Quakers lose to Muskies

Stirling leads WC with 17 points, nine boards

|Box Score|

January 25, 2006

Fred Harrison

NEW CONCORD — Wilmington College's trademark defense did not produce its usual results Wednesday. The end result was an 83-67 Ohio Athletic Conference loss for the Quakers at Muskingum.

The Muskies (8-3 OAC, 13-5 overall), who defeated Wilmington (6-5, 13-5) in overtime Jan. 11, shot 53 percent from the field and turned the ball over only eight times in completing the regular-season sweep of the Quakers.

"We didn't do a very good job doing things that we're supposed to do to make us a successful team," WC head coach Scott Reule said. "We didn't stop penetration, we didn't play pressure defense and force turnovers, and those are things that make us a good team when we do them. When you don't do those things, teams are going to get open looks and shoot 53 percent against you from the field."

Eric Stirling (Brooklyn, N.Y./LaSalle Academy) scored nine of his team-high 17 points in the first half as Wilmington led on several occasions, the final advantage coming when Brett Carpenter (Marshalville/Smithville) hit a pair of free throws to move the Quakers up, 21-19, at 9:19. The Muskies used dribble penetration to take a lead that grew to five, 36-31, at halftime.

"It was really a close first half and a close game, for that matter," Reule said. "The score in the second half is misleading. We played them tough and got back into the game after they opened it up."

The Muskies expanded their lead to 53-36 when Zach Ross hit a three-pointer with 13:09 remaining. Wilmington's resilience was put on display as the Quakers worked their way back into the fray. Stirling scored off a Josh Rohrbacher (Columbus/Beechcroft) assist at 4:56 to complete a 12-4 run that pulled WC to within seven, 65-58. The Muskies answered with 10 straight points of their own over the next 2:24 to end the Quakers' comeback effort.

Rohrbacher joined Stirling in double figures with 12 points. A freshman trio contributed 21 points as Josh Walters (Cincinnati/Elder) scored eight, Travante Leftenant (Columbus/Africentric) scored seven and Justin Gaines (Cincinnati/Colerain) added six. Sophomore Zach Broermann (Brookville, Ind./Franklin County) also scored six for WC. Muskingum's Brandon Todd led all scorers with 26 points.

Muskingum collected 32 rebounds to Wilmington's 29. Stirling was one rebound shy of a double-double.

"Eric did some good things," Reule said. "He put the ball on the floor and got the ball to the rim. He was only five-of-13 from the field. I would obviously like to see him shoot a higher percentage, but he did a good job of getting the ball to the basket. That got him to the foul line, where he made seven-of-nine.

As a team, we just have to get better. There are going to be ups and downs. We just have to stay together as a team, come in to practice tomorrow and keep working on becoming a better basketball team."

Wilmington is home 3 p.m. Saturday against Mount Union.