Quakers win first in OAC

Stirling leads Quakers with 19

|Box Score|

Eric Stirling

WESTERVILLE — Four players scored in double figures as Wilmington College whipped Otterbein College, 74-56, in Ohio Athletic Conference play Wednesday.

Eric Stirling (Brooklyn, N.Y./LaSalle Academy) scored 11 points and teammate Josh Rohrbacher (Columbus/Beechcroft) added 10 as the Quakers (5-1 overall, 1-1 OAC) built a 35-28 halftime lead.

The second half belonged to the Quakers as their team depth came into play. Scott Walters (Cincinnati/Elder) scored nine of his 11 points and collected five of his eight rebounds as Wilmington pulled away from the Cardinals. Walters¹ three-pointer gave WC a 58-41 lead at 10:40.

"Scott Walters was exceptional. He came up big-time tonight," WC head coach Scott Reule said. "He¹s been doing great things for us all year, but tonight it was just much more noticeable. He just stood out. He brought us off the bench what we needed."

Seniors Stirling and Rohrbacher scored 19 and 10 points, respectively, but Wilmington¹s bench production from Walters, Justin Gaines (Cincinnati/Colerain) (11 points) and Fred Harrison (Cleveland/East) were the question Otterbein had no answer for. Wilmington non-starters outscored their Cardinal counterparts 27-13.

"Our bench was big tonight," Reule said. "You look at Gaines, Walters, Harrison, Travante Leftenant (Columbus/Africentric) — they came to play," Reule said.

For the first time this season, the Quakers out-rebounded their opponent, claiming 40 boards to Otterbein¹s 33. Brett Carpenter (Marshalville/Smithville) pulled down eight rebounds for WC; Rohrbacher collected seven boards.

"It¹s something we¹ve been stressing in practice, and we definitely stressed it a little more today in our pre-game," Reule said. "We just kind of put out a challenge of who¹s going to go to the boards and who¹s going to get rebounds for us. Obviously, Scott Walters and Brett Carpenter and Josh Rohrbacher were the three that really come to mind, statistically. But more importantly, as a team we did a much better job. Our guards did a much better job of getting to the boards, and when you get guards and forwards getting to the boards making some things happen, it brings the advantage of second-chance opportunities."

The Quakers will host Heidelberg in OAC play 3 p.m. Saturday at Fred Raizk Arena. The Student Princes were defeated by John Carroll University, 92-90, in an overtime thriller Wednesday.