Quakers fall to Muskingum in OT

Muskies hit 22 of 26 free throws

|Box Score|

January 11, 2006

Scott Walters

Muskingum made 14 of 15 free throws in overtime to deal No. 17 Wilmington College an 80-74 Ohio Athletic Conference loss Wednesday at Fred Raizk Arena. The loss snaps the Quakers' eight-game winning streak and takes WC out of first place in the OAC. Wilmington is now 5-2 in the conference, 12-2 overall. Muskingum is 5-2 in the OAC, 9-4 overall.

Muskingum's success at the foul line was not limited to the overtime period. For the game, the Muskies hit 22 of 26 foul shots while Wilmington went to the stripe just four times, making good on three.

"I thought we did a good job getting the ball to the basket against their zone. We just didn't get many breaks," WC head coach Scott Reule said. "But regardless how the calls came out, what happened, that's just the way the ball bounces. Some nights it doesn't go your way. We win as a team. We lose as a team. We're together and we will stick together on this and do what we have to do to become a better basketball team and not worry about outside situations affecting our performance on the court."

Muskingum's zone defense slowed the pace of play and neutralized Wilmington's ability to get the ball to the basket. Wilmington hit just three of 11 three-pointers in the first half while the Muskies were six of 12 from long distance. Fred Harrison (Cleveland/East), Justin Gaines (Cincinnati/Colerain) and Scott Walters (Mentor/Perry) combined for 13 points off the WC bench to give the Quakers a 29-27 halftime lead.

"We expected them to play a zone, not because we're not good shooters, but because they have trouble matching up against us man-to-man," Reule said. "At times, we did a good job of attacking the zone but we didn't shoot it very well, particularly in the first half. But we played hard and hung in there."

Nick Berter (Cincinnati/Reading) drilled three treys in the first eight minutes of the second half as Wilmington opened a 46-35 advantage. Muskingum, which made 12 of 23 three-pointers, got threes from Cole Pittis, Zach Ross, Trevor Scott and Jeremy Ady to outscore the Quakers 22-9 and take a 57-55 lead at 5:24. Wilmington never regained the lead, but managed to send the game to overtime when Walters canned a pair of clutch free throws to tie the score at 62-all with three seconds to play.

Muskingum took a 66-62 lead on a pair of Pittis free throws and a Scott lay-in. Wilmington's first score in the extra session was provided by a Brett Carpenter (Marshalville/Smithville) three-pointer at 2:35. A pair of Wilmington turnovers led to two more Muskingum free throws and a Scott three-point-play that put the Muskies up 73-65 with 38 seconds remaining. Berter's three-pointer brought Wilmington to within two points with 21 seconds left, but the Muskies iced things at the charity stripe.

Berter hit five of 10 three-point attempts and finished with team-high 19 points. Carpenter added 13 for WC and Walters scored 10. Ross led all scorers with 22 points.

"Nick Berter was big in the second half," Reule said. "He had some shots in the first half that didn't go down, but we told him at halftime that those shots were going to go down. These kids are good shooters. When our guards get open looks, they are usually going to make shots. Tonight, we struggled a little bit."

Wilmington takes to the OAC highway Saturday for a 3 p.m. tip-off at Mount Union.