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Notebook

Greg Chandler's
Great Lakes Notebook
Posted Jan. 20, 2000

Who shall lead them?
By Greg Chandler
D3hoops.com

And then there were two.

The ranks of unbeaten teams in the North Coast Athletic Conference was whittled from three to two on Saturday, as No. 12 Wooster came from behind to hand NCAC newcomer Wabash its first conference setback 79-74 in Crawfordsville, Ind.

Trailing 74-70 with 3:16 remaining, the Fighting Scots (6-0 NCAC, 12-2 overall), put the clamps on the Little Giants' offense down the stretch, holding Wabash without a point the rest of the way. Baskets by Ryan Snyder and Bryan Nelson tied the game at 74-all, then Steve Thompson bombed in a three-pointer with 51 seconds remaining -- his only basket of the game -- to put Wooster ahead to stay. Antwyan Reynolds then sealed the win with a pair of free throws with 12 seconds to play.

Snyder and Nelson each had 14 points in Wooster's balanced attack. Wabash sharpshooter Josh Estelle led the Little Giants (6-1, 11-4) with 27 points, including five three-pointers, and Brian Latham added 16.

Wittenberg kept pace with Wooster with a pair of conference wins during the week, defeating Denison 107-72 and Kenyon 77-60. Ryan Taylor led the Tigers in both games, scoring 16 points against Denison and 19 against Kenyon. Forward Chris Fillmore snared 18 rebounds as Wittenberg controlled the boards by a 52-28 margin against Kenyon.

The Ohio Athletic Conference has turned into a wild, wild race, with five teams within one game of first place in the league. On Saturday, not one, not two, but all three of the conference leaders -- Ohio Northern, Marietta and Otterbein -- lost. John Carroll upended Ohio Northern 78-69, while Baldwin-Wallace clobbered Marietta 89-60 in Berea, and Muskingum stunned Otterbein 75-55.

After that Saturday carnage, ONU, Marietta and Otterbein remain tied for the top spot at 5-2 in the OAC, with John Carroll and Muskingum nipping at their heels at 4-3 in the conference. Sixth-place B-W isn't out of it either, at 4-4.

Marietta forward Jesse DuPerow had another big week, scoring 58 points, claiming 20 rebounds and dishing out seven assists. He hit for 30 points in a win Wednesday over Muskingum, then added his 18th career double-double with 27 points and 13 rebounds against John Carroll.

Ohio Northern guard Jeremy Thompson could become the school's all-time leading scorer this week. With 1,699 career points, he needs just 47 more to surpass Dan Foster, who scored 1,746 points from 1966-69.

John Carroll junior forward Larry Holmes has had five consecutive double-digit rebounding games. Last week he had 14 boards against Heidelberg and 10 against Ohio Northern.

While the OAC is the picture of parity, Calvin is starting to separate itself from the rest of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The now-No. 4 Knights scored a pair of big road wins last week, downing Adrian 86-76 and taking down archrival Hope 78-68 in front of a sellout crowd of 2,700 at the Holland Civic Center. Against Hope, Calvin trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half as backup point guard Chad Zagar ignited the Flying Dutchmen with 16 points, hitting all seven of his shots from the field. But in the second half, freshmen Bryan Foltice and Jeremy Veenstra led a Knights' comeback that eventually overcame Hope. Foltice hit four three-pointers during a critical 16-4 run midway through the second half that put Calvin ahead to stay. He finished with five three-pointers and 17 points. Veenstra, who hit two clutch jumpers down the stretch to quell any hopes of a Flying Dutchmen rally, added 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Calvin is all alone atop the MIAA at 4-0, with Defiance and Kalamazoo a game back at 3-1. Kalamazoo suffered its first league loss last Wednesday, stumbling to Hope 66-54.

Just how big is the Hope-Calvin game? Tim Russert, the host of NBC's "Meet the Press," mentioned the score of the game on his broadcast Sunday morning, fulfilling a promise he made the week before while moderating the Republican presidential candidates' debate at Calvin. Russert promised if the students attending the debate behaved, he would give the score of the Hope-Calvin game on Sunday. (Thanks to Calvin's Jeff Febus for that note.)

In the MIAA women's race, Calvin lost, then regained its hold on first place in the conference in a matter of four days. On Tuesday, the Lady Knights suffered their first MIAA loss, falling to Alma 71-61. The following night, preseason favorite Hope moved into sole possession of first place with a 75-49 pounding of Kalamazoo, a team that had come in with a school-record eight-game winning streak.

However, on Saturday, Calvin overcame an 11-point deficit to nip Hope, 56-54, in Grand Rapids. Trailing 54-49 with a little more than five minutes left, the Knights blanked the Flying Dutch the rest of the way. Mindi Andringa's jumper with 1:41 remaining put Calvin ahead 55-54, and the Knights' defense snuffed out Hope's remaining offensive chances. The Knights won despite shooting only 29 percent from the field, but outrebounded the Flying Dutch 52-34.

Calvin (6-1, 10-4) leads the MIAA by a half-game over Hope (6-2, 11-4), with Alma lurking one game back at 5-2, 8-6 overall. Alma has already beaten both Calvin and Hope this season, so look for the Lady Scots to be a factor in the second half.

Kalamazoo (4-3, 11-4) has long been looked upon as one of the MIAA's weak sisters. Not anymore. Before losses last week to Hope and Defiance, the Hornets put together that eight-game winning streak to improve their record to 11-2. Kalamazoo has had only three winning seasons in its 27-year history, the best being a 14-8 mark in 1988-89. But head coach Michele Fortier has brought respectability to the program, going from 2-23 in her first season to 4-21 to 9-16 to 9-17 to 11-14 last season.

In the OAC, Baldwin-Wallace and Capital continue to remain dominant. The Yellowjackets posted two more league wins last week to improve to 8-0 in the conference, 14-1 overall. B-W routed Otterbein 87-64, then steamrolled Marietta 75-45. Freshman Holly Koepp had a double-double in her first career start against Otterbein with 16 points and 10 rebounds, then came back with a season-high 18 points against Marietta.

Capital won its only game, downing Ohio Northern 50-37, as the Crusaders raised their mark to 6-1 in conference and 13-2 overall. Kendra Meyer was the "iron woman" for Capital, playing all 40 minutes as she scored 14 points and pulled down 18 rebounds.

Hiram pulled off perhaps the week's biggest upset, stunning No. 14 Ohio Wesleyan 59-57 on Saturday. The loss was the second in the NCAC for the Battling Bishops, dropping them two games behind conference leader Denison in the loss column. Meanwhile, the Big Red stayed hot, surviving a 76-74 scare from a Wooster team that is winless in conference play and downing Allegheny 63-58 to improve to 7-0 in the NCAC and 12-3 overall, Denison's best start since joining the conference.

Second-place Kenyon improved to 5-1 in the NCAC with a 54-53 win against Earlham, but the Ladies' game against Wittenberg Saturday was postponed, after the death of Kenyon swimmer Molly Hatcher in an accident last week.

Congratulations to Mount Union forward Katie Harrington, who joined the 1,000-point club last week. Harrington now has 1,031 points for her collegiate career.

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