Ohio Wesleyan 96, Hiram 86
Senior wing Tim Brady (Dublin/Jerome) scored all 11 points during an 11-1 second-half run that gave Ohio Wesleyan the lead for good, and the Bishops went on to defeat Hiram in a North Coast Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday at Branch Rickey Arena.
The third-seeded Bishops move on to the tournament semifinals to face second-seeded Wooster. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. on Friday at Wittenberg University in Springfield.
Hiram threatened to blow the Bishops out of the gym, collecting 3-pointers from Andrew Wiegand and Alan Sheppard along with 3 baskets from Jamaal Watkins in building a 16-5 lead during the first 6 minutes of the game.
Ohio Wesleyan, which had started the game 1-for-8 from the field, started to heat up with baskets from junior guard Andy Winters (Columbus/Bishop Watterson) and junior post Marshall Morris (Tulsa, Okla./Jenks), but the Terriers held on to the lead behind the inside play of Watkins and some sizzling shooting from Wiegand and Alan Sheppard.
Aaron Stefanov's 3-pointer pushed the Hiram lead back to 31-24, and after Brady's first basket of the game -- a 3-pointer with 7:36 remaining -- brought the Bishops within 31-29, the Terriers pulled away again with a lay-in and a 3-pointer from Wiegand to push the lead back to 39-32 with just over 5 minutes to play in the period.
The Bishops came all the way back with a 9-0 run late in the half, with sophomore post Reuel Rogers (Columbus/Bexley) and Morris doing the damage inside. Morris converted a 3-point play and added a pair of free throws, and Rogers added another basket as Ohio Wesleyan took a 44-42 lead with exactly a minute to go before Watkins' jumper tied the game at 44-44 at the break.
Held to 5 points during the first half, Brady opened the second half with a 3-pointer and later converted a 3-point play that gave the Bishops a 61-55 lead at the 13:12 mark. Junior post Greg White (Centerville) followed with a 3-point play, and a Winters lay-in and 3 Brady free throws later, Ohio Wesleyan led by a 71-61 margin at the midway point of the second half.
Hiram came out of the time out and wasted no time clawing back into the game, with Sheppard hitting a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer, Watkins adding a pair of free throws, and Stefanov knocking down a 3-pointer, and Sheppard drove for a lay-in at the 7:18 mark that gave the Terriers a 73-72 lead.
Brady took over from there, sinking 5 straight free throws to give the Bishops the lead, then burying a 3-pointer to make it 80-73 with 5:23 left. A Wiegand free throw temporarily stopped the bleeding, but Brady followed with another 3-pointer off a Winters feed that extended the margin to 83-74 at the 4:40 mark.
The Terriers rallied to within 89-84 on Stefanov's lay-in with 1:59 left, but Ohio Wesleyan sealed the game at the line, with Brady hitting a pair of free throws, and Winters and Morris adding single tosses before a dunk by junior wing Vaughn Spaulding (Reynoldsburg) slammed the door.
The win was the 20th of the season for Ohio Wesleyan, marking the second time under head coach Mike DeWitt and only the fifth time in school history that the Bishops have reached that figure.
Brady led the Bishops with 33 points, scoring 28 of those in the second half. The 33 points increases his career total to 1676, moving him past Jud Millhon and into fifth place on the all-time Ohio Wesleyan scoring list.
Morris followed with 18 points, hitting his first 11 shots (6-for-6 from the field and 5-for-5 from the line) along the way, and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. Rogers added 13 points, and sophomore wing Dre White (Lima/Bath) finished with 10 points, with 8 of those coming during the first half as the Bishops erased the double-digit deficit. Winters collected a game-high 8 assists.
Watkins turned in a valiant effort for Hiram, finishing with 32 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. Sheppard finished with 20 points and Wiegand had 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Box Score
