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Quakers
hold off Raiders
Rohrbacher
scores career-high 19
|Box
Score|
January
28, 2006
Josh Rohrbacher |
Three
days after perhaps their most forgettable performances of
the season, the Wilmington College Quakers played a near flawless
first half, then held off Mount Union down the stretch to
post a 72-65 Ohio Athletic Conference win Saturday at Fred
Raizk Arena.
On his
way to a career-high 19-point performance, senior Josh Rohrbacher
(Columbus/Beechcroft) scored 10 first-half points as Wilmington
(7-5 OAC, 14-5 overall) erased the memory of Wednesday's 16-point
loss at Muskingum.
In the
opening half against the Raiders, Wilmington connected on
16-of-28 shots from the field (57 percent), hit six-of-eight
shots from beyond the arc (75 percent) and forced 13 Mount
Union turnovers. The end result: Wilmington 43, Mount Union
30 at the half.
"We had
two great days of practice Thursday and Friday. When you have
great days of practice, it's going to pay off in games," WC
head coach Scott Reule said. "Our players were ready to get
out and make a change and look like a different team on the
floor. They did that in the first half today. It was exciting
to see them play that way because they know that's the kind
of team they are."
Wilmington
led the game from start to finish. With a patient offense
that consistently generated open looks from inside and outside,
the Quakers pushed the advantage to 19 points on two occasions
early in the second half. But Mount Union, which beat Wilmington
on a last-second three-pointer Jan. 14, uncorked a run that
gave Wilmington fans some tense moments.
After
Rohrbacher scored in the lane to move WC up, 63-45, at 9:42,
the Raiders outscored the Quakers 14-2 to pull to within 65-59
at 2:21.
"They're
a good team and we knew they were going to make a run at us,"
Reule said. "We had the same problem up at their place. They
made a run on us and got into the position where they could
beat us with a three, and it happened for them. Thank goodness
we held them up just enough today. They've got great post
players and some guards who can really shoot it when they
get hot."
With their
18-point lead sliced to six, the Quakers looked to Rohrbacher,
who hit a jumper. On WC's next possession, Eric Stirling (Brooklyn,
N.Y./LaSalle Academy) found Nick Berter (Cincinnati/Reading)
for a score and an eight-point lead at 1:18. Mount Union cut
the deficit to five and missed a three-pointer with 10 seconds
to play. Berter put the final chunk of ice on the WC win with
a pair of free throws.
Rohrbacher,
who has reached double-figure scoring in three of the last
four games, made seven-of-eight shots from the field, three-of-four
three-pointers, collected three rebounds, handed out four
assists and did not turn the ball over in 25 minutes of action.
"Josh
is just a kid who does the intangibles, all the things that
a coach wants a kid to do," Reule said. "He takes care of
the basketball, makes smart decisions, takes good shots and
rebounds. He works hard every day to improve on every aspect
of his game. He's a special kid."
Although
Rohrbacher was the only Quaker to hit double figures, the
scoring line was a balanced one. Brett Carpenter (Marshalville/Smithville),
Zach Broermann (Brookville, Ind./Franklin County) and Justin
Gaines (Cincinnati/Colerain) scored nine each; Berter added
eight; Stirling scored seven and Scott Walters contributed
six. Kyle Karpinski led Mount Union with 17 points.
The Quakers
play at Capital 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
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