WILMINGTON – The Wilmington College men's basketball team will have a tough road to hoe as they look to snap their two-game losing streak this weekend. The Fightin' Quakers are traveling to St. Louis for the Lopata Classic on the campus of Washington University.
Wilmington will play tenth-ranked and unbeaten Washington 8 p.m. Friday. The other two teams in the tournament are No. 7 Illinois Wesleyan (4-1) and Tufts (3-3), who meet 6 p.m. Friday.
The Fightin' Quakers fell to Thomas More Sunday, 83-73, after holding a 12-point halftime lead. In building the huge lead, WC shot 76 percent in the first half. But more importantly, they took care of the basketball. They committed 17 of their 30 turnovers as the Saints made their come back.
Foul trouble has also hampered Wilmington in its two defeats. Junior forward and leading scorer, Malcolm Heard II (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington) has fouled out of both games. He has been limited to 39 total minutes in the two contests, and is averaging just 21.7 minutes per game. Heard, in his abbreviated action, is scoring 17.3 points with 8.0 rebounds.
Senior Brandon Candella (West Chester, OH/Lakota West) is helping carry some of the load offensively, dropping in 15.7 points and grabbing 4.7 boards. Getting a third scorer could really benefit WC as they round out non-conference this weekend. Junior Taylor Wellman (Norwood, OH/Norwood) and sophomore R.J. Leppert (Liberty Township, OH/Lakota East) are averaging 6.7 and 6.3 points, respectively.
Washington comes into the game with a balanced scoring attack that has four players in double-figures and four different players have led the team in scoring this season. A perennial National Championship contender, the Bears will provide with a pretty accurate litmus test.
Chris Klimek is leading Wash U. in scoring with 17.0 points per game, while Robert Burnett is chipping in with 12.4 points. Matt Palucki leads the team in rebounding with 8.4 boards and is third with 11.4 points. Alan Aboona is the fourth member to average at least 10 points.