Sophomore guard Henry Hinkle, senior wing Jack Clement, and senior guard Curtis White drained 3-pointers during a 15-4 run that put the Ohio Wesleyan men’s basketball team ahead to stay in a 78-61 North Coast Athletic Conference win over Denison on Saturday at Branch Rickey Arena.
The Bishops did not trail during the first half and led by as many as 7 points, that coming on a 3-pointer from junior wing Tony Carter that gave Ohio Wesleyan a 16-9 lead.
Denison came back to even the score at 16 on an Emmett Burnside basket, only to see the Bishops pull ahead with the help of 3-pointers by freshman guard Isaac Ward and Hinkle. The Big Red got fast-break scores from Nick Heath and Will Hunter during the final 70 seconds of the half to pull within 33-31 at the intermission, and when Darren Rubin opened the second half with a 3-pointer and a jumper from the lane, Denison had a 36-33 lead.
Sophomore wing David Rice started the Bishop run with a lay-in and Hinkle followed with a 3-pointer to put Ohio Wesleyan ahead to stay. Clement and Rice added hoops before 3-pointers by Clement and White gave the Bishops a 48-40 lead with 14:32 left in regulation time.
The visitors were still within 60-54 after a Chase Ouellette jumper with 5:45 to go when the Bishops put the game out of reach by scoring the next 10 points, getting a pair of Rice free throws, baskets by senior post Grant Spicer and Carter, and a pair of hoops from Clement to stretch the lead to 70-54 with 2:52 to play.
Hinkle led the Bishops with 15 points and 6 assists. Clement finished with 13 points, White added 12 points, and Rice scored 10 points. Spicer grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Sophomore post Alyssa Griner tallied 4 points during a 12-0 run that put Ohio Wesleyan ahead to stay, and junior guard Kasey Schipfer had 8 points during a 22-4 run that broke the game open in a 93-57 North Coast Athletic Conference win over Denison on Saturday at Branch Rickey Arena.
Denison had tied the game at 10 on a jumper by Abigail Westmeyer when Griner answered with a lay-in just 8 seconds later to give the Bishops the lead for good. Schipfer and freshman guard Mia Guscoff followed with buckets, and Griner and freshman guard Graci Semptimphelter added hoops to extend the lead into double figures before junior guard Elizabeth Homan closed out the run with a lay-in that gave Ohio Wesleyan a 22-10 lead with 3:04 left in the first quarter.
Ohio Wesleyan opened up a 15-point lead in the second quarter, but the Big Red rallied with an 11-2 burst that included a pair of lay-ins from Westmeyer and a 3-pointer by Maddie Goodman before a Mikaila Carpenter lay-in brought the visitors within 38-32 with 1:24 remaining in the half. Sophomore post Karlee Ross converted a 3-point play to end that run and give the Bishops a 41-32 lead heading into the break.
The Big Red were still within 44-37 after a pair of Goodman free throws early in the third quarter, but Griner converted a 3-point play and Guscoff knocked down a 3-pointer just 13 seconds after that to make it a 50-37 game. Schipfer followed with 3 baskets and a pair of free throws, Homan sank a pair of free throws, and Guscoff added a lay-in before Ross finished off the quarter with a lay-in and a pair of free throws for a 66-41 Bishop lead, and the margin would remain at least 20 points for the remainder of the game.
Schipfer led the Bishops with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Schipfer sank her first 6 free throws in the game to extend her streak of consecutive free throws to 30, tying the school record set by Jessica Viertlboeck in 1998-99.
Griner added 17 points, Ross scored 13 points, and Guscoff and sophomore guard Kelsey Wolfe finished with 10 points apiece.
Homan dished out a career-high 12 assists, tying for second place on the Bishop single-game list.
