basketball – Page 2 – The Transcript

Coach DeWitt reaches 300 win milestone

Coach Mike DeWitt. Photo courtesy of the Battling Bishops website.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University isn’t the only men’s college basketball coach earning milestone wins.

With a 76-64 victory over DePauw University on Jan. 17, Coach Mike DeWitt of the Ohio Wesleyan University men’s basketball team earned his 300th career win, 250 of which have been with OWU.

The 300 wins are not the only thing that have marked success for Coach DeWitt. He has led OWU to three consecutive, 20-plus win seasons as well as three consecutive NCAA Division III playoff appearances.

The very next game, a win over Oberlin College on Jan. 21, gave him the best winning percentage (.595) for an OWU men’s basketball coach since Raymond Detrick in 1938-1939.

But DeWitt is not one to stop and celebrate such accomplishments. It is difficult for most coaches to do so in basketball with the seasons being so fast paced.

“If you coach long enough, coaching milestones are going to happen naturally,” DeWitt said. “These milestones are a direct reflection of the quality of players I’ve had the opportunity to coach here at Ohio Wesleyan.”

One of those quality players is senior guard Nick Felhaber who has played for DeWitt for four years.

“It’s been a great experience,” Felhaber said. “For me as a player I’ve had some ups and downs with injuries and stuff. He’s remained patient with me and now that it’s my senior year, I’ve stepped up and have a big role.”

Felhaber and his fellow teammates didn’t know about the milestone going into the game against DePauw.

“We had no idea, nobody on the team knew. We found out after the game. Actually somebody put it in a group message that we have for all the players to communicate,” Felhaber said.

Now, with the 300th win behind them and a winning pace that could see another 20-plus win season, the men’s basketball team has their sights on the NCAC regular season title.

High flying offense brings success

Freshman Nate Axelrod takes on a Depauw defender during last Saturday's game in Branch Rickey Arena. — Freshman Nate Axelrod takes on a Depauw defender during last Saturday’s game in Branch Rickey Arena.

From the outside looking in, this season should have been a rebuilding year. The men’s basketball team has only one senior and lost four of their top-five scorers from last season.

However, the team has already shattered those expectations, holding a 12-3 record going into the end of their schedule. The Battling Bishops are currently tied for 1st place in the NCAC and ranked 17th in the nation.

So what has been the secret to their success? Hard work, high expectations and embracing changes.

“We came in with a bit of an underdog mentality, but still expected to win,” senior Nick Felhaber said. “From the very first day, we established goals of winning the conference and making a deep run in the NCAA tournament. Having Coach [Mike] DeWitt hold us to the same expectations as years past I think has really helped us.”

According to Felhaber, Head Coach Mike DeWitt made some changes to the offense that better suited personnel, with positive results. Much less height and size in the post led DeWitt to change the offensive focus towards playing faster and making opposing big men run the floor, Felhaber said.

Additionally, this shift has taken advantage of their post player’s skills on the perimeter in shooting 3-pointers. Forcing opponents to guard more on the perimeter has had the added benefit of opening up easier interior lanes.

“The Run N’ Gun offensive style has been greatly successful for us. Coach DeWitt always tells us that we have the most freedom of any team in the nation and I truly believe that,” freshmen Will Orr said.

Orr emphasized another aspect that has fueled this season’s success: trust in one another.

“I have never experienced something like this before, from day one we developed a sense of trust that shows on the court. No one was ever selfish; everyone was making the extra pass and it was something that the coaches never had to teach or tell us to do.” Orr said.

An attitude of working hard and putting the team first has been embodied by their head coach, and has trickled down to the entire team as a result.

In their last game against DePauw, a 76-64 victory, DeWitt earned his 300th career win and 250th while at OWU. However, he acted no differently and the team had no idea until reading about it the next day. According to the team, that reaction is indicative of how he coaches. DeWitt doesn’t put himself out there; instead, he is more worried about getting the victory.

“Everyone has embraced coach’s expectations and plays their role to the best of their abilities. We work hard and know that anything can happen,” Felhaber said.

“We play for the man next to us. We all play a part in what we do and trust each other to contribute. We want to win every game, and do whatever it takes to make that happen.” Orr said.

The Battling Bishops finish the season with 10 games of in-conference play, followed by the NCAC tournament starting Feb. 24.

Women’s basketball looks to make a run at NCAC tournament

By Olivia Lease and Haley Cooper
Transcript Correspondent and Assistant Copy Editor

The Jan. 25 doubleheader against the Denison University Big Red had mixed results for the Ohio Wesleyan basketball teams.

In the women’s game, Denison edged out the Bishops at Branch Rickey Arena with a final score of 64-72.

Although Denison was up at the end of the first half the 33-26, OWU fought hard to come back.

The last ten minuets of the game were full of chair gripping scores that made it a four-point game, but OWU slipped up in the last two minutes of the game.

Among the high scorers for the game were juniors Kristin Henning, LaNiece McRae and Sarah McQuade, scoring 16, 11 and 10 points respectively.

McQuade, second in the NCAC in assists with 4.2 per game, said the team’s goal is to get into the top three or four spots in conference so they can have a better chance at making a run at the conference tournament.

“Personally, we all set game goals, and mine is 12 points and five assists a game,” she said. “That way I give my teammates the opportunity to shoot during the game, too.”

Sophomore Hannah Fedorka says her personal goals are to help her team win by making assists, run plays and score points when needed.

“I think the biggest thing that needs to be improved is our thought process,” she said.

“We need to believe in ourselves and believe we are the better team.”

The team is doing better than last year earning a 10-8 record overall, 5-4 in the NCAC.

“This team has a better chemistry (this year),” Fedorka said. “We work well together, we all have the same goals, and are striving to be the best in the league.”

In the men’s game last weekend, the Bishops defeated the Big Red 83-75.

Denison led by as many as 13 points in the first half, and despite a three-pointer by senior Taylor Reiger and a two-handed dunk from senior Reuel Rogers, they would hold on to that lead, ending the half at 42-36.

Things quickly turned around at the start of the second half.

Denison sophomore Darius White led off with a three-point shot, but that would be the end to the Big Red’s success.

Two students were escorted out of the game when they became rowdy trying to show their support.

Reiger scored to tie the game 47-47. Shortly after, sophomore Claude Gray scored another basket for OWU, putting the Bishops in the lead.

White added another shot, putting the pressure on Denison and increasing the Bishop lead 51-47.

“We started off slow defensively, but we picked it up in the second half which got us going offensively” said Reiger.

Later, senior Dre White scored nine consecutive points for OWU, giving the Bishops a double-digit lead, finishing off the run at 75-64 with 3:14 left on the clock.

White and freshman Seth Clark secured the game at the free throw line while the Battling Bishops continued to play solid defense.

“(We were) very good in the second half, the first half Denison was really good and we let them shoot some open 3’s but we responded very well” Head Coach Mike Dewitt said.

Gray led the Bishops with 22 points, White finished with 20 points, Rieger with 16 and Clark with 11. Rogers had a team high 11 rebounds, and blocked six Big Red shots.

The men’s basketball team’s next game is at Wooster on Wednesday, January 29, at 8 p.m.

Wooster is currently ranked second in last week’s Division III basketball poll on D3hoops.com.