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GAME NOTES

LIVE WEB CAST

Wilmington College will host Mount Union at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in an Ohio Athletic Conference Men’s Championship quarterfinal at Fred Raizk Arena. The game will be Web cast on Wilmington College Sports Network with coverage starting at 7:20 p.m.

Tickets will be available at the door Wednesday night. Ticket prices are $5 for adults, $2 for students. OAC students will be admitted free of charge with proper ID. Passes will not be accepted. Arena doors will open at 6 p.m.

Wilmington (18-7, 13-5 OAC) is the tournament’s No. 2 seed and Mount Union (11-14, 9-9) is the No. 7 seed.

The Quakers and Purple Raiders split their regular-season series with Wilmington winning, 87-84, in overtime, at Raizk Arena Dec. 5, and Mount Union posting a 75-65 win in Alliance Jan. 30.

“There are no easy games in this conference,” Wilmington head coach K.C. Hunt said. “We could have been playing any number of five teams, and they are all quality opponents. We knew we were going to play somebody good in this first round — it just happens to be Mount Union. We’re going to have to play well to win — that’s for sure.”

The Quakers hang their hat on the defensive end. Wilmington ranked No. 2 in the conference in steals, turnover margin and blocked shots. Offensively, Wilmington converted turnovers to points, as evidenced by its conference-leading 50.2 percent field goal shooting.

Tyler White (Cincinnati/Colerain) and Tyler Ledford (West Liberty/West Liberty-Salem) are among the OAC’s scoring leaders at 17.8 and 15.8 points per game, respectively. Seniors Brandon Rogers (Xenia) and R.J. Brown (Circleville) also score in double figures, giving the Quakers one of the most balanced attacks in the conference.

Wilmington brings a three-game winning streak into its tournament opener.

“About three weeks ago, we went back to basics in practice,” Hunt said. “We talked about positioning on defense, rebounding the basketball and making the extra pass on offense. We’ve definitely improved over that period, and hopefully we can continue to improve and make a long run in this tournament.”

Mount Union slipped in the conference standings with losses to Muskingum and Capital to close the regular season. Before those setbacks, the Raiders had won three straight.

Junior forward Dave Pellerite scores 13.4 points per game while sophomore forward Jimmy Wood averages 12.6 per outing. Wood averaged 26.5 points in the Raiders’ games with Wilmington, including a 30-point outburst when Mount Union beat the Quakers.

As a team, Mount Union ranks No. 2 in the conference in field goal defense (45.1 percent) and is the OAC’s top free throw shooting team (72 percent).

— 2010 OAC MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP —

Quarterfinals: Wednesday, February 24 (All game times are 7:30 p.m.)
No. 8 Marietta (10-16, 6-12) at No. 1 John Carroll (19-5, 15-3)
No. 7 Mount Union (11-14, 9-9) at No. 2 Wilmington (18-7, 13-5)
No. 6 Baldwin-Wallace (14-11, 9-9) at No. 3 Capital (15-10, 10-8)
No. 5 Heidelberg (13-12, 9-9) at No. 4 Ohio Northern (12-13, 10-8)

Semifinals: Friday, February 26 at highest remaining seed (Game times TBA)
Winner of No. 6 at No. 3 vs. Winner of No. 7 at No. 2
Winner of No. 5 at No. 4 vs. Winner of No. 8 at No. 1

Final: Saturday, February 27 at site of semifinals (3 p.m. or 5 p.m.)