The Wilmington College men's basketball team was in the midst of completely losing their significant first-half lead, but stemmed the tide and cruised to the 80-61 victory over Ohio Northern Wednesday in Ohio Athletic Conference action at Fred Raizk Arena in Hermann Court.
"I thought we came out a little flat, and unfortunately, we had a few breakdowns that led to some shots they missed in the first half because they were open this time," said Wilmington head coach K.C. Hunt of the second half. "Thankfully we stuck together, hung together as a group and were able to reclaim the momentum, and cruise to a victory."
Junior Zach McCorkle (Cincinnati, OH/Winton Woods) scored eight of Wilmington's 19 points during a stretch in which the Fightin' Quakers tallied 19 of 21 points to end the first half. With the spurt, in which saw six different players find the scorebook, WC led by 17 at the half.
"Our effort (in the first half) was tremendous," said Hunt. "We had an edge to us that we haven't had in a game or two, especially on Saturday. We really competed, and we were the tougher team. Our activities level was awesome; we got on the floor, got deflections. I just thought we had a really solid first half."
McCorkle scored all 10 of his points in the first half and he pulled down a career-high seven boards.
"Zach was tremendous," said Hunt. "His ability to go in traffic and grab rebounds is such a needed dimension for us. He has only scratched the surface on how good he is going to be for us."
Hunt spoke highly of the effort of his reserves, Law Williams (Dayton, OH/Thurgood Marshall), Ben McGriff (Beavercreek, OH/Beavercreek), John Righter (Pataskala, OH/Licking Heights), Chris Jackson and McCorkle. They enabled Wilmington to hold a 31-21 edge in points off the bench.
Ohio Northern came out blazing in the second half, and ensured that it wouldn't go down without a fight. The Polar Bears cut their double-figure deficit to three points. Hunt even used two timeouts in an attempt to hold off ONU.
Seniors Dwight Johnson (Dayton, OH/Jefferson) and Jonathan Bibbs (Dayton, OH/Chaminade Julienne) combined on the next five points – each with a basket and an assist – and Wilmington scored 12 straight point en route to a 16-2 run that blew the game wide open.
Senior R.J. Leppert (Liberty Township, OH/Lakota East) finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, and Bibbs added 14 points of his own with five boards.
Wilmington (9-10 overall, 6-7 OAC) travels to #3 Marietta 3 p.m. Saturday. Wilmington dropped a heartbreaker to the unbeaten Pioneers, 71-68, in the early December meeting.