, Oberlin 60...Yeo go 1-2 out west
Allegheny 58, Hilbert 54...Gators will face Ithaca tomorrow; Ithaca bombed B-WC 97-75
Witt vs. Pac Lute scheduled to begin at 11pm EST.

[woosterbooster]

Well, I just got a look at the Wooster boxscore (from the Platteville website) and it says that Drew Sawyer played 2 minutes and had an offensive rebound.  I'm sure, though, that in the WQKT pregame it was mentioned that Sawyer didn't make the trip.  My bet is that the boxscore is incorrect.

[David Collinge]

One last score:
Pacific Lutheran 80, Wittenberg 60...Tigers chilly overall (34%) and icy cold (16%) from the arc, and turn the ball over 23 times.  Witt puts three in double figures, led by Mark Snyder's 14.

[wooscotsfan]

The stats through 3 games belie the 1-2 record Wooster has posted. They have outscored (1 pt) and out-rebounded (suprise) their opponents. The losses stem from poor performance at the FT line and allowing the other teams to get to the charity stripe way too often. This comes from defensive breakdowns...not moving your feet, leaving the passing lanes open and not calling the help.

nuscottsfan - good first post.  I watched the second half of the Carnegie Mellon game on the webcast and Wooster just played poor defense too often reaching and committing fouls instead of moving their feet on defense.

I wasn't able to listen to the Platteville game but it was good to see Wooster make it a competitive game.  Hopefully, Wooster will continue to improve as their key freshmen continue to improve and the return of Brandon Johnson will be a big plus.

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wooster 45  Hanover 28

Wooster has made 9 three pointers in the half ....with Hanover playing mostly zone defense.  Wooster shot 50% in the half.

Scots are being led by their newcomers with Justin Hallowell notching 12 points (4 three pointers) and Nathan Balch with 11 points (3 three pointers).  Ian Franks has chipped in 7 points.

It is worth noting that Hanover is only 1-3 on the season.  Their only win is a 3 point victory over Denison and they also lost by 26 points to the Little Giants in a game played at Wabash.

GO SCOTS!

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 93  Hanover 61

Wooster was led by Nathan Balch with 17 points, Justin Hallowell with 12 points, Ian Franks with 12 points and Matt Fegan also with 12 points.  Bryan Wickliffe chipped in 10 points.  Scots shot 52% from the floor this afternoon.

Wooster made 19 three pointers today as Hanover stayed in a 2-3 zone defense and gave the Scots lots of open shots from the three point arc.

Coach Moore on the post game show was pleased with the team's improvement today but still noted that Wooster's defense needs work as too many guys are still driving around us with the ball.

Scots improve to 2-3.  Next up is the first NCAC game vs. Oberlin on Wednesday.

[sac]

Ohio Wesleyan 69 Albion 66