MBB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Dr. Acula]

Listen, I'm not trying to complain about a win this deep in the season, but if they made layups this is a double digit win with zero stress at the end.  At least 4 missed layups that I saw.

[BillyRayJimBob]

Yes ... Very frustrating as a fan watching.
I think it was Farrington that was underneath on the left and sent it over the hoop without hitting any iron.  An OTT defender on the other side of the board was surprised that the ball hit him in the chest.  It was the next time down the floor that there was some similar miss. Parker had a couple of beneath the rim misses, but speed of play and defensive positioning made a successful put up "50-50."
This team is better than what we are seeing, I think that many will agree.

[Dr. Acula]

My guess yesterday was that Ott playing a decent amount of zone limited the amount of normal post ups the bigs got.  So when they did get the ball in good position they were maybe a little amped up thinking "oh man, I've got to score here!" and just sped themselves up a little more than usual.  The other thing too was those refs were allowing a lot of contact on both ends.  Honestly, I'm surprised Mount hasn't seen more zone this season.  Yesterday it backfired on the Cards though with Mount shooting well from 3.

They're definitely better than they played yesterday, especially the first 10 minutes of the game on the defensive end.  With 4 games to go every win is critical.  Move on and check the next one off.

[Dr. Acula]

Are Musky's live stats not working tonight or is it just me?  Finally able to tune in and Mount is down 42-35 at half and wanted to see the stats.  No luck.

[Dr. Acula]

This is about to be another game given away.  SMH.

[Dr. Acula]

Casenhiser!!!  Onto 2OT on the 3 at the buzzer.  He hit two big triples in OT. 

[Dr. Acula]

Gut out an 86-83 2OT win in New Concord.  They have no chance of winning this without the freshmen.  Casenhiser was immense in the first OT and Taylor stole the inbound to feed the go ahead layup to go up 84-83.  The pups stepped up big time on the road tonight.

[D3fanboy]

big time W for the Raiders, up next the last OAC road game of the season.  Huge matchup with Berg on Sat before two games with bottom of the pack teams at home.

[BillyRayJimBob]

big time W for the Raiders, up next the last OAC road game of the season.  Huge matchup with Berg on Sat before two games with bottom of the pack teams at home.

I will be honest, I had the chalk in hand and ready to make a mark in the "L" column a couple of times. I think Vince Kehres would have called it remaining "poised" that led to the "W."
Purple Raiders are 9-0 on the other team's home court so far this year. 10-0 sounds/looks much better.
As for OAC "bottom of the pack" teams, at least Wilmington is off their remaining schedule ... SHEESH!!!

[Dr. Acula]

Mount picks up a big road win in Tiffin 72-61 over Berg.  The Raiders completed a perfect 9-0 road OAC schedule.  Fuline really trimmed down his bench today with all 5 starters logging over 30 minutes including 3 guys with 34+ minutes.  Only Taylor came off the bench with more than 7 minutes on the floor. 

The difference in the game was mainly the shooting as Mount was 54% while Berg was 31% from the field.  Berg's guards who gave Mount fits in Alliance did not shoot well today.  Prker had a strong 2nd half to lead the way with 20 pts.  Farrington had another double double (15 and 10).  Casenhiser logged 38 minutes and had 14 on 5-9 shooting to go along with 4 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl.  He and Steele each only had 1 turnover today which I always like to see from your primary ball handlers.  Make good decisions.

JCU kept pace with a win over Cap to maintain the tie at 13-3.  Mount finishes at home with BW and ONU (both 6-10).  JCU finishes at Berg and Musky at home so they definitely have the tougher road finishing up.  Musky is 1 game behind Berg for 3rd place, but swept the Princes so definitely alive for the 3 seed still.

[D3fanboy]

looking like a one bid league this year, so the OAC tournament is everything.  But a regular season title is always great. 

I just have a bad feeling that Wilmington(!) keeps Mount out of the NCAA tournament/bubble etc for a second year in a row....unless they win the OAC tournament

[Dr. Acula]

The Ramapo loss and the home loss to Wilm loom large right now.  Two games they had and let slip away at the end.  To be fair they've won some games they easily could have lost if not for last second heroics (at Wilm, at Cap, at Musky).  The 86-81 loss at home to Yeshiva also hasn't aged very well.

Honestly the most surprising thing to me this season, especially with the parity, is Etta being 4-12.  They've been in almost every game, but they're riding a stretch now where they've lost 7 of their last 8.  I just didn't think that VanderWal would let them happen unless he was just seriously out gunned talent-wise.  Maybe they are?  I've only watched them twice and playing Mount close isn't necessarily indicative of equal talent.

One final thing I meant to mention from Saturday was that I think Berg might be the 2nd toughest place to play.  Their fans are into to it.  BanJo remains #1 but Seiberling is my current #2.

[D3fanboy]

the top two seeds (as of now), JCU and Mount seem to be headed into the tournament playing well, 9-1 and 8-2 in their last ten respectively.  But I agree, there could be some chaos in the OAC tourny with so much parity.

[Dr. Acula]

Mount takes care of BW 83-69 at home.  They were down 38-35 at half, but when I saw saw BW was shooting almost 60% at half I had zero concern.  They predictably crashed back to earth.  Balanced and efficient scoring for the Raiders tonight.  19 for Parker (7-12 FG), 18 each for Moore (7-11) and Casenhiser (7-12).

Frazier shoots 4-18, JCU shoots 38% as a team...and still beats Berg in Tiffin 76-71.  14-3 tie atop the standings with the gap widening.

[Dr. Acula]

Are they playing Wilm today?  This game has not been pretty on either side.  Just a lack of any flow or execution by either offense.  Just ugly basketball.