Posting Up - Scoreboard - Top 25 - Features - Notables - Team of the Week - Live Audio

Notebook

Greg Chandler's
Great Lakes Notebook
Posted Feb. 8, 2000

The last time Earlham College defeated Wittenberg University in men's basketball, Del Harris was five years away from coaching his first NBA game with the Houston Rockets.

The year was 1973-74, and Harris coached the Quakers to a 49-48 victory over Wittenberg. Harris, of course, would go on to coach the Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers. It would turn out to be Earlham's last win over the Tigers ... until last Wednesday, when an unheralded Quaker team shocked No. 19 Wittenberg in triple overtime, 95-88, in Richmond, Ind.

The loss was a damaging one for Wittenberg, dropping the Tigers two games behind first-place Wooster in the North Coast Athletic Conference race. The Tigers had beaten Earlham 31 straight times, including 23 straight in NCAC play since both schools joined the conference in 1989.

Twice in the contest, Earlham hit clutch shots with time running out to extend the game. First, Curtis Wright sent the game into overtime with a layup with 3.8 seconds remaining in regulation time, tying the score at 61-all. Then, freshman Nathan Stoops nailed a three-pointer with 4.9 seconds to play in the second overtime to tie it at 80-all and extend the game into a third extra period.

Finally, Earlham pulled away in the third overtime. Wright's basket with 1:31 remaining broke an 86-86 tie and sparked a 9-2 Quaker run that finished the Tigers.

Stoops hit a school record-tying seven three-pointers in leading Earlham with 25 points. John Hathaway added 17 points, while Wright had 15 points and 10 assists.

Wittenberg (10-2 NCAC, 16-4 overall) bounced back Saturday to defeat Hiram 74-66, but faces an uphill battle to catch Wooster for the top seed in the conference tournament. The Fighting Scots extended their NCAC winning streak to 27 games by thumping Kenyon 92-67 on Wednesday, then coming from behind to defeat Wabash 81-75 on Saturday.

Trailing 60-54 with nine minutes remaining against Wabash, Wooster (12-0, 18-2) rallied in front of another enthusiastic home crowd at Timken Gymnasium, where the Fighting Scots have won 27 in a row.

John Ellenwood scored 20 points for Wooster, while freshman Bryan Nelson continued his outstanding play wtih 17 points and 16 rebounds, offsetting Josh Estelle's one-man artillery show for Wabash (9-3, 13-6). Estelle scored 40 points, including nine 3-pointers, to almost single-handedly keep the Little Giants in the game.

In the Ohio Athletic Conference, Otterbein maintains a two-game lead, despite losing at home Wednesday to Marietta 81-79. The Cardinals led 76-71 with 1:54 remaining, but the Pioneers reeled off 10 unanswered points, including six on free throws from Brett Cahill, to pull out the win.

Jesse DuPerow led Marietta with 27 points, while Cahill added 23. Kevin Shay scored 21 first-half points for Otterbein, but was shut out in the second half until hitting a meaningless three-pointer at the buzzer. Jeff Gibbs added 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Cardinals.

Meanwhile, Ohio Northern missed a golden opportunity to move up in the standings, stumbling at home to Muskingum 80-76. The Muskies shot 64% from the field in pulling off the upset. Despite the loss, ONU center Mike Kluse went over the 1,000-point mark for his career with 16 points. Kluse joins fellow Polar Bear starters Jeremy Thompson (1,789) and Scott Unverferth (1,142) in the ONU 1,000-point club, the first time in school history three players on the same team had exceeded that plateau.

But just when Marietta thought it was ready to make a run at Otterbein, Ohio Northern jumped up and bit the Pioneers on Saturday 72-66 in Marietta. Kris Oberdick was huge for the Polar Bears with 23 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. DuPerow, the OAC scoring leader, had 29 points in a losing cause.

Otterbein, meanwhile, posted a non-conference win against Presidents Athletic Conference leader Thiel, as Gibbs scored a career-high 27 points and pulled down 17 boards. Gibbs has had 15 double-doubles in his last 16 games.

With four games left in the conference season, Otterbein is at 9-3, while Marietta, Ohio Northern and Baldwin-Wallace are at 7-5 and Muskingum at 7-6. The Cardinals host John Carroll Wednesday and visit Capital Saturday, with a chance to clinch at least a share of the regular-season championship by holding serve.

It's all about the Calvin Knights in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The Knights, who moved up to No. 2 in the D3hoops.com poll after Christopher Newport stumbled last week, stayed unbeaten in the MIAA by whipping Alma 86-67 and Adrian 83-68. Calvin, which hosts arch-rival Hope on Wednesday in Grand Rapids, is now 10-0 in the MIAA and 18-2 overall. Defiance remains a solid second place at 8-2 in conference play after downing Olivet 98-91 in overtime and Alma 91-63.

In other conferences, Penn State-Behrend remains on top of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference, extending its winning streak to nine games, with wins against Penn State-Altoona 76-59 and Pitt-Bradford 67-66. The Lions are 18-2, but haven't gotten much of a sniff in the regional coaches' poll before this week because of their schedule.

Sharp shooters: Mount Union sophomore center Todd Richards has hit 17 consecutive field goals over his last four games. The NCAA Division III record for consecutive field goals made is 21, held by Ithaca's Tod Hart in 1982 and Binghamton's Mark Jones in 1986.

Hope reserve guard Kyle VanderWall played only 17 minutes Saturday, but those were a long 17 minutes for Kalamazoo. VanderWall hit a school record-tying seven three-pointers in scoring 26 points as the Flying Dutchmen rolled over the Hornets, 82-67. The only other Hope player to hit seven treys in a game was former All-American Joel Holstege, who did it twice -- in the 1996 Division III national title game against Rowan and again the following year as Hope upset David Lipscomb (Tenn.), at the time the No. 1 team in NAIA Division I.

Capital's Brad Howe scored 33 points Saturday as the Crusaders stunned John Carroll 77-70. Howe scored 50 points during a week that saw Capital, which had lost 10 of its first 11 OAC games this season, pull off back-to-back upsets of Heidelberg and JCU. He earned conference player of the week honors in the process.

Grove City freshman Tanner Prosser fired in 31 points on Wednesday as the Wolverines defeated Waynesburg 82-71. Prosser was this week's choice as the PAC player of the week. Albion's Tim Czarnecki won MIAA co-player of the week honors after a 29-point, 15-rebound performance as the Britons defeated Olivet on Saturday, 75-65. On Wednesday, Czarnecki had a 21-point, 10-rebound effort in a 75-72 loss to Hope.

Congratulations to John Carroll coach Mike Moran, who became the winningest coach in school history last Wednesday, when JCU downed Mount Union. With 138 wins, Moran moves past the previous record of 137 victories, set by Tim Baab from 1981-92.

In the MIAA women's basketball race, Hope and Calvin appear headed for a Feb. 15 showdown in Holland for the conference regular-season title and top seed for the conference tournament. The Flying Dutch hold a half-game lead over the Knights, but Calvin has a game in hand.

Hope (11-2, 16-4) defeated Olivet 65-55 and Albion 70-43 last week, while Calvin (10-2, 15-5) defeated Saint Mary's (Ind.) 64-44 in the Knights' only league game. Meanwhile, that thud you heard in the MIAA was the sound of the Alma Lady Scots, who fell from first to fifth place in an eight-day span with consecutive losses to Hope, Defiance and Kalamazoo. Alma guard Mary Barnhart did her best to keep her team in the game in a 56-49 loss to Defiance, firing in a career-high 28 points.

In the OAC, Baldwin-Wallace continues to roll toward what might be a perfect conference season. The Yellow Jackets could lock up the top seed for the conference tournament this week by defeating Mount Union at home and Muskingum on the road.

Last Saturday, B-W had to battle against Heidelberg before prevailing 67-61. Kim Luthman led four Yellow Jackets in double figures with 14 points. Baldwin-Wallace (12-0, 19-1) has now won 28 consecutive regular-season OAC contests.

Capital, meanwhile, maintained its hold on second place, defeating Heidelberg 78-61 and John Carroll 69-41. Sophomore Tara Dickensheets scored 17 points in each of the two wins, as the Crusaders improved to 11-2 in the OAC, 18-3 overall.

In the NCAC, Ohio Wesleyan has opened up a game-and-a-half lead on second-place Wittenberg, with Denison and Kenyon starting to fade. The Battling Bishops scored impressive wins last week against Kenyon 66-50 and Denison 76-47 to improve to 10-2 in the conference and 17-2 overall. Jessica Viertlboeck led OWU in both games, scoring 16 points against Kenyon, then firing in 22 against Denison, which has lost four of its last five after a 7-0 start in the conference. Katy Sturtz ran her streak of consecutive double-doubles to nine with 10 points and 16 rebounds against Kenyon, but the streak ended in the win against the Big Red.

Marietta's Maggie Lawrence just missed a triple-double on Saturday as she keyed the Pioneers' 64-59 win against Ohio Northern. Lawrence, a sophomore who can play either guard or forward, scored 16 points, ripped down 11 rebounds and dished out nine assists.

Otterbein freshman forward Jennifer Harrison had career-highs of 26 points and 13 rebounds in an 80-67 win against Marietta on Wednesday. With 14 wins, the Cardinals need two more victories to tie the school record for wins in a season of 16, set during the 1986-87 season

Congratulations to Adrian center Ann Terpstra, who went over the 1,000-point mark for her career in a Jan. 25 loss to Hope. Terpstra is the 11th Bulldog to reach 1,000 points for her career. She also has more than 600 career rebounds and holds the school record for blocked shots.

Contact Us
About us
Feedback
Privacy Policy
Send Game Scores
Send Press Releases
Team of Week Nominations
User Survey