Quakers defeat No. 24
Ohio Northern

WC alone in OAC's fourth place

|Box Score|

February 8, 2006

Josh Rohrbacher

Big games in the month of February have been few and far between over the years for the Wilmington College men's basketball team. On Wednesday, the Quakers not only found themselves in a big game, they went out and won it, beating No. 24 Ohio Northern, 78-75, to take a large step toward securing their first-ever home Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament game.

Wilmington's win, combined with John Carroll's 82-77 double-overtime loss to Capital, gives WC sole possession of fourth place in the OAC, one game up on John Carroll, with three games remaining. The Quakers (9-6 OAC, 16-6 overall) also own the tiebreaker advantage over the Blue Streaks, who have dropped three straight.

"Every night that we step on the court, our players understand that every game is big for us, no matter who we're playing," WC head coach Scott Reule said. "We're in a situation where we are controlling our own destiny. We'd like to have an opportunity to host a tournament game. Other things may happen above us — if they do, they do — but we're still playing to get that first-round tournament game at home."

Ohio Northern (11-4 OAC, 16-5 overall) pounded the ball inside to Mike Hunter and Bart Hostetler to take an 11-4 lead five minutes into the game. Wilmington's bench authored its trademark stretch of high-energy defense-to-offense basketball. Freshman Justin Gaines' dunk gave the Quakers their first lead, 20-19. Hostetler scored 11 of his game-high 21 points in the opening 20 minutes as the Polar Bears took a 39-35 lead at the break.

"It was a game of runs, and they had more than we did the first half," Reule said. "At halftime, we talked about being more consistent in what we do, rather than relying on making runs."

Ohio Northern, which had won five straight games and eight of nine since losing at home to Wilmington Jan. 4, built its lead to 61-53 on a Kyle Gehle three-pointer with 10:00 to play. Eric Stirling (Brooklyn, N.Y./LaSalle Academy), who scored 14 of his team-high 20 points in the second half, hit twice as the Quakers scored eight straight to tie the game at 61-all.

"In the second half, Eric started doing a good job of shot faking, getting people off their feet and getting to the basket," Reule said. "He used his head, made some smart plays and got better looks inside. And as a team, we did a better job of dribble penetration, and that got him some better looks at the basket."

The evening's biggest basket, however, was provided by Brett Carpenter (Marshalville/Smithville). With the Quakers trailing 73-72 in the final minute of play and Wilmington on the verge of a shot-clock violation, Josh Rohrbacher (Columbus/Beechcroft) found Carpenter alone on the perimeter. Carpenter's soft trey barely rippled the net, but effectively put the Polar Bears on ice.

"That's just Brett letting the game come to him and doing what he does well," Reule said. "He's one of those guys who doesn't go out and try to do things he can't do, which is why he capitalizes on opportunities when he gets them. That was the basket that put us over the top, gave us the confidence we needed to go ahead and finish things up down the stretch."

Ohio Northern pulled to within a point with 10 seconds to play, but a pair of Rohrbacher free throws and ONU's 16th turnover of the game sealed the win for Wilmington.

Zach Broermann (Brookville, Ind./Franklin County) and Rohrbacher joined Stirling in double figures with 14 and 11 points, respectively. The Quakers' bench was huge as Gaines (Cincinnati/Colerain), Scott Walters (Mentor/Perry), Travante Leftenant (Columbus/Africentric) and Josh Walters (Cincinnati/Elder) combined for 24 points.

The Quakers travel to Heidelberg Saturday to face the Student Princes.