With the game tied with a little more than two minutes remaining, sophomore D.J. Iles made the two biggest plays of the game as the Wilmington College men's basketball team registered the 86-81 victory over Ohio Northern Wednesday in Ohio Athletic Conference action at Fred Raizk Arena in Hermann Court.
Iles (Fayetteville, OH/Fayetteville Perry) broke the tie with a three-pointer and with the WC lead down to one with 23 seconds remaining, he found freshman Andrew Russell (Columbus, OH/Central Crossing), who drilled a three-pointer from the corner as the shot clock expired.
"D.J. is growing every game as a real solid point guard in this league; he is going to have one heck of a career," said Wilmington head coach K.C. Hunt.
After teetering on the verge of a breakout win, Wilmington finally snapped its eight-game losing streak.
"Huge win for our young group," said Hunt. "I think we have been playing better basketball as of late, but its hard to see when you don't get W's. First time in a long time we've made winning plays when its winning time, and that is what it's all about."
Wilmington hit its first seven shots of the game and raced out to a 10-point lead. However, the Polar Bears simply rode the wave of home emotion, and slowly chipped away the WC lead.
Ohio Northern closed the half on a 20-6 run that pushed its lead to eight, and it was down to six at the half.
Despite the deficit, Hunt felt his team was in a good position.
"Our message (at halftime) was real simple; we mentally weren't as engaged as we needed to be for the whole 20 minutes and that is why we let them take control of the first half," said Hunt. "I thought we were in great shape to win the game, and we just talked about 20 minutes of guts and effort, and I thought we gave that."
Consider it message received.
The Fightin' Quakers stormed out of the locker room scoring 19 of the next 21 points to take a game-high 13 point lead.
"It was all about the defense and the second shot defense," said Hunt. "We rebounded better tonight. We held them to two points in the first eight minutes of the second half and that is what won the game."
For the second time in the game, the double-figure lead wasn't safe as the Polar Bears refused drift away.
Ohio Northern scored nine straight points over a three-minute stretch late in the game to force a tie with 3:22 remaining. But, WC didn't surrender the lead and made plays down the stretch.
"We talk about four-minute wars in practice everyday," said Hunt. "We happened to be leading by three, and we able to stretch the lead and come away with the victory. Winning four-minute segments and winning the last four minutes of the game is usually going to be a good thing. "
Senior Zach McCorkle (Cincinnati, OH/Winton Woods) navigated foul trouble to post a game-high 22 points in just 18 minutes of action. He pulled down a team-high four rebounds with four assists, a block and a steal.
Sophomore Christian Jones (Hamilton, OH/Hamilton) rebounded for his only scoreless game of the season to add 16 points, hitting all four of his three-point attempts, with three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Freshman Brandon Smith (Lebanon, OH/Lebanon) came off the bench for 14 points, while Russell added 14 points as well.
"Brandon has really given us a spark in the last couple of games," said Hunt. "I have told him all year long, I want him to shoot six to eight three's a game. I think he is that good of a shooter. We just want him to shoot the right ones, and I think we has made better offensive decisions, and that is why he is having success."
Iles finished with six points and dished out six assists. It was the fifth time this season he distributed at least five assists.
Wilmington (2-10 overall, 1-6 OAC) travels to Muskingum 3 p.m. Saturday.
