Wilmington College slammed the door with a 24-9 game-ending run to blow past Muskingum, 82-62, in Ohio Athletic Conference men’s basketball action at Fred Raizk Arena Wednesday night.
The win keeps Wilmington (9-2 OAC, 14-4 overall) in first place in the OAC, a game up on John Carroll and Heidelberg. Muskingum falls to 1-10 in the conference, 6-12 for the season.
“I think our depth was a huge factor in the game,” Wilmington head coach K.C. Hunt said. “Even though we should have had a bigger lead than six points at halftime, you could see that we were a little bit fresher to start the second half because we played 11 guys and they played six or seven.”
The Quakers stretched their 40-34 halftime advantage to 14 points when Tyler White (Cincinnati/Colerain) connected with 17:15 to play. The big lead, however, did not stand as the Muskies pulled to within 58-53 at 11:58.
“We’re still learning how to put people away,” Hunt said. “In all but two of our 18 games, we’ve had a double-digit lead at some point. And to play as many close games as we’ve had shows me that we don’t have much of a killer instinct. The same thing happened tonight. But we were able to put our foot on their throat and finish them. We really guarded people down the stretch.”
Wilmington’s stretch run was launched by a 14-0 spurt that decided the issue. When Tyler Ledford (West Liberty/West Liberty-Salem) hit a pair of free throws at 7:51, the Quakers led 72-53.
For the game, Wilmington shot 66 percent from the field, led by White’s 10-of-11 performance en route to a career high 29 points. The sophomore guard also pulled down seven rebounds and handed out four assists.
“T-White’s aggressiveness was fantastic,” Hunt said. “Probably 15 of his 29 points were the result of guys finding him in space where he could make plays. He was certainly special tonight, and his teammates really helped him.”
R.J. Brown (Circleville) scored 10 points and collected seven boards. Ledford scored nine. Brandon Rogers (Xenia) added eight points. Brandon Candella (West Chester/Lakota West) and Antonio Bowman (Columbus/Whetstone) added seven and six points, respectively.
The Quakers owned the glass, claiming 40 rebounds to Muskingum’s 22.
“I think these guys are tired of doing rebounding drills,” Hunt said. “We literally did 45 straight minutes of rebounding drills on Monday. That was probably our best practice in two months. Our energy was great. Hopefully, these young men are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Wilmington will travel to Mount Union for a 3 p.m. game Saturday.
