Ohio Wesleyan 84, Hiram 66

Feb. 27, 2008

Senior guard Casey Teeters (Westerville/Columbus St. Charles), junior wing Kyle Holliday (Van Wert) and senior post Dustin Rudegeair (Yellow Springs) hit 3-pointers during a 13-2 run that put Ohio Wesleyan ahead to stay, and senior post Jesse Jean (Alexandria, Va./Hyde (Conn.) School) grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds to lead the Bishops over Hiram in a North Coast Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinal game on Wednesday at Branch Rickey Arena.

The second-seeded Bishops will face sixth-seeded Allegheny, an upset winner over Wittenberg in quarterfinal action last night, in a semifinal contest at 6 p.m. on Friday at Wooster. Top-seeded Wooster takes on fifth-seeded Wabash, another upset winner on Tuesday, at 8 p.m. in Friday's other semifinal. The semifinal winners will play at 7 p.m. on Saturday, with the NCAC's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III tournament on the line.

Hiram had erased an 11-point second-half deficit with a 14-3 run, pulling even at 46-46 on a 3-pointer by Chuck Williams with 13:46 left in regulation time.

Teeters hit a 3-pointer on Ohio Wesleyan's next possession, and after a Hiram miss, Holliday buried a 3-pointer 20 seconds later for a 52-46 Bishop lead. Jean followed with a lay-in, and after the Terriers got a pair of free throws from Glenn Campbell, Rudegeair hit a 3-pointer and senior post Ryan Rozak (Fairview Park/Fairview) capped the run with a pair of free throws to give Ohio Wesleyan a 59-48 lead with 9:19 to play.

Hiram's Hassan Muhammed converted a 3-point play to bring the Terriers within 59-51, but a 3-point play by Rudegeair and a 3-pointer from junior wing Kyle Miller (Delaware/Hayes) stretched the lead to 65-53 with 7:24 remaining, and the lead would remain in double digits through the remainder of the contest.

Ohio Wesleyan opened the evening's scoring with a 3-pointer from senior wing Brian Cafarella (Westerville/North), and the Bishops moved to a 14-9 lead on Rozak's fast-break lay-in with 13:28 left in the first half.

The Terriers tied the game at 17-17 on Nick Russo's 3-pointer, and the game would be tied 4 more times in the first half, the last at 30-30 on a pair of Muhammed free throws.

The Bishops finished the first half with a Miller 3-pointer and a Rudegeair lay-in, and continued that momentum early in the second half, stretching the lead to 11 points on a Holliday tip-in, a pair of Rudegeair baskets, and a Jean lay-in that made it 43-32 just over 2 minutes into the period.

Muhammed brought the Terriers back, collecting a pair of jumpers from the lane and a 3-point play, and Mike Staley added a pair of free throws and a jumper before Williams 3-pointer completed the Hiram comeback by knotting the score at 46-46.

Jean led the Bishops with 23 points, going 11-for-18 from the field, and grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds, just one off the NCAC tournament record set last year. Rudegeair added 17 points, Holliday finished with 14 points and shared the Bishop lead with 4 assists, while Miller and Teeters scored 11 points apiece. Rozak also shared the Bishop lead with 4 assists.

Muhammed led the Terriers with 20 points. Staley finished with 16 points and shared the Hiram lead with 4 assists, while Ian Pfouts had a team-high 9 boards and shared the Hiram lead with 4 assists.

Box Score