Witt Notes
Senior Night drives Cooper
Sunday, February 17, 2008
WOOSTER — James Cooper probably didn't need any extra motivation to beat Wittenberg.
The fact that his Wooster team had lost in Springfield on Jan. 19, that the Scots could clinch a share of the North Coast Athletic Conference title for the fourth straight year, or every year Cooper has been a Scot, was probably enough to ensure Cooper would really want this one.
Extras
Wittenberg guard Brandan Barabino (right) drives to the basket against Wooster's Evan Will in the 66-61 loss to Wooster on Saturday, Feb. 16.
Get latest headlines via RSS feedsBut the added motivation for the South graduate Cooper was that this was Senior Night. Normally, Senior Night is usually held for the last home game, but Wooster, which has one more regular-season home game, saluted its seniors Saturday, Feb. 16, in front of a sellout crowd of 3,300.
Cooper didn't disappoint, scoring 24 points in Wooster's 66-61 win at Timken Gymnasium.
"It feels great," Cooper said, "especially winning conference four years in a row."
Cooper walked to center court before the game with his mother, Kelly Walker. Wooster coach Steve Moore had mixed emotions watching the scene.
"Certainly, that he's not going to be playing for us much longer, that's hard to accept because he's such a good player," Moore said. "But it's such a good feeling to think about all the success he's had and all the things he's accomplished here."
Cooper hit 5-of-7 3-pointers and now has 1,930 points in his career.
"He's just a very good uncanny player," Wittenberg coach Bill Brown said. "I was disappointed a couple times. You have to make him drive the basketball, and he got squared up 3-point shots. You can't let him do that. You have to make him put the ball on the floor."
Witt's strategy
Brown didn't look at Wittenberg's 87-86 overtime victory over Wooster on Jan. 19 as a typical game in the series. A high score is usually a good thing for Wooster.
"What style of play would they much prefer to play?" Brown said. "Very fast. That's their comfort zone."
So his strategy Saturday was to work the shot clock, to wait until 15 seconds remained to begin looking for a shot.
"Wittenberg had a great game plan," Moore said. "They came out in that zone, and they really worked the shot clock, tried to shorten the game, keep it low scoring, and they were pretty effective."
Stats to speak of
• In the last 10 games in the Wittenberg-Wooster series, each team has won five games. Wooster leads the overall score 744-743.
• With the loss to Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday, Feb. 13, and Saturday's loss to Wooster, the Tigers have back-to-back NCAC defeats for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.
• Wittenberg and Wooster split the regular-season series for the fourth time in the last six years.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0351 or djablonski@coxohio.com.
