Quakers beat Battling Bishops of Ohio Wesleyan University

Eric Stirling scores game-high 25 points

|Box Score|

December 14, 2005

Josh Walters

WILMINGTON, Ohio — Eric Stirling was as good as gold as the senior forward scored a career-high 25 points to lead Wilmington College past Ohio Wesleyan University, 70-55, Wednesday at Fred Raizk Arena. The win is the third straight for the 7-1 Quakers and snapped a three-game winning streak for the 6-3 Battling Bishops.

The Quakers and Bishops used different defensive approaches with similar results in a first half marred by turnovers. Wilmington¹s unending pressure kept OWU in check while the Bishops forced 11 WC turnovers with their half-court zone.

"We had a lot of problems handling their zone in the first half," WC head coach Scott Reule said. "We couldn¹t seem to find the right spots or get the right looks. We were just running to spots wherever we wanted to go. We got that straightened out at halftime and made a run early in the second half."

With the game tied 30-30 at halftime, the Quakers, for a second straight game roared into the second stanza. Stirling scored five points and assisted a Nick Berter (Cincinnati/Reading) lay-in as Wilmington opened the half with a 14-5 spurt to take a 44-35 lead. The Bishops cut the deficit to 46-40 on a pair of free throws by Matt Shirer, but Stirling buried a three-pointer and Wilmington¹s lead was in double figures to stay.

"It was like the Heidelberg game. We told them in the locker room that the first five minutes of the second half was going to determine who wins," Reule said. "The first five minutes we went out and set the tone. It made a difference in the outcome of the game."

The Quakers fed off their defensive play and gradually wore the Bishops down. The point total was OWU¹s lowest of the season — the third straight game in which Wilmington held its opponent to a season-low point total. The Quakers expanded the lead to 62-45 when Zach Broermann (Brookville, Ind./Franklin County) fed Stirling (Brooklyn, N.Y./LaSalle Academy) for a bucket at 6:18. The Bishops struggled from the field and the foul line, shooting 36 percent from the floor and 52 percent from the foul line. Stirling connected on 10-of-16 shots, four-of-five from long distance. As a team, WC hit 47 percent of its field goal attempts and seven-of-10 foul shots. Broermann connected on a pair of free throws. The sophomore point guard has made all 18 charity shots he has taken this season.

Josh Rohrbacher (Columbus/Beechcroft) scored 12 points for WC, Broermann scored nine and Travante Leftenant (Columbus/Africentric) added seven off the bench. Dustin Rudegeair led the Bishops with 14 points. Stirling and Rohrbacher had six and five boards, respectively, as WC out-rebounded OWU 32-31, with nine boards coming off the offensive glass.

"Ohio Wesleyan is plus-seven on the year rebounding," Reule said. "That¹s because they have those big bodies down low and they have guards who go to the rim hard to rebound." The Quakers host Marietta 3 p.m. Saturday in OAC play.