Quakers off to best start since 1978-79

Quakers force 29 turnovers in win

|Box Score|

November 30, 2005

Zach Broermann

WILMINGTON, Ohio — Thomas More College out-shot and out-rebounded Wilmington College Wednesday night. The Saints, however, did not out-work the Quakers, who put on an impressive display of blue-collar basketball in their home opener to post a 78-65 victory in front of a large and loud crowd at Fred Raizk Arena.

"We¹ve been so excited about playing here for so long," WC head coach Scott Reule said. "We¹ve had success on the road, which is tough to do, but we¹ve been excited to come home and play in our own gym. We had great support; our students were there and the community was there. "What we¹ve been preaching since the season started is if you play hard, good things will happen. If you work hard, good things will happen. We actually called a timeout after giving up offensive rebounds on free throws, and told them that they were getting outplayed."

Eric Stirling (Brooklyn, N.Y./LaSalle Academy) and Zach Broermann (Brookville, Ind./Franklin County) scored 15 points each for WC; Nick Berter (Cincinnati/Reading) scored 12 and Josh Rohrbacher (Columbus/Beechcroft) added 11 as the Quakers raised their record to 4-0. The telling statistics of the game, though, were Thomas More¹s 29 turnovers and Wilmington¹s 18 steals. The Saints, down 33-29 at halftime, wilted under the Quakers¹ full-court defensive pressure in the second half.

"Twenty-nine turnovers and 18 steals is the result from our press," Reule said. "When you look at it, there were 18 steals, and the other times they probably threw it out of bounds on our press. Not many of their turnovers were in the half-court because that¹s the area we have to get better in, and that¹s why E.J. Haynes had 25 points."

Haynes, Thomas More¹s towering 6-9 center, was joined in double figures by Andrae Woodard, who scored 10. Haynes scored in the lane at 13:49 in the second half, cutting Wilmington¹s lead to 41-35. The Quakers, who hit nine-of-32 three-pointers, got back-to-back treys from Josh Walters (Cincinnati/Elder) and Fred Harrison (Cleveland/East) and pulled away from the Saints. Stirling¹s layup at 5:28 completed a 22-10 run and gave the Quakers their largest lead, 63-45.

Thomas More (0-4) connected on 44 percent of its field goals, while the Quakers shot 39 percent from the field. The Saints collected 42 rebounds to Wilmington¹s 37, but 18 of the Quakers¹ boards came off the offensive glass. Offensive rebounds, Reule said, are the result of hard work.

"Josh Rohrbacher and the seniors who were in there with the game on the line play hard. They may not always be the most skilled or quickest kids on the floor, but they play hard, and part of playing hard is going to the offensive glass and keeping the ball alive. Josh did a good job of that a couple times. He didn¹t always get the rebound himself, but he tipped it out and kept the ball alive." The high-energy freshman trio of Travante Leftenant (Columbus/Africentric), Justin Gaines (Cincinnati/Colerain) and Walters combined for 17 points off the Wilmington bench. Harrison scored five for the Quakers in his strongest performance of the season. Stirling, Berter and Brett Carpenter (Marshalville/Smithville) led WC with five rebounds each.

The win gives the Quakers their best season start since the 1977-78 squad opened 3-1. Wilmington will put its perfect record on the line when it opens Ohio Athletic Conference play Saturday at John Carroll University.